Partial Park Tour 2012

Val Gal had a math competition up at Utah State on Wednesday. Then her ward was coming to do Baptisms for the Dead at the Logan Temple later that night. Instead of driving back down on a stuffy bus only to come right back up to Logan, she asked if she could come chill with Bill and I for a couple of hours. But of course!

I got off work a bit early and managed to find Val in a swarm of Junior High kids at the Taggart Student Center. She picked up a Turkey Sandwich for me when they told the kids they could have seconds, ate my Cheetos, and got me a cup of Aggie Blue Mint Ice Cream. Val's a winner...except that she ate my Cheetos. ;)

So what do sisters do for a few hours whilst chillin' in Logan?

We went Park Touring! I wanted to show Val all my favorite parks in Logan, and try to get to as many as we could in the couple of hours before my parents came to get her. There are 37 parks in Logan plus 4 future parks that you can visit...but do nothing but ooo and awe at some dirt. Here's a list of those parks and their addresses for Loganites. And there's a fantabulous park in River Heights that one MUST go to. 

We went to fifteen parks or so in about two hours. We didn't stop and play at all of them, but we got out of the car, played on some playgrounds, walked around walkways, sat on some benches, and took pictures by signs so that we could ensure that the park visit counted. 

First, we went to Adam's Park, the park closest to mine and Bill's Apartment. It has the best swings and the fastest/most-dangerous-to-bigger-bodies slide!

Val told me she's trying out to be a cheerleader at NOJH this year. I asked her what kinds of things you needed to be able to do to even try out for something like that...because I'm definitely not the one to know such things. She told me that you need to be able to do a Round-Off and the Right Splits. I had no idea she could do either one, so she showed me! Where in the world did she learn that?!? I remember when Jord could even do the splits when he was little. I apparently missed out on that gene. But I think it's dang cool!

Then realizing I had crummy shoes for Park-Touring, we drove back to the apartment, grabbed my Tennis Shoes, and snagged a couple pieces of bread to go feed the Ducks at the "Canyon Entrance Park" (aka: First Dam).

A lot of the ducks had wonky hair-dos going for them, but they sure were fun to feed. And they sure weren't afraid to approach you. Including the geese...which Val and I are both slightly terrified of. Then we went to the Harry Potter tunnel and played with our voices and looked at the faded chalk graffiti.

Oh Canada!

Supermodel Val.

Jess's has got a wonky "Duck-Do" too.

We then decided to cross the street to the Ray Hugie Hydro Park. There's never been an issue with parking there every time that I've gone there, but apparently it's a private road...because someone actually owns a little house right there. I found this information out when I saw the Logan City Truck come driving at me on the little narrow street. Feeling over-confident in my backward driving skills and trying to get out of his way, I managed to drive backwards into a tree...yes. I'm really good at things like that. But luckily I had slowed down by that point and was really just trying to park to get out of the way. I just misjudged the distance between Lex and that tree. No harm. No accident. No dent in the bumper...just a whole lot of embarrassment when the Logan City Truck Driver rolled down his window and said, "Oops." He then explained to me that I wasn't supposed to be on that road...we promptly left without playing at that park.

We then explored the majority of the parks down in the Island. Including little pocket parks, like Sumac Park, that I had almost forgotten about. 

We went up to Cliffside and hung out at the highest altitude park. Then we went to The Point and sat on the bench and admired the view.

Since being down in The Island takes you right into River Heights, we decided to make a stop at Ryan's Place Park. It was Val's favorite! It's still one of my favorites as well.

Val shared with me her love for gymnastics and how much she wished she were in them. She told me that all her children are going to be in gymnastics. Even if they hate her for it. ;) I will be the most encouraging aunt in the world for those kids. Especially if they if they get to the Olympics.

We went back to The Island and hit five parks simply by walking across the street and touching a patch of grass.

As our window of time was growing smaller and smaller, we decided to go to Angel's Landing park and basically hit another five parks in one. Every time I go to Angel's Landing and teeter-totter, I'm bound to make little-bodied friends. The teeter-totter is magical. Val and I met a little boy from Evanston, Wyoming who couldn't believe we had already been to ten parks that day! And we did little tricks with two little girls who discovered they could ride the tee-totter with no hands.

We then took turns in the Puke Chair and I was sick. Puke-Chair-Sick.

But we had a blast going around the town and exploring little places dear to my heart. I have a fond memory in each park and it's always fun to create new ones. Dad swung by at 5:00 to pick Val up. We didn't have more than two seconds to chat, but it was nice to see Pop's face. :)

I'm glad my sister was able to come up and chill with me for the day. We had a good time and now she has a little bit more of an idea of why I love Logan.