“Back to Nature Contest”
Wow, so many great “Back to Nature” blogs, these are going to be hard to compete with. There were so many awesome pictures, beautiful sunsets and unique parks. How could I ever top this? Well, I started on my journey to find the neatest park ever! Could it be possible? Would it be possible? I put on my hiking boots and started from where, I imagine, everyone else did…the internet. While praying that Google could help me out on this one, I stumbled on several different parks. Oh yes, several different parks “surrounding” Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Where were the parks IN Baton Rouge, Louisiana? Of course, we have the Baton Rouge Zoo, does that count? Hey, that’s nature! I wanted something different. After reading so many “Back to Nature” blogs…whoa, talk about competition!All of the historic sites and park areas are all just a tad away from Baton Rouge. The parks that ARE in Baton Rouge are mostly camp sites. I mean, that’s wonderful and all if you are a happy camper. I guess I could have taken a picture of some trees and a pond and called it a day but that was a no go. I finally came up with a new journey, not just a “Back to Nature” Journey, but an inner child journey. Laugh if you must, but some won’t admit that inside of us is the craving to cut and paste, draw outside the lines and play. So, there it was. That was it…this was my journey and me and my inner chap were on our way.
I jumped into the car (with a friend) and headed out into the city. I really had no idea where I was going but I knew what I was looking for. And there it was….
Baton Rouge Forest Park!! Of course, it looks a little bland here because well, it looks as if they only have two baseball fields. Stay with me, b/c I assumed the same thing. I passed the park sign and drove deeper. I was as curious as to what was to come behind the trees, I couldn’t contain myself. Yes, I was giddy. After taking a left, a right, a curve we stumbled upon it. It was there, just waiting for us! The bright colors-oh, I was elated. Of course, I had to contain myself. I couldn’t let anyone know that I wanted to skip my way straight to the slide and giggle all the way down.
I climbed my way to the top of the slide and while my inner child was loving it- my inner thighs not so much. I was wondering if this thing had a weight limit, because I was about to take it on full force- and I did. All I have to say is “Weeee”. Fearful of the slide going down with me, it didn’t. I made it- it made it and it was fun. I played on the swing to see how high I could go. Then, I remembered what I used to do when I WAS a child. I would swing as high as possible and then jump out of the swing. Needless to say, I’m not built the way I used to be. It seemed so much easier then. All in all, what a fun park it was. I should have brought some food for a picnic. Back into the car…….
I wasn’t finished with this park, yet. It went deeper into the woods and my curiosity got the best of me. I trailed until I came up to another park. Wow! It was a doggy park! I have never before heard of such a thing (maybe I don’t get out that much). I took a few pictures but people started to look at my funny. I wanted to get more pictures of all the dogs running around. There had to be at least 9. I assumed that the owners wouldn’t want pictures of their dogs on the internet. You know how dog lovers are, those are their children. I am one of those dog lovers. Note to self–”Self, be sure to bring your dog to the dog park”. Not to get off the subject, but I came home one day and asked my dog how her day was and she said it was “ruff, ruff”. Sorry, I had to. Back in the car….
Where to next? I continued searching for parks and stumbled on another one. I said a silent prayer for the next park as I got out of the car. It looked like it needed love and attention. It was obviously an older park that everyone had forgotten about. It seemed as if it had been built in the 80′s, you know, it just had that 80′s look. I couldn’t wait to play.
Kind of funny how these things seem so huge when you are younger. I am laughing b/c I almost BARELY fit into this. For a moment, it had me wanting to call Jenny Craig. Anyone know her number off hand? I squeezed my way in and squeezed my way out!
I’m not sure if you would call these monkey bars or not. They basically scared me. My friend kept telling me to crawl through them so we could take a picture. Would YOU crawl through this? Would I even FIT in this? I decided to pass up the chance of getting stuck in a tunnel of monkey bars. I can only imagine the news report on that one. “Real Estate Agent Stuck In Monkey Bars for Back To Nature Blog”. Note to self – Call Jenny Craig.
So, I hopped back in the car and I must admit at this point- I’m tired. Okay, call me a weenie but park hunting is a lot of work. It’s really a lot of work when you actually try to amuse yourself and have play time. I said good bye to the old, lonely park and headed south. I started thinking back how tough it was being a kid. What a tough life I thought it was as a child- playing, swinging, coloring, swinging, and playing again. Oh, look another park!
This had to be my favorite park. While the dog park did rank high, I favored this one. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was the hippo’s you could sit on. I think it might have been the twirly slide, geez I love those things. Every time I ride by McDonald’s, I’m always so tempted to drop my nuggets and jump on the slide. This was just a cute, little park. It had tennis courts on the side, a picnic table (should have brought the chicken), swings, a tire swing, a twirly slide and a partridge in a pear tree. While I was so excited that this was my favorite park, I was too pooped to enjoy it. I think my inner child needed a nap. I did give the slide a try and they just don’t make them like they used to.
What an eventful day it was. I didn’t see water. I didn’t see a walking trail. I didn’t see a good sunset. I did have loads of fun acting like a kid again. While some of you might not want to come down to Baton Rouge just to go down the twirly slide, there are parks everywhere (surrounding Baton Rouge). I just wanted to take you down memory lane a little. Yes, it might seem a little goofy but it was well worth the ride!
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