A couple of years ago Calvin, Nana, and I had a little extra time and decided to stop at the East Palo Park. I don’t remember much about it except it had a couple of interesting features but no shade and no bathrooms. Since today was forecasted to be in the mid-seventies, it seemed like a good day to try out a park that wouldn’t be suitable for hotter summer days.

Upon arriving at the park, I was pleasantly surprised to see it had been newly updated¹.

After getting out of the car, Calvin immediately ran to the older section of the playground which included a curved climber and new-style teeter totter.

The old digger sand area was also still there but was greatly improved with the addition of some shade.

The new playground structure is in the style of a tree house. It even has a little pretend raccoon sticking out from a hole.

The playground has three different surfaces. The area with the swings and teeter totter has pea gravel, the digger area has sand, and the new equipment has the new-style poured rubber. I’m still dubious about rubber. I’ve seen too many playgrounds where it hasn’t worn well and doesn’t get replaced. However, Calvin liked the brightly colored patterns. He jumped in the blue circle and pretended he was playing in a pond.

As a bonus, the playground appears to be in the flight path for planes landing at the Boulder Municipal Airport.

Summary:

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Since Calvin is getting picky about his playgrounds, I decided I might as well play along and post profiles of the various parks we visit.

Calvin didn’t have preschool and I decided against trying to work today. So, inspired by Dr. Mike’s most recent podcast, I decided to plan some sort of outdoor activity. Originally, I was thinking of going up to the mountains but decided a mountain excursion would be better for a time when it was too hot down here.

Several months ago our family visited the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. As we started to drive home I caught a glimpse of an interesting looking playground next to the Duck Pond within City Park. Today, Calvin was interested in visiting a new park so I packed a lunch and we hopped into the car¹.

The playground in City Park is a whimsical wooden structure that has areas for both young and older children. The younger area is partially enclosed by a fence and contains some toddler swings, a jeep, an area to play tic-tac-toe², some structures to clamor on, and a concrete elephant.

Calvin Riding the Jeep

Calvin riding the elephant

The older kid section had several different equipment groupings that look like they’d be perfect for tag. There were also regular swings as well as an odd tire swing. Overall, the structures looked fun but the playground is definitely aging. In some places the bars had gone missing and plywood had been nailed to keep kids from accidentally falling through. At one point Calvin started shaking a railing and I stopped him because I was afraid he might manage to pull it loose.

Calvin Climbing

Summary:

Overall, Calvin seemed to have a good time though it didn’t keep him occupied for as long as I expected. We probably would have stayed longer if there had been more children his age.

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