61. YVR Domestic Terminal, Richmond

We found an indoor playground on today's post-daycare outing to the airport. This was great, because our pace has slowed down lately and we are not currently on track to hit 101 by year's end. Ironically we have been hitting fewer playgrounds in the summer than we did in the winter or spring - it's been way too hot lately! We took the Canada Line to the airport, which was an adventure in itself as Charlotte got to sit right at the front and pretend to be the driver. The playground wasn't much to write home about, but Charlotte played there for a bit before we went upstairs to the observation deck to watch the planes coming and going. We ate pizza while we watched fuel trucks and baggage trucks weave amongst the planes parked at the gates below us. On our way back to the Canada Line station, Charlotte told everyone in the elevator about her pizza. We bumped into a former co-worker of mine; it was all a little strange since rather than talk to each other, she called one of our other former co-workers to tell him she had seen me - right when I was still there. And then she went on her way again! There wasn't really much to tell him in the end then, was there? Clearly, there are no geocaches here - the first person to look for it would end up with airport security! There is a good airport-themed puzzle cache that has it's coordinates at the airport though - found ages ago at nearby Iona Beach! I couldn't take a GPS reading here and it's kind of hard to pinpoint it on the map, but I've done my best and it's no. 61 at the bottom of the page.

60. Guilby Park, Coquitlam

After a long, hot day exploring Burnaby Lake, we wanted to finish off the day with a quick visit to a playground. We sure picked the right park for a quick visit - this playground was decidedly underwhelming! All it had were swings - one set for the big kids and another for the little ones. We played for a little while, but there were wasps buzzing around everywhere - they even seemed to be building a nest right inside one of the swings. This playground was one to rack up the numbers, but it didn't do much more than that!  Perhaps we should hide a geocache here to liven it up a bit...  I took the co-ordinates, but Charlotte was playing with my GPS and re-located the playground into the South China Sea. Still, it's point no. 60 on the map at the bottom of home page.

59. Moody Park, New Westminster

Moody Park is just a few blocks away from home and we drive past it almost every day - and yet this is our first visit here this year! I'd been holding it in reserve, then holding it for a day when our neighbours were able to join us, and finally, today was the day. We packed up a picnic and we headed to the playground with Pam and Mark and Mya and Addy. We loaded the wagon with picnic supplies and good things to eat and hauled it over to a picnic table where we got ourselves set up. The girls had a great time playing together and I had a nice time hanging out with grown-ups for a change while Charlotte played without me. There is a spray park next to the playground where Charlotte got herself a little wet - but it was a nice warm evening, so that didn't matter! There are three geocaches in the park, all of which we have already found. But Mya and Addy haven't found them yet - we'll introduce them to geocaching once of these days! The playground is point no. 59 on the map at the bottom of home page.

58. Port Royal Park, New Westminster

There was a geocaching event held in Port Royal Park today!  We didn't stick around for long - just said hi to a few familiar faces, signed the log book so that we could collect our smiley and then hit the playground.  Not that there weren't a few of the other younger cachers also making use of the equipment!  Look at those apartment buildings, looking right on to the park as if it were there own backyard.  I would love to live right on a park like that - Charlotte would be out there playing all the time!  She had a great time here, climbing the just-challenging-enough ladder, sliding down and starting all over again.

I chatted with another mum who had also been at the geocaching event but had come over with her boy - she gave me kudos for not hovering behind Charlotte as she climbed, but Charlotte really is pretty proficient at these things by now!  She should be after 58 different playgrounds so far this year!  Other than the event, there are no other geocaches in the park, but there is a nine-cache mini power trail around the eastern tip of Lulu Island that makes for a really nice 2.5-kilometre paved walk.  The park is located at N 49.11.664 W 122.55.394 and is point no. 58 on the map at the bottom of home page.

57. Killarney Park, Vancouver

Every Thursday afternoon on our way from Richmond to North Vancouver, we drive past Killarney Park and Charlotte shouts "There's a playground, mum!"  I've kept it in mind for one of these Thursdays - and today was the day!  Although it's right next to Kerr Street, it's a bit difficult to get to - we drove all the way around the block to park at the nearby community centre, then walked over to the playground.  It was quite disappointing though, because it was definitely geared towards older kids - Charlotte couldn't even begin to try to climb up on it.  She did have a bit of a go on the swings though, and she did have fun playing with Owlie.  We practiced balancing like tight rope walkers on the wooden beam that surrounded the playground and we just made the best of it.  There was a pair of twin boys about ten-months-old playing in the sand underneath the climbing frame, getting dirty and had a great time while their mum watched from the grass nearby, letting them do their thing.  She was great - made me feel like there is hope that helicoptering is starting to crash and burn!  There is a geocache called "Killarney Park" in the northwest corner of the park - I had found it a long time ago though.  The playground is located at N 49.13.634 W 123.02.525 and is point no. 57 on the map at the bottom of home page.

56. Memorial Park, Ladner

Charlotte and I had all the time in the world after daycare today and there was no reason not to venture a little further afield than usual for this evening's playground adventure. I looked up water parks in Delta and we ended up at Memorial Park in Ladner. I have often parked here in the past to bike out to the bird sanctuary or to do a loop out along the dyke and then back along the rural roads.

 

The spray park was not a big hit at first - Charlotte wanted to be carried everywhere and she really didn't much like all the spray. She soon decided she wanted to go out to the regular playground. She got bored with the little playground pretty quickly and was soon climbing up to the top of the larger mushroom-shaped structure and flying down one of the slides. Actually the slide had a bump in the middle that slowed her sufficiently that she found herself motionless on the slide halfway down. "I'm stuck, mum!" she shouted - until she figured out how to get herself going again.

 

Eventually, she wanted to try the spray park again. I had been chatting briefly to a woman there the first time around, but this time we got talking a little more. She told me that her boyfriend had died last fall in a boating accident and that she was finally trying to get back to normal with her kids' first visit to the spray park. She teared up and I did too - she told me how her boyfriend had gone to check his crab traps and hadn't come back. His body had been found in US waters several days after he went missing. She was now trying to get her life on track and was taking a nursing program to keep busy and get herself back on her feet.

 

The kids all played until the water turned off at 7:00 - and Charlotte played longer than that. She liked the spray park better when it was just dribbling water rather than shooting it out at her! The park is located at N 49.05.271 W 123.05.067 and is point 56 on the map at the bottom of home page. 

55. Mackin Park, Coquitlam

Another scorcher! Charlotte and I did our grocery shopping in the morning before it got too hot, then headed to nearby Mackin Park to check out the playground. It's a big park and we often drive past it on the south side - from there, there's nothing to see but playing fields and I never knew until recently that the park also has a playground - and a spray park too. There was no one there when we got there, so I got the water going - but Charlotte was not impressed. I ran around amongst the sprinklers, but Charlotte couldn't be persuaded to come and play. Then a strong one suddenly turned on with me right in front of it and Charlotte was amused, but even less inclined to join in!

 

The playground was just adjacent to the spray park though, so we went down there to play for a bit instead. Charlotte had a new ambulance that she had just bought at the grocery store and she played with that while I once again did my best to find some nice cool shade. This heat wave is not okay with me! The cache in the park is disabled at the moment, though there are three others just outside the park. I have two of them already, but Charlotte just has the one at the Dairy Queen - we'll be back for the others! The cache is located at N 49.14.257 W 122.51.789 and is point 55 on the map at the bottom of home page.

54. Bobolink Park, Vancouver

Today we needed a playground not too far off our route from Richmond to North Van - and it had better be a waterpark, given this heat wave! Bobolink Park seemed to fit the bill, but when we got there, we were disappointed to find the wading pool empty. Perhaps it had been drained for the day, but maybe it hadn't been in use at all - it seemed pretty dry. This was disappointing, but Charlotte managed to get in a good play anyway, though I preferred to find a bit of shade on this scorching hot day. There weren't too many other kids playing here, but Charlotte tried to make friends with a couple of crows that were hanging about. She kept asking them to come closer, holding her hands out to them, and was very disappointed each time they flew away! I believe there used to be a very tricky geocache in this park that I never did find. It's gone now though - I'm glad that now I will never have to find it! The park is located at N 49.12.931 W 123.03.376 and is point 54 on the map at the bottom of the home page.

53. John Storvik Playground, Anacortes, Washington

Wow! This is by far the best playground we have come across - and not just since I started this blog either. This is the most amazing playground I have ever seen! I had googled "best playground in Anacortes" before coming down here, found more than I had bargained for, and knew that we had to visit. It's a cross between a Swiss village, a wild west fort and a pirate ship! It has so many nooks and crannies to explore and climb - ranging from wooden playhouses for the little kids to bigger structures and a scary-looking tire well for the older ones. Charlotte got carried away exploring the tot lot portion and while I usually leave her be to explore what's of interest to her, this time I was cajoling her to come with me because I wanted to explore the rest of the playground! When I had seen it all, I finally went back to my usual hands-off self and allowed Charlotte to explore as she pleased. She had a brilliant time here, running around all over the place and climbing up to take the twisty tunnel slide back down to the ground again. She invited me over to her "house" and made some new friends. I was proud of her for taking one of her pals to meet Theo, who was waiting for us in the shade. She showed him how to pet Theo and told Theo he was a good dog. It was the sweetest thing - but unfortunately the boy's parents didn't like him being near Theo and that was the end of that. Sometimes I wonder if these people actual stop to take in the situation before they bark orders based on preconceived notions or fears... The playground was fenced in, but it wasn't the usual chain-link fencing that makes some playgrounds feel like a prison exercise yard. Instead, it was just part of the structure and made the playground feel like a fort, keeping the bad guys out rather than keeping the kids in. In fact, it lent a little scope for imagination to the scene; I could just imagine playing Cowboys and Indians here - if that's still something that kids do and if it's not too politically incorrect! It's really too bad that this playground is so far from home - but it's not so far away that we can't come visit it again before very long! There's a geocache not too far away for us to look for next time too; it's a multi-cache so we didn't have time for it today. The playground is located at N 48.29.863 W 122.36.888 and is point 52 on the map at the bottom of home page.

52. Schoolhouse Park, Guemes Island, Washington

I found myself with a Wednesday off work to look after Charlotte while her daycare was closed for a couple of weeks. I was looking to make an adventure out of my mid-week, day-long vacation and so we got up early (ish) and headed Stateside to picturesque Anacortes for the day. I have been through here many times and I wanted to bring Charlotte to visit this lovely spot that has such good associations for me, especially as I have ridden here on my bike at least a couple of times before. I had always wanted to take the ferry to Guemes Island and I figured that this would be the perfect opportunity: Charlotte would love bouncing over the waves, we could do some geocaching and maybe we would find a playground to hang out at for a while. The caching at the local beaches was so much fun that at first, Charlotte didn't even want to go to the playground! Throwing rocks into the water for Theo was pretty distracting... But eventually we headed inland and found the park, right in the middle of the island in a lovely, rural setting with no noise but the whisper of the wind and the chirping of the birds. The park was deserted when we first arrived, even though it was a lovely summer morning. Charlotte did some climbing and sliding while Theo and I made the most of some shade. Some big kids came up on their bikes with their parents just before we were starting to think about going, but they didn't seem interested in playing with little Charlotte and her big dog. There are no caches in the park, but in addition to the two we'd already found, we logged a couple more before we figured we'd better head back to Anacortes before the weekly dangerous cargo sailing held us up for longer than we would have liked. The playground is located at N 48.32.957 W 122.37.465 and is point 52 on the map at the bottom of home page.