Vancouver, WA

We saw the beautiful little park on our way to get a chicken strip basket at the 4th Plain & General Anderson Road Dairy Queen. Not sure how warm it would be for eating outside, we ate first then went back General Anderson to the park located on the right hand corner of 18th Street.

There were several children and adults at the park when we returned so we took the wide walkway around the soccer field, where my son and his cousins played on the same team when they were younger.

We had only walked about half way around the field when Layla and I spied a stump just the right size for sitting on and raced each other to see who could get it first. We sat at the same time but she couldn’t understand why I checked it for dampness first, it was a dismal day, but had not been raining. However, when I pointed out the wood chips and explained I was looking for sap, she quickly jumped up to check out her seat as well. Luckily, the cut looked much older than the chips.

She wanted to return to the playground and the trail did not have much more of interest than a few soccer goals, so we turned around. The group we had seen when we first arrived was still there, and she decided that was great with her, especially when she found a girl about her own age to play with.

When pictures started to be taken I finally realized we had plopped ourselves down at a family reunion. I am partially deaf and seem to be getting more so every time I turn around; and in this case, everybody was looking at me and I felt like I was back in junior high when I had been watching something out the window and turned back to the classroom to find everybody waiting for a reply; from me. It wasn’t until they left that I realized they had probably wanted me to take a group photo. Ah, the pleasures of being different, I wonder how many times it is perceived as being a stuffed shirt.

Anyway, back to the park; Layla enjoyed it tremendously, especially the swings. This is a small neighborhood park with two picnic tables, nice playground equipment, even a basketball hoop. There is room for only a few cars at the park itself and no restroom; we did have to rush home afterwards, but it was a very nice afternoon.