Meridian Ave North, Green Lake

Luxury condos and retirement communities offer great views of Green Lake, and all the people who jog or skate or bike or push strollers around the lake. Then there are the people who just drive around the lake, slowly, along Green Lake Way. But if you're around Green Lake, the point is definitely not to move fast. This is the place to relax, enjoy the sights, grab a cup of great espresso or delicious ethnic food from one of the local eateries, and just be alive. In the summer and autumn, the boaters come out to pepper the lake with color. In the spring, people plant their fishing rods on the shore of the lake. But there's really no bad time of year to be at Green Lake.