100. Thornton A. Sullivan Park, Everett, Washington

After Christmas and Boxing Day at home, we headed down to Edmonds to see our friends "TheClueFinders" and to attend their party on Saturday night and go to the zoo the next day.  It had been raining on and off during most of our drive down as far as Everett, but as we got further south, we could see some sunshine ahead of us and I thought we were in for a nice break at a playground I had googled beforehand.  It wasn't raining when I pulled into the parking lot - but it began to pour before I had even had time to get Charlotte out of her carseat!  Still, Charlotte needed a break and there are still two playgrounds to go by the end of the year, so she donned her Muddy Buddies and off we went.  Her Muddy Buddies were noted by a family who had just moved to the area from Texas and were still learning how to cope with the rain!

We had a good time on the playground in spite of the rain, then we went to find a nearby geocache "Silver Lake View".  The playground is on the southwest shore of Silver Lake, which was chock full of birds today - a huge flock of coots, some huge cormorants, and a handful of buffleheads.  We found the cache without too much difficulty - and no wonder, since I had actually found it before, back in June 2011, on a caching mission with Mr. ClueFinders!  I had realized that I had been here before as soon as we pulled up in the parking lot, but I hadn't realized that I was after the exact same cache!  At least Blackford Girl got a new cache for her stats.  We left the playground still in the pouring rain - and wouldn't you know it, the sun came out about ten minutes later further down the highway.  The playground is located at N 47.53.611 W 122.12.877 and is point no. 100 on the map at the bottom of home page.

96. McLean Park, Richmond

After visiting the playground at the community centre, we headed over to McLean Park, where the ERT series begins. I had found “ERT01” back in the winter of 2011 when I was pregnant, so technically Charlotte had been along for the ride - but she wasn’t yet Blackford Girl!

 

We had a lot of fun at this playground; Theo was free to play and Charlotte played hide-and-seek with Owlie. He hid in various nooks and crannies around the playground and I called out “warmer, warmer!” as Charlotte got closer. I think she was figuring out the concept!

We were there for a long time, but as we started going back to the car afterwards, Charlotte did something very out-of-character. She took off across the huge, open grass field – and at first I let her go, allowing her to explore. But before long, she was further away from me than I liked and I shouted after her to stop. Continuing with her out-of-character break from reality, she ignored me – and kept going! If she kept going like that, she’d be able to get to Westminster Highway before I could get to her, so off after her I went. She had crossed the waterlogged field in her waterproof purple boots – I crossed it in useless little black shoes and my feet were soaked and freezing long before I even got to her. Yes, there was a little bit of trouble! At least Theo had gone with her. We walked back to the car along the path, which took us past the playground again. And there was Theo’s leash – so I would have left it behind if Charlotte hadn’t staged her little escapade. But I still didn’t thank her for putting an end to my plans for the rest of the day and for making me go home to get out of my wet shoes! The playground is located at N 49.10.329 W 122.58.391 and is point no. 96 on the map at the bottom of home page.