I just got back from a LONG road trip to visit relatives all over the southeast. The furthest North we went was Chattanooga Tennessee. We took our time and never rushed. I took my daughter to parks all over the place. She is two and to her, a park is a park. Me, I’ve become a connoisseur of parks. I cannot help but to compare them or judge them. And what I’ve discovered is that the best ones are right here at home. We went to one in Huntsville Alabama that just appalled me. It was a brand new park and completely made of shiny metal! I could understand if it were an old park because maybe they hadn’t made advancements in the quality of plastics yet, but Brand New? It is July, so all of the equipment had a potential to give you a third degree burn. It is very difficult to explain to a two year old that she cannot climb on anything and that she just has to run in circles because some engineer somewhere is a complete do-do head.
We are back home now and went to one of my favorite local parks yesterday. I love that my county is so wonderful with their parks. Almost al of them have big tarps over them and they are made of hard plastics or they are painted in the kind of finish that doesn’t get hot. Most of them have sprinklers or misters for the kids to run around in, and covered seating for picnicking.
I wonder what it is, have we better engineers? Is it because we are outside all year around? Is it that Floridians really understand the danger in prolonged sun exposure?
I guess it is one more thing to chalk up to the list of reasons that my mortgage is so high.
