131. Albion Park, Maple Ridge

Charlotte and I found ourselves in Maple Ridge on this very, very hot day, in search of "Sudoku Summit", a geocache with a difficulty rating of five.  There was a souvenir at stake.  Geocachers will get it...  After making our find, we returned to this playground that we had spotted from the car on the way to the cache.  We found a shady spot to spread out our picnic blanket and set to.  Before very long, a little boy named Otis came along, but he was with his security detail (i.e. his parents) and they looked at Charlotte like she had two heads when she asked their son if he wanted to play with her.  Eventually, they went on their way and another family came along, also with a little boy.  They gave off quite the unfriendly vibe too, so no playmate there.  Later on, as we were packing up to leave, a man came by with his dog and he was so unfriendly that when we were just a few feet away from him, he deliberately turned his back on us rather than exchange a "hello".  This playground gets a failing grade from us because of all its unfriendly people!  The playground is located at N 49.11.424 W 122.32.637 and is point no. 131 on the map at the bottom of home page.

123. Howard Miller Steelhead Park, Rockport, Washington

After our misadventure in Sedro-Woolley, we picked up our groceries and headed out to Rasar State Park to find a campsite.  We had a walk-in site, and though it was hardly any distance from the parking lot to the site, it was a bit inconvenient given that I was on my own with a three-year-old and every single trip to the car was a bit of a production.  So I decided to head east on Highway 20 in search of a picnic site - I knew there were many places along the way that would be nice to stop at and explore.  We ended up at a little county park in Rockport on the banks of the Skagit River - the same river I had pictured Charlotte in earlier today!  I pulled out the kitchen box - only to find my camping stove in pieces.  So much for the delicious pasta dinner I had planned - and so much for hot water for dishes too.  We made do with a lunch picnic.  While I was getting things ready, Theo and Charlotte were racing around on the grass near the picnic table when she spotted this playground around the other side of the nearby building.

"Maybe we can play at the playground!" she said.

"What playground?" I asked - I couldn't see any playground!

But eagle-eye Charlotte had spotted one.  It was pretty strange as a public playground goes - just a collection of Little Tikes equipment - only more of it than you would normally see in a private yard.  Charlotte wasn't picky though - especially as it was something that her friend Theo could join her on!  I was without a loaded GPS at this point, Paddy having recently died in a freak accident.  It was killing me to know that there was probably a cache hidden in the park and I didn't know where to look!  I actually took a peek in some likely-looking spots, but to no avail!  In the end, we found the closest cache, "Here's to Slough" the next day when we were caching with our friend Mr. ClueFinders.  The playground is located at N 48.29.119 W 121.35.636 and is point no. 123 on the map at the bottom of home page.

117. Mt. Lehman Elementary School, Abbotsford

Continuing on with our hunt for caches that would help us qualify for the 122 Degree Challenge, we came across this elementary school playground where we stopped for a picnic lunch.  The small playground was just right for Charlotte and we also had a game of hopscotch!  Some other kids came by to play too and we chatted with them for a while.  The playground is located at N 49.07.074 W 122.23.007 and is point no. 117 on the map at the bottom of home page.

112. Richmond Nature Park, Richmond

Our second new playground in a row is birthday party-related!  This time we headed to the Richmond Nature Park to celebrate Alex's fifth birthday.  The playground itself is a rope pyramid that's a bit much for Charlotte for now, but she did play on it a bit with the other kids.  Mostly she cared more about the giant log nearby that was just perfect for climbing on - lots of kids seemed to prefer it over the structure that was actually designed for climbing!  When everyone had arrived, we headed along the boardwalk on an Easter egg hunt, with all of the kids finding a treasure.

We ended in the "grassy meadow", where we had a pizza picnic and the kids romped and played.  I turned on the GPS from underneath the picnic shelter and found myself just three metres away from "Green Meenie"!  At that moment, some other geocachers arrived and we all hunted for the cache together.  We actually came back to the park a few days later after work and daycare to climb on the log some more and to find one of the other caches in the park, "Time Machine 2".  There are still lots of caches to find in the park, including some of the Richmond GeoQuest caches, so we will be back again for sure!  The playground is located at N 49.10.247 W 123.05.640 and is point no. 112 on the map at the bottom of home page.

102. Shingle Bolt Park, Pitt Meadows

We may have slowed down our pace a bit, but there are still lots of playgrounds out there to explore!  Today we went out exploring the Pitt River Regional Greenway in search of a few caches, in particular one at 122.43 for Charlotte's 122 Degree Challenge.  We found three caches along the dyke and then Charlotte was ready to hit the playground.  The Pitt Meadows website wasn't the best one to navigate, so I came up with a playground relatively close to where we were exploring.  It was just a tiny little neighbourhood square with a tiny little playground - and it was raining too by the time we got there.  There was a little covered picnic table at the top of the playground, so Charlotte ate some of her lunch there, sheltered from the rain.  The playground is located at N 49.12.215 W 122.40.756 and is point no. 102 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.

35. Unsworth Elementary School, Chilliwack

On an overcast Saturday morning, Charlotte and I set off for Chilliwack, on a mission to work on a geocaching challenge.  We grabbed a geocache that we both needed, then Charlotte was ready for the playground.  We discovered this one because of another nearby geocache - there is a whole series of geocaches devoted to playgrounds out in Chilliwack!  This one was called "Izzy's Parks and Playgrounds #8: Playground Lottery", and unfortunately we couldn't find it, even with some encouragement from a nearby store owner who knew about the cache.  I think it might have disappeared, but that will just give us reason to come back when the cache has been replaced!  I hung out at a picnic table while Charlotte played.  Playground lottery indeed - this was a great playground - three playgrounds in one, really.  Charlotte had a lot of fun hanging out on the small one, sliding repeatedly.  We checked out the big kids playgrounds too - there was a merry-go-round which you don't see often these days, but it was so safety-fied as to be quite boring.  I could barely get it going and there was no possibility of shooting off this cumbersome thing!  Some kids came by to play and they loved Theo, so he had a great time too, racing up and down with them.  A horse grazed nearby and though it felt like it could rain at any moment, it held off.  I broke out lunch and Charlotte paused for a while to eat.  When she went to play again, she took a strawberry and her cup with her and set a little picnic up for herself on a little ledge at the top of the playground and sat down to munch.  Sometimes I think that I am doing one thing really, really right when it comes to Charlotte - encouraging her to play on her own on the playground instead of shadowing her every move as many parents seem to do these days.  It made me happy to see her enjoying the little picnic that she had set up for herself, acting very independently and doing this without my involvement.  She's really getting to be a big girl!  The playground is located at N 49.06.300  W 121.59.897:  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1