Our New Park

One of the things I was sad to leave at our old house was our neighborhood playground. So one of the first things we did here was to punch park into the GPS, and we found the Deep Creek Lock Park. It's an actual working lock on the Deep Creek Canal, part of the intercoastal waterway.

One of the first things we found was a boat dock with a couple of sailboats tied up to it. One of them was from Texas and was owned by a friendly guy with a dog named Danny. He regaled us with stories of his adventures while the girls fed Danny treats. Apparently a lot of sailboats take shelter from hurricane season in the canal, so now we go down to the docks regularly to check them out and dream of sailing around the world ourselves.

Across the parking lot we found a big grassy area, surrounded by a fence. Just on the other side of the fence is a huge port-a-potty which the girls never fail to point out as we walk by.

The next thing we saw was a workout area/obstacle course. It's got excercises posted and places to do pull-ups and all kinds of things. One day a man was there, but I only saw him work out when we were actually looking at him. As we walked by, he began doing pull-ups to impress us, so I loudly told the girls "Look, he's doing pull-ups, just like Daddy does!"

After we pass the outdoor gym, there is a huge playground, with slides, swings, see-saws, and a rock climbing wall that the girls conquered in no time, only giving me a mild heart attack.

It was hard to drag the girls away from the playground to see the rest of the park, but it was worth it! Apparently the land used to be owned by a family many years ago, and their crumbling graves, with dates that appear to be in the 1800's, still stand, surrounded by a sagging iron fence. There's a separate one where it looks as though a five year old child is buried.

 Across the park from the tiny cemetery is a set of stairs that proved to be an observation tower looking out over the canal. This quickly became my favorite part of the park and I snapped tons of pictures. At the foot of the stairs is a bench where you can rest and watch the boats go through the lock.

The best part of the park was yet to come, though. We crossed a bridge onto a small wooded island and walked all the way out, the land becoming narrower and narrower until it just petered out. We stood at the edge of the water and watched geese swimming, Irish Setters frolicking in a backyard across the water, and jet-skiers having fun.

I am so excited that we found this park, and we make a point to go at least twice a week, as long as the weather is nice. We've got a playdate to meet a friend there tomorrow-watch for more pictures!