Today we went to Look Park, an awesome park in Northampton. It takes us about 40 minutes to drive there, but it's worth it. There is a water play area where the various fountains randomly turn on and off, and have buckets that fill up and then dump out. Ben loved it instantly, but Josh took some time deciding what he thought. The park also contains several playgrounds, the largest of which is right near the water feature. We brought a nice lunch with us and ate there. Technically you are supposed to get a permit to picnic, but it seems silly to pay $25 so you can eat tuna sandwiches on a bench. They have picnic spots for rent that are beautiful, with tables and grills, some right by the river that runs through the park. It's fun to do that, but also a lot of work to lug your charcoal, cooler, food, etc. We like to keep it simple at this point.
We took a ride on the train, complete with a tunnel. Traditionally, everyone on the train yells as it passes through the tunnel. This has been the case since I was a girl, and probably long before. I wonder if it is a spontaneous gesture that is replicated wherever small trains carry small children, or a tradition specific to this park.
To ease the pain brought on by the end of the train ride, the petting zoo is conveniently located next to it. We didn't have any quarters, and the machines don't take any other kind of change, so we did not buy any food for the kids to feed to the animals. Ben stomped his foot and said, "That's my favorite part of animals!" We told him to get over it, which he did. They have goats, sheep, chickens, owls, two bald eagles (kind of depressing to see in captivity), a few deer, hawks.
On the way home we stopped to put our feet in the Connecticut river, but I'm going to do a separate post on that so I can put up pictures.
No comments:
Post a Comment