Al Moody (No. 1)

Park Name: Al Moody Park

Address: 2225 NE Daggett Lane

Date: 3/29/2015

Time: 10:55am

Al Moody park is located across the street from Ensworth Elementary School just a few blocks away from the hospital. It also neighbors a large residential area that includes 2 apartment complexes, several duplex/town homes and single family houses. It was named after Bend's first pediatrician Dr. Edwin Albert Moody. For more fun facts please see the Bend Parks & Rec website at http://www.bendparksandrec.org/.docs/park_id/10006/pg/10463

Now that I have the formalities out of the way lets get into it.....

The Pros......this is a big park. I mean wow there is some serious space to utilize for playing ball, picnics, kite flying and just general fun. It has a long paved walking path that leads you around the park which I think would be great for my little guy to ride his tricycle. They also have a basketball hoop which I thought was awesome for older kids that aren't going to enjoy the play structures anymore but still want to get out of the house.

Al Moody has a nice covered picnic area next to the children's play structure that would be perfect for birthday parties or family picnics.....you will have to take my word for it because some how I manage to not take a picture of it.

The children's play area is not large which I like because I can't lose my little adventurer running from one area of the park to another. The equipment is newer and the play area was pretty darn clean for public park. They have a small train play structure for the littles which was Caleb's favorite part of the park. It has an engine and a caboose that the kiddos can climb through and it sits on that spongy faux asphalt which I personally love.

We met a super nice mom named Sarah and her two boys while we visited Al Moody and let me just say if she represents the neighbors surrounding this park then it is definitely full of nice people. I hope we run into more amazing people like her and her boys in our park travels.

The Cons......the play area is geared more towards older children with the exception of the train. There are only two swings at this park and both are for bigger children meaning open front and open back so no swinging for the littles. This park also has my least favorite ground cover for the playground......wood chips. I am sorry to all of you who love them but I hate hate hate them. They give Caleb splinters, they stick to his socks, his shirt and get stuck in his shoes. And they are even worse when they are wet!!  Hate the wood chips.

I was not impressed with the weird teeter-totter either.  It is metal and it doesn't move much. One of the things I liked about the park is also a little bit of a con. When I say there is a lot of space as a pro I mean the grassy areas. The con about all the space is the tree-lined hill behind the playground. It is very rocky and not landscaped which would be awesome for older kids but not so fab if you have little explorers who think they are big kids too.

Another con we noticed was that there were some dog mines in the grassy area that were not picked up. For those who don't get my reference above let me be blunt, there was dog crud around so be careful when letting kids and adults of any age run in the grass especially close to the trails. Now I am going to let you in on a little secret.....I have a dog. Now when I take my dog to a park I always bring poop bags and I do not let him pee in the grassy areas. Personally I do not like to bring my dog to a kids park, I am a firm believer in kid parks are for kids and dog parks are of dogs however I am also realistic and know we can't always keep them separate. So folks if you have to take your dog to the park be prepared with poop bags and water to pour on pee spots.  Okay off my soap box back to this park!! :)

Overall the was a great park!  Caleb really enjoyed it and has already asked to go back to his "train park".  I really enjoyed this park too, in fact on an overall scale of 1-10 I give Al Moody park a big 7 and two enthusiastic thumbs up :)

I asked Caleb what his favorite thing at the park was and he said "my train...um...my basketball and friends." 

Happy Park Adventures Everyone!!! 

The List & Disclosure

*****2018 Revisions Below*****

How it works:

My family and I will visit each park, exploring and playing.

I will take photos of interesting parts of the park and the surrounding area, basically any area accessible to park goers.

I will blog about what we find with specific focus on my opinion of the following:

Safety - of the equipment and the surrounding area

Materials used - wood chips, foam floor, grass, concrete etc.

Location - including parking and accessibility

Friends - the people and pets we run into

And finally Caleb will rate the park on a fun scale of 1-3 and tell us his favorite part of the park (should be interesting)

Below is the list of parks we will be visiting during our challenge.

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For those of you who know Bend there are some obvious quick trip parks for various reason like lack of equipment etc.

• Al Moody Park
• Alpine Park
• Aspen Hall
• Awbrey Village Park
• Bend Senior Center
• Bend Whitewater Park
• Big Sky Park – Luke Damon Sports Complex
• Blakely Park
• Boyd Park
• Brooks Park
• Canal Row Park
• Cinder Cone Natural Area
• Columbia Park
• Compass Park
• Deschutes River Trail
• Discovery Park
• District Office
• Dohema River Access
• Drake Park and Mirror Pond
• Eagle Park
• Farewell Bend Park
• First Street Rapids Park
• Foxborough Park
• Gardenside Park
• Harmon Park
• Harvest Park
• High Desert Park Site
• Hillside I Park
• Hillside II Park
• Hixon Park
• Hollinshead Park
• Hollygrape Park
• Jaycee Park
• Juniper Park
• Juniper Swim & Fitness Center
• Kiwanis Park
• Larkspur Park
• Larkspur Trail
• Lewis & Clark Park
• McKay Park
• Miller’s Landing Park
• Mountain View Park
• Orchard Park
• Overturf Park
• Pacific Park
• Pageant Park
• Pilot Butte Neighborhood Park
• Pine Nursery Park
• Pine Ridge Park
• Pine Tree Park Site
• Pioneer Park
• Ponderosa Park
• Providence Park
• Quail Park
• Riley Ranch Nature Reserve
• River Canyon Park
• River Rim Park Site
• Riverbend Park
• Riverview Park
• Rockridge Park
• Sawyer Park
• Sawyer Uplands Park
• Shevlin Park
• Skyline Sports Complex
• Stone Creek Park
• Stover Park
• Summit Park
• Sun Meadow Park
• Sunset View Park
• Sylvan Park
• The Pavilion in Bend
• Three Pines Park
• Tillicum Park/Chase Ranch
• Vince Genna Stadium
• Wildflower Park
• Woodriver Park

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The Disclosure

Just in case I wanted to make sure everyone knows that the views expressed in this blog are opinion only and are in no way a professional evaluation of the parks in Bend. Each post is good for the specified day and time of my visit and does not mean that future dates and/or times of the day or night are exactly the same. Please DO NOT take my opinion for gospel!!  If you decide to go to a park based on my opinion and you hate it, are hurt, offended, disagree with my opinion etc....you cannot sue me for sending you there. 

This is not Travelocity and I do not guarantee anything. 

Also, I am not responsible if you, your children, your pets, your extended family, your neighbor, your neighbors family, your Facebook friends second cousins neighbor, the guy you sneezed on in Costco yesterday, the check out lady at the convenience store in Butte MT that you talked to for 15 seconds last year, basically everyone you may have come in contact with since births safety or entertainment at any parks you may visit based on my blog. 

Just to be clear, I am not responsible for the safety or good time of ANYONE or THING in this solar system or that may visit this solar system (gearing up for X-Files at our house) who visits a park based on reading, hearing about, psychically connecting to or thinking they may have one time had anything to do with this blog. 

DON'T SUE ME! I have nothing anyway unless you are dying to own a used copy of the Frozen sound track :)

The Challenge!!!

So here's what happened..........

The weather was amazing today and after a fun breakfast with friends I decided that my 2 year old son Caleb and I needed to burn some calories. The best calorie burner with a 2 year old boy, the park. I started heading home so we could walk to the park by our apartment, its convenient and it works. Then I thought lets do something new, so I grab my phone and what do I discover? That there is a park not far from where we had breakfast and I had never heard of it......LET'S GO!!!! 

We had a great time (see next blog for details) and it got me thinking.....how many other parks have I, a Bendite since 1986, never been too?

While my little guy took a nap I grabbed the Google-machine, went out on the line and what do I find.......Bend Parks & Recreation lists 70 parks in our town....70!!!!! How exciting right! 70 new experiences for my little adventurer (ok for mom, dad and our dog Buster too).  

Even more exciting, by sheer coincidence the park we went to today IS THE FIRST PARK ON THE LIST. 

Now my small family is not financially able to take many vacations and truthfully its sort of a bummer. So as a mom I try to find fun ways to have mini adventures. After seeing the list it was a no brainer. 

An adventure for Caleb......A great outdoors moment (or more) for Dad.........An opportunity for me to bust out some informational blogs.....Makes for a challenge the whole family can enjoy! 

And that my friends is how the challenge was born!

70 parks

17 months

1 family

And the journey begins NOW!!!!!!!!