Collins Park

We stopped by at this park just to take the photo. It is just down the street from mom's new apartment. It has many toys on the playground. I think it has one of the tallest slides that I've seen. We will have to come to this park again when we come back to Houston for visits.

HEB Kid Fit Park

This is a new exercise area in Nottingham park. There are several sizes of equipment for young kids and adults. There is a small climbing wall. I even climbed up a couple of "steps". I was happy to realize I could do it.

There is John sitting on the curb around the climbing wall. The gnome is blocking the wall.

Fry Road Park

We were on our way back home and I noticed this park on the Key Map. the park is near Saums and Fry. It is a very nice park. There is a small walking trail, play ground toys, restrooms, and lots of parking for a pocket park.

Katy City Park

This park is next to Mary Jo Peckham park. You can see John in the background over by the restrooms. The park is ok but Peckham park is much nicer. The park has playground toys, baseball and a dog park.

Bill Archer dog park

We decided to check out this new dog park. We did not bring Zip with us. It has been too rainy. There was so much water/puddles we could not walk around the whole park. It is very large. The website said 17 acres. There are two sections for small and large dogs. Zip would have to go to the large dog part. There are water hose with spray nozzles to clean your dog after playing. John used them to clean his muddy (dogs) feet.

My new gnome is from Donna, a Swapbot friend. He has traveled all the way from British Columbia, Canada.

Bigfoot Post Office

Stopped off at Bigfoot on the way to Pearsall. There was a small park across the street but didn't see a sign.

Southdown Park

We drove over to Pearland today and visited Southdown Park. I want to call it Sundown park. It has a Water Splash park but currently it is closed for repairs. Apparently the pine bark mulch clogs the pipes etc. I like the recessed water park area. It allows a little privacy.

Next to the park is an enclosed Bark Park for dogs. There are some agility equipment. We noticed most of the dogs were just sniffing each other rather than running around.

There is a a sidewalk weaving around the park. There are exercise stations scattered along the pathway. The city has also landscaped many areas along the walk. The park has many covered picnic tables, a large pavilion area, and a event center.

Dow Elementary

The school in the background is being renovated. It looks like it will be made into townhouses/loft apartments. I don't imagine this park will be here much longer just looking at the changes occuring in this neighborhood.

In front of the "school" is an unusual Virgin sculpture made out of aluminum cans.

Tony Marron Park

The last park of the day. We just came upon it without planning to visit. There is a trail running along the bayou. We did not walk on it but it appears to go for quite a ways. The playground had very new equipment. I liked the small climbing wall. We need to return again to this park and check out the fountain/splash? park. It wasn't operating today but it looks to be a really interesting design.

Fox Park

John was parked in the street and I hurriedly took the picture. This park is just a small grassy space. It is barely larger than the sign.

Eastwood Park

A small park that I just took a picture of the sign.

John T. Mason Park

Park of the month for March

The park is over 100 acres and is divided into three areas. We did not visit the part across 75th street. A lot of construction is taking place in this park. Some of the projects are a lighted soccer field and a series of trails along Brays bayou. The park currently has a pool, disc golf course, indoor basketball, soccer fields, tennis courts, and community center.

When all the work is completed this will be a fantastic place to visit again.

Wright Bembry Park

The last park we visited today. It is a very small one (pocket park size). This neighborhood is rapidly changing. On one side of the park was a street with older small homes and on the other side were brand new homes being built. I imagine if we were to return later this year the both blocks will be rebuilt with all new homes.

Halbert Park

Just took photo of sign. We did not walk around this park. It has a basketball court. You can see a couple of people playing in the background. There was also a small playground area. But it doesn't really have a parking area. Another reason we didn't linger.

Proctor Plaza Park

This is a tiny park in a historic Heights neighborhood. There is a covered basketball court that does not have any hoops or backboards. I don't think many people play basketball over here. Several yuppie type families with young children were the only people at the park. It also has a walkway around the park and some tennis courts.

Montie Beach Park

The wet weather has kept us from gnoming. Today is a beautiful day. First stop is Montie Beach park. Not a sign of any type of water so don't know where the beach is. :)
There is a small hill by the playground. John says the park is much improved from the olden days. Today an organized group of men were playing soccer. There is also a baseball field.
A 5/8th mile walking trail goes around the perimeter of the park.

Pocket park 12005 Kimberly

Just a sign and some stakes marking a fence to be installed. It was kinda hard to find. Kimberly dead ends every other block. Easiest way to get there is to turn south at Memorial City Mall. I guess it would have been easier too if we'd used my new Key map.

Eldridge Park

It has been quite awhile since we have gone gnoming. I guess the "holidaze" and the "icicling" and the wet weather have kept us house bound. I guess getting my trusty canine companion, Zip may have also contributed. I'm still getting familiar with him. I also need to "train" him to walk better on a leash. Right now he isn't the best at following me as a pack leader.

Eldridge park is located in Sugar Land. The park has a bunch of soccer fields. There are two brick buildings. Looks like one could be use for parties, weddings etc. The other is an outdoor picnic type one. (maybe a concession stand?) On Sunday it looked like it was being used as a meeting area for an Asian Church. Along the side of the buildings was a small playground area.

There is a 0.4 of a mile paved trail around a pond with a spray fountain. We walked the loop five times to complete 2 miles. There was a large compass rose embedded in the sidewalk. It is located next to a pier. There were a number of ducks sitting around that we joked about possible being made into Peking Duck if they weren't careful. It was kinda cold, windy, and muddy so we didn't go to the farthest areas of the park. It looked like all that was at the back was more soccer fields.

Meyer Park

We stopped off at this park after visiting my brother's for Christmas. It was sooo cold maybe not that cold just very windy. The park is on both sides of the road. We wandered around on the South side of the park. Several people playing soccer and their dogs were the majority of visitors. Quite afew birds were in pond on the east side. We saw three Nutria running and swimming.

We plan to return again and explore both sides more thoroughly.

Emancipation Park

Emancipation Park is not far from Baldwin park but in a very different neighborhood. We drove by a pool. We didn't walk around this park. John used the portapotty while I quickly took this picture. Several homeless people were sitting around this park with their shopping carts beside them.

Baldwin Park

November park of the month. The city has really made many improvements. John says this used to be a real bum's hangout. There is a gravel path around the edge of the park. A gazebo like structure with welcome written in many languages is in the middle of the park. The playground is only two toys for very small kids. But the park has about four "dogie bag" dispensers located along the paths. The best feature of the park are the trees. Huge old oaks cover the entire park in a wonderful shade. One particularly old tree almost looks and feels like it might reach out and grasp you in its woody fingers.

Taylor park

This is the November park of the month according to the city's website. It is fairly isolated. Perfect place to dump stuff like about a dozen old tires. The park has about a mile of trails wandering around the park. Several bird blinds are scattered around. If the mosquitoes weren't so bad I might have been tempted to stay and see if I could spot some birds.

After windy Wednesday, the city really needs to send out people to clear the trails of all the limbs and branches.

We liked the park. I am sure we will return again to visit and watch birds.

Bell Park

With the time change we were early every where we went today. Decided to stop off at Bell park just because it wasn't closed. It is a small park with a very attractive water feature (pond, waterfall, fountain, a couple of bridges over the water). The benches are made from concrete but have been molded to a very smooth curves that make the attractive. There is also a statue of Christopher Columbus in the park. Not sure why he is here. He seems to be pointing at something in the bushes. (No telling what that could be since this park is in Montrose)
It is a pleasant place to sit in the shade and listen to the sound of water.

Sam Houston

We had been walking for quite awhile. By this time John needed to find the little boys room. I spotted a blue BFI portapotty across the bayou so we walked over there. When we got there I noticed the sign for Sam Houston Park. While John was inside I walk over a took this picture. I see by the sign this park was acquired in 1899.

John said the potty was too full to use. So we had to hurry back to the car and find some other place.

Sesquicentennial Park

This was the best sign I could locate for Sesquicentennial park. I'm sure there is a typical green or brown city park sign but I didn't see it today. There were lots of tiles along a wall with images from Houston. (from old to modern)

Art park

This area has changed so much. Ten years ago none of these trails were down here. It is a little noisy with the traffic noise. You can see all the elevated freeways in the background.

Buffalo Bayou Walk

This trail is along both sides of the bayou. There are several places were you can launch a canoe. Also painted on the sidewalk is painted with blue and white stipes with a poem about blue. The word blue and then a word that goes with it like blue plate blue print blue moon etc. Pretty cool!

Mozolo Disc Golf Course

Drove around the downtown area. It was easy to do on a Sunday morning. The weather was beautiful. A cold front came thru and it was very pleasant walking. We didn't bring any money. I spent all my change yesterday. We looked around for a parking place without a meter. Found a spot very close to this Disc golf course. There were several animals made from rebar nearby. We walked down to the trail along the bayou.

Schwartz Park

This park is located along side Landrum Middle school. It almost looks like it is a part of the school campus. There is a swimming pool, basketball court, and baseball field. The road that runs along the side of the park is a dead end. I imagine that some silly stuff could go on back there late at night.

Freed Park

When we arrived we noticed several men starting to play soccer in a large open area on the side of the park. There was a vegetable garden in another open area. I didn't walk over to look because the ground was still muddy from all the rain we have had. There is also a cummunity center. The other part of this park is filled with nice old trees and also has a very shady walking trail around the perimeter. The city is adding some new playground equipment. With all the apartments in the area, this will be very enjoyable for the neighborhood children.

Jack Brooks Park

We went to Jack Brooks Park to participate in a 5k walk with the Houston Happy Hikers. Last week we had lots and lots of rain so the trails were muddy. This meant that the walk was on the roads in the park. I told John to just think of them as really wide paved trails. The course was a bit confusing. One checkpoint was unmanned so we punched our own card. John ate several pieces of candy since no one was there to tell him "only one piece".
We will have to return to this park again when it is dry. It is near the dog track. So maybe we can check out the dog races also.

Grady Park

Found this park over by Chimney Rock and San Felipe. There is several tennis courts, a walking trail, and some basketball courts. The basketball courts are at the back and on the other side of a fence that makes me wonder if maybe the are part of the other property. You can see all the orange plastic fencing in the picture. It looks like there will be some playground equipment maybe?
We will have to return later to see the progress. It is a nice little park.

Lake Houston State Park

Took the new gnome out on a trip to Lake Houston State Park. We got an early start and arrived around 8:00am. There was still dew on the ground and lots of spiderwebs glittened in the sunshine. Very few people were out and about. (one guy on a bicycle, and later two people with their hiking poles) Seeing the poles reminded us that we should have brought ours. The trail wasn't too uneven or hilly to even need the poles. We wandered along a hike/bike trail. It was starting to get warm so we thought we would go back. We came across the equestrian trail and decided to follow it back to parking area. It has not been used as much as the other trails. The plants have grown over the trail more and the spiders webs are all over the trails. At one point John invented the Spider Dance. He had a HUGE Banana spider crawling on him. He is asking me to get it off his back. All I could do is stand back in terror and utter "It's on you" over and over again. Other than the creepy spiders we saw a deer, a squirrel, lots of little lizards, cardinals, and a really noisy barking dog. As we were leaving we saw a couple launching a canoe under the bridge into Peach creek. It looked like fun. We need to do this sometime.

Lake Houston Park

We didn't actually go to Lake Houston State Park. Last week the park became a Houston city park. The state park sign was still there so a photographed both. We have been to the state park a couple of times before. It has lots of hiking, biking & equestrian trails. There are camping and cabins for overnight stays. We have not camped here but want to in the future. Very quiet. A great place to go to get away from it all. Only saw eleven people the whole time we were in park. That is probably a busy day because of the holiday weekend.

Freshmeadow Park

This park is a really busy place today. There were many people playing and watching soccer. There were merchants selling all kinds of refreshments. I think one was even selling pork rinds. Didn't really notice too much about the park because of all the activity. Just jumped out and took photo.

Haden Park

I found a quarter on the ground in this park!!! It was in the playground area. The parks has some picnic tables and a .3 mile walking trail. It has some very tall pine trees. Unfortunately the park is a hang out for quite alot of men. They were sitting under the trees. I didn't see them drinking. I think they could have been day laborers waiting for a job.

Hegwig Park

The park is small and tucked beneath many tall pine trees. I don't think there is any part of this park that isn't in the shade. It gives the park a very woodsy feel. Many of the toys are for young children. Also found out that Hedwig is a woman's first name.

Westchase Park

This is the fourth park of the day we set out to find. One was missing I guess gone. I have an old map. Another was under construction. This one was adjacent to Sneed elementary school. It looks like it is also used as a school playground if you look at the times it is open (pen). We visited on a Sunday.

Noticed that one of the cars parked along the street had been burglarized. While I was taking photo the owner came out and discovered his broken window.

Harwin Park

Something really stinks in the garbage can.

We were the only people at the park despite all the cars in the parking lot. Looks like this is overflow parking for the church across the street.

The park has a small play area with some toys. There is one riding toy that is a duckhead. It is kinda weird cuz to play on it the rider sits on the face/bill.

The park also has a walking trail. The city is naturally landscaping around the path. In time this will make a very scenic place to walk.

Carverdale

The second park of the morning. This one has no place to park. If you drive off the paved road you will probably need a tow truck to get you back on the road. Not much here either. There is a futuristic fenced backstop. Kinda neat looking. But how much fun is a backstop. We didn't walk around here either. We were afraid to park. Dicided to drive on to a third park. Fresh Meadows. We didn't even stop there. We saw quite a few young people that looked to be partying. And I don't mean a Sponge Bob pinata party. Just didn't seem like a good time to stop even for just a photo of the sign.

Independence

This park has a covered basketball court, a playground area, bathrooms and a large open area. Today many adults were playing soccer. We didn't walk around the park because of all the people playing soccer. The park seems forgotten. Across the street is a vacant building with quite alot of graffiti.

Boone Road

It looked like it was gonna rain. We got here at the same time the ole city Honey dipper truck was working. The park has some playground toys and a covered picnic/gazebo. The tables were occupied with several people sleeping. Must have a late check out time cuz they were still in their sleeping bags. We walked the one mile trail. There were several people running. This park has a very large area. It has the potential to be a very nice place. It is also very close to the Hong Kong market. Another really fun destination.

Zube Park

One day a month they have free train rides in the park. We went to ride the trains. It was very hot. There were many people waiting to ride. Lots of children. (Lance and Miles were most annoying.) Where is Super Nanny when you need her. Be Good, Be Good

Also a group of bike riders were loading up to leave as we sat under a shady picnic table on the play area on the other side of the park.

Alief Amity Park

Decided to go to park early in the morning. The grass was still wet with dew. The park has a very cute gazebo. It appears to be a pre-fabricated type. It is made of metal instead of the wooden ones in the other parks. This park has lots of picnic tables and a number of them are covered. There are several horseshoe pitching courts, a covered basketball court, and a very small playground with two swings and a slide. It would be nicer if it had a walking path. My shoes/toes got wet from the dew as I walked across the grass.

Memorial park

We walked around the Seymore something exer- trail. I think it is 3 miles in length. I was looking for a sign to photograph. I found several with the golf course and even one for a croquet course. There were even people playing croquet. It was a very warm and muggy day. Thankfully it didn't rain on us. It did rain quite alot later. I brought my new camera in hopes of using it. Didn't get much of a chance. This picture was taken with old trusty.

WC in Uppsala next to cathedral

This is a good place to go in Uppsala. Stopped off there after I went through the cathedral.

Snöberget Naturreservat

Walked down to this area from Astrid's summer home in Niemisel. Someone had left a stick behind the outhouse so I decided to use it to walk along the trail. I didn't get too far down the path until every mosquito in the country swarmed me. I decided I really didn't need to see what was further down the way and turned back.

Artic Circle

On the way to Jokkmokk crossed the artic circle. Saw about 10 reindeer walking on the road. I bought a firestarter that was made with a reindeer antler. It really works. I found some flint on the ground outside my door right here in Houston. pretty cool!

Gammelstad Kyrkstad Luleå

Gammelstad Kyrkstad is a church town. It is a town that people only lived in for Sunday services or other religious days. There are hundreds of tiny houses.

Royal Palace Sweden

Went to Stockholm to see the old city. Saw the changing of the guards. I bought some souvenirs and ate lunch at an Italian restaurant. They had the thinnest pizza I've ever seen.