74. Book Cliff Elementary School, Green River, Utah

After a busy day travelling from Colorado National Monument and exploring Arches National Park, we were ready to wind down for the day. We had a problem with one of the tent poles though, so while Pete tried to fix it, I took Charlotte to the playground of the local elementary school. I was unimpressed with the amount of garbage lying around, but it was a decent playground. There was a climbing structure that Charlotte really liked – it offered her just the right amount of challenge. She had difficulty with it at first, but was soon climbing it like a monkey and was ready to show off for dad when he came to collect us.

 

Latin music filled the air as we played and a delicious smell wafted on the breeze. We stopped on our way out of town to check it out and had our most delicious meal of the trip, quesadillas and tortillas done up on an outdoor grill. The cook didn't speak any English at all and relied on his bilingual “waitress” to help take orders. When she was busy, I used my Spanish – he did a double-take! There are only a handful of geocaches in the entire town and none very close by, but unknown to us at the time, an event cache had been held there earlier that day – in honour of Green River Watermelon Days! The playground is located at N 38.59.587 W 110.09.477. and is point no. 74 on the map at the bottom of home page.

73. Dinosaur Playground, Dinosaur, Colorado

What an amazing playground in such a random place!  We had just crossed into Colorado from Utah when we needed to stop for gas.  Across the road from the gas station was a huge, colourful playground in this small, dry, dusty town.  It seemed very out-of-place, but because it looked awesome and because it was in a town called Dinosaur, we decided to stop for a closer look.  It was very tall - three storeys rather than just two!  It was a little much for Charlotte in places and even I was a little bit challenged by one of the climbs!

The grass was obviously watered often and was lush and green which made for a nice change from the arid landscapes we have been used to lately.  There was even a dinosaur-themed game to play - but of course there was in this playground in this town where all the streets are named after dinosaurs!  There was a cache called "We All Scream for Ice Cream" hidden not too far away, but it was on the other side of the chain link fence and I didn't bother with it.  Even though I didn't yet have a cache in Colorado!  The playground is located at and is point #73 on the map at the bottom of home page. 

72. Alberta Park, Portland, Oregon

We were on the second day of our vacation, waiting for nearby Podnah's to open for lunch.  Pete was excited to have some barbecue, Charlotte was excited to play and I was excited to find the nearby geocache, "Another Name for Depression is Van Buren".  No, I don't understand the title either!  There were lots of kids at the playground, though most of them were older than Charlotte.  One woman had nine kids with her - nine!  Charlotte is into swinging on anything she can find these days, so that was her main amusement.  She loved the merry-go-round too - a really old school one that it would be possible to fall off!  She played with a couple of other kids and the adults all took it in turns doing the spinning.  When I was off-duty, I was practicing my juggling - haven't done that for a while and I'm a little out of practice!

We continued on our way shortly after Podnah's opened - Pete loved his lunch and I made the best of it with my trout - all of the trout, except for the eyes.  Just the sockets!  Charlotte played with my GPS and deleted the waypoint, but it's point #72 on the map at the bottom of home page.