There were two major elements to the thrilling opening of the Light Rail "Crosslake Connection" yesterday:

1. Technically, only two new Light Rail stations opened yesterday: Judkins Park Station and Mercer Island Station. The other ten stations on the East Side that Laney and I have actually been in operation since 2024, just operating as a separate, unconnected "2 Line" until now.

2. Those other ten stations on the East Side were accessible via Light Rail in Seattle for the first time as of yesterday. This is why I waited to explore all the East Side stations until the Crosslake Connection opening yesterday, because without being able to take rail there from my local Light Rail station on Capitol Hill, then what would be the point?

It's also always worth noting that this is the first floating bridge in the world to have Light Rail cross it, which meant unique engineering challenges, and qualifies this as an unprecedented, major engineering feat—one of my favorite things! It's also why the Crosslake Connection was delayed two years, rather than opening at the same time as the rest of the East Side stations in 2024 as originally planned.

Well, it's open now. That's what matters. And it makes a whole wide swath of Bellevue and Redmond accessible to me in ways they never were before. I don't even care that it takes longer than driving (except during weekday rush hours, probably). It's far more pleasant than driving. As was the case when Shobhit and I ran a couple of shopping errands on Friday evening, entirely on transit: we went to the Total Wine & More in Northgate to buy four gallons of Tower Vodka that were on sale, and we took Light Rail there from Capitol Hill Station. I needed to get something from PCC, and so I looked up transit directions, and we took Light Rail back to University of Washington Station, where we transferred to the #48 bus which took us straight to the Central District PCC. Usually we walk the 0.7 miles home from there if we're only picking up one or two things, but we didn't feel like walking with each of us carrying two gallons of vodka in our bags. So, we waited for the #2 bus right there and took that to 14th and Union, walking only about three blocks from there. This all definitely took longer than driving, but we only had to wait a few minutes for both buses, and it was far more pleasant than driving would have been.

Anyway, yesterday I hopped on the #12 bus scheduled to get to Broadway at 10:39; it was just a few minutes late, and Laney joined me at the Broadway stop. Yesterday was also the latest No Kings Mass Protests, which I absolutely would have prioritized attending if not for it being the Crosslake Connection opening; I only have a tiny photo album for that because Shobhit did attend, and march, and he texted me a few photos; Tracy also texted me a photo of herself at a rally in Puyallup, and Laney sent me a photo this morning that was taken by someone else. A few weeks ago, Shobhit even tried to sort of shame me for not attending the No Kings Protest instead, and I still stand by my position on the matter: there will be other No Kings protests; there is only one Opening Day for any of the Link Light Rail extensions.

But, No Kings is why Laney and I avoided Capitol Hill Station, as we figured it would be nuts with people on their way to Cal Anderson Park, where the rally was held. We took the bus downtown and then walked to Symphony Station. It was there we boarded a 2 Line train, taking that down to International District Chinatown Station, after which, for the first time—this was very exciting—we rode a train that veered left (east) rather than continuing south. And from there we went to Judkins Park Station.

This station was by far the most packed with people. Several of the stations all along the 2 line to the east were having celebrations of some sort, but only the two opening this weekend—Judkins Park and Mercer Island—were having big ones. Predictably, Judkins Park was the bigger of the two. It was kind of a madhouse, actually—indeed, I'm not sure I saw crowds like this at any of the previous openings and extensions I attended over the years. Lots were crowded, but this was a lot.

Laney and I got off the train at Judkins Park Station, which is below grade; we went up the elevator and out across from what I thought then was Judkins Park but was actually Jimi Hendrix Park, which is adjacent to the southeast. There were transit staff people there directing foot traffic. There was a lot of booths lining a couple of paths in the park, which we walked through but felt there was no time for lingering at any given booth. When I had gotten a few pictures, we headed back to the station, and there were lines backed up from the platform, up the stairs and out of the station! Laney's knees have a hard time with descending stairs, so we waited for an elevator. We waited for a while, because they wouldn't let anyone go down the elevators until some space was made on the platform down where the trains run. When the next train came and a bunch of people came out and up the stairs, and then a bunch of people made room on the platform loaded onto the train and therefore made room, we were finally able to take an elevator down. To my surprise, the train was still loading when we got out of the elevator, and we barely managed to board that train, even though it was still really crowded.

The experience at Mercer Island Station was similar, just not quite as nuts. Honestly, there was a lot bigger crowd there than I expected, as I basically think of Mercer Island as a pretty sleepy community. But when we got up to ground level again at this one, and we got our selfie shot in front of the large "2" outside the station (for the 2 Line), we made our wau to the Park and Ride across the street, and just like at Judkins Park, there was live entertainment on a center stage and a whole bunch of vendor booths with lots of people swarming around them. There just weren't quite as many—booths, or people in crowds. It was still plenty crowded enough, though.

We found some nearby Port-A-Potties to use the bathroom at, and then made our way back to the station. I got some photos of the art installations there, which, in contrast to the Jimi Hendrix motif at Judkins Park Station, here had a canoes and sailboats motif. A lot of the sculptures hanging in atriums were very cool.

From there, we boarded another eastbound train and then moved through the ten 2-line stations that have actually been in operation since 2024, but which we had not explored before. The next stop was South Bellevue Station, which was honestly probably the least impressive or memorable of them all. It had some large leaves painted on columns in different seasonal colors, but was otherwise nothing to write home about. We were glad to realize later that this was not a harbinger of the rest of the line—several of the other stations had very cool stuff integrated into their designs.

Here's something I never realized until looking it up this weekend: of the 10 original 2-Line stations, six are in Bellevue, and four are in Redmond. I had assumed they would weave through multiple cities (suburbs), but they are all in only those two. Regardless, I still love how this connection is opening up the East Side to me in ways it never was before—just like it did north to Lynnwood and South to Federal Way within the past couple of years. The whole region is just far more open and accessible to me now.

As you can imagine, I took a lot of photos yesterday. My "East Link Extension / Crosslake Connection 2026" photo album includes 132 shots, 8 of them video clips. This is by far the most I have taken for any Link Light Rail opening or extension. I edited and uploaded all the photos yesterday evening while Shobhit and I finished season 2 of Percy Jackson & The Olympians on Disney+, and I spent a good amount of time today looking up the titles of works and artist names for the public art at all the stations, so I could credit them properly in the photo captions. In most cases I included links to pages about the works themselves, and to the websites for the individual artists. This is always the biggest appeal for me, the public art at Light Rail stations. I love that Light Rail commissions them for every station, as it really enhances the aesthetic as well as the experience at each stop.

For certain, some stations were better and more interesting than others. I can say that probably both our favorite was Spring District Station, which is on the north side of Bellevue and has really awesomely designed wall murals on both sides of the platform. Collectively they are called Dragon and Phoenix, and the artist is Louie Gong, who is multiracial: White, Chinese, and Indigenous. His designs are very cool, and I particularly love this detail of a kitty in the rain under a floating umbrella.

I did learn later that some of the art is best viewed at night, so we did not get their best effect—such as Four Corners Extruded at Wilburton Station, by artist Phillip K. Smith III. The piece actually looks pretty cool even in the daylight, but I did not realize until visiting the artist website that the piece illuminates in different colors at night.

I also found this interactive Light Rail art map, which I really wish I had found before exploring all the stations. I clearly missed several pieces. I might just have to go back out there again soon and take that link with me as a guiding reference.

Anyway, it was a fantastic day, and the weather even cooperated: the forecast had indicated clouds all day, but for a few hours there it was actually mostly sunny. We were at the Mercer Island Park & Ride when we both realized maybe we should have brought sunscreen—not something you usually think of in March, at least not in Seattle. Thankfully neither of us got sunburned.

I noted already that we were both on the bus at about 10:40 in the morning; it was about 4:30 when we were finally leaving Downtown Redmond Station and headed back. It's a 52-minute ride on the 2-Line to Capitol Hill Station from there (all stations north of International District share both lines, basically doubling their train frequency; it's the 1 Line that goes straight further south to Federal Way and the 2 Line turns toward the east just south of International District), which would have gotten us back to Capitol Hill Station at about 5:22. It must have been roughly 5:35, give or take, when I got home, which made the East Link Extension / Crosslake Connection excursion a seven-hour affair. We did stop for a small picnic lunch at Spring District Station.

Overall it was a super fun day, and I actually look forward to taking the train that direction again.

[posted 7:15pm]