Playground with Cars

 This subject line has been sitting in my drafts for a few weeks now. Normally, when I plan a blog post like this, I give myself more context so that I can figure out what mental gymnastics my brain is doing at that particular moment. 

Not this one though. All I gave myself was "Playground with cars". I have been looking at this subject line and wondering... what could this possibly mean?

Of course, over the past few weeks of puzzling over this, I came up with many different, increasingly ridiculous ideas. 

The ideas range from simple and silly - you know, like a full on playground for matchbox-sized cars, but then I reminded myself that would be nothing more than a Hot Wheels track, right? - to elaborate and grand - you know, like, a life-sized "playground" where cars and other full-sized vehicles could drive through obstacles and different weather conditions and stuff. 

I got stuck on that one for a long while, actually. Yeah, I famously do not enjoy driving, but I enjoy being the passenger for an adrenaline rush more than just about anything... as long as my brain is convinced that it is safe. 

And I mean, safety first would be the creed of my giant car playground, of course. And lots of waivers, too, cause of course things are bound to get out of control. 

Hmm, maybe this one would be better in virtual reality or whatever the kids are calling it these days. 

Okay, but enough about what this blog post was NOT supposed to be about. Let's move on to what I finally remembered that this blog post WAS supposed to be about.

Cause I finally remembered. 

I created this blog post title because one day, Mickey and I were out and about bopping around and we came across a real life playground. 

Now, when I say what I'm about to say, you're gonna picture something and I want you to know what I am describing is not at all as fancy as what I am saying. 

And I am forced to describe it because the entire reason I created the blog post title was so that I wouldn't forget that I saw this slice of magic - because we were adventuring too fast and I couldn't snap a pic in time. 

I will do my best to describe it. 

Okay, so it was this totally normal playground - wooden climbing structure, reflective metal slide, and a couple of swings for both grown ups and small tykes alike. 

But here is what it also had - a couple of parking lots for both grown ups and small tykes alike. And the kid one was way more full, y'all!

The grown up parking lot was practically empty and the kid one was filled with lil tyke cars of all colors and sun damages. 

The playground itself had only a kid or two, so my brain made the connection that those just stay there, at the playground, for the kids to play with whenever. And they stayed there. 

I dunno, maybe I'm judging Florida harshly, but I don't feel like that would be the case if we were in Florida. I think those cars would have yeeted outta there real quick like. 

Not here though, here, there were, like 10-15 of ‘em, just chilling, waiting to be played with. 

There are parks EVERYWHERE up here, y’all. So much outdoor space for communities to enjoy. 

And I am part of that community, so I’m making an effort to explore the parks near the house. Well, the swing part of the parks at the very least. 

Last week, I bopped up to a park less than half a mile from home. Today, I’ll be slapping on my helmet, hopping on my Jacki-powered tricycle and visiting a park just over half a mile from my house. I have to cross a road and everything!

Wish me luck. 

And happy swinging.