The day after our visit to Allen Pond Park, we drove up to Downs Park in Pasadena. The temps were still on the warm side, and the sun was shining! Downs Park is Rainbow’s favorite, and she’d requested it. As I mentioned in my March 2022 blog entry, Downs is a county park, and, as such, requires a fee of $6 to enter or one can purchase the annual pass. We used our pass to enter the park, and found a spot in the lot nearest the playground. Amazingly, the sun was shining, but there was also fog! That combination created some great lighting, and I had a blast snapping pics, especially on the shoreline when we eventually walked down there.
We started our mini-adventure off at the playground. All three girls made a dash for the tall enclosed playset where they climbed the rope ladders to the tippy-top. We could hear Pebble giggling as she slid down the twisting tunnel slide with her sisters hot in pursuit! Along with this playset is another one geared for the younger set, plus a merry-go-round type of spinner, swings, and more. The girls ran from one thing to the next. Both Rainbow and Stormy were climbing everything they could, while Pebble happily demonstrated her growing skill at pumping her legs to make the swing go. All three girls soon joined forces with other kids playing to spin the merry-go-round over and over again! Pebble didn’t help with the spinning, but sat contentedly in the depression in the middle letting others do the work for her.
Like the previous day at Allen Pond, we were playing after school had let out, and time wasn’t on our side. We let the kids play for close to an hour before we walked down to the beach area that serves as a canoe launch. Here the fog was even more apparent, and the beach was gorgeous in the late afternoon light. We turned the kids loose to explore, and, since it was November, I said no wading. Maybe my husband and I should have taken bets on that, I would have definitely lost, though…. You can guess what happened….
Shoes came off because none of the girls like the feel of sand in their sneakers. They found some shells and sticks that could be used as fairy wands or feather wands, thanks to Bluey. They made sand castles from the damp sand near the shore. Before I knew it, Stormy had her feet in the water. Pebble, Stormy’s shadow, followed her in. Rainbow stayed on the shoreline to throw rocks in, and stayed mostly dry. Pebble, per usual, got the wettest, and I was thankful I had spare clothes for her. Stormy just had to wait till we got home to change.
Neither my husband nor I would be crazy enough to go wading in the Chesapeake Bay in November, not our cup of tea! Our kids, though, love the water, and find it hard to resist the allure of it lapping against their feet. When we left the beach, Pebble was a shivering, sandy mess, but she had a blast as did Stormy and Rainbow. It was a memory making adventure topped off with ice cream at the Daily Scoop, our fav ice cream shop. Check out the park, and check out the ice cream shop, make some memories… Happy trails!
https://www.aacounty.org/departments/recreation-parks/parks/downs/
