Crump Park

Crump Park

3600 Mountain Road
Ground Cover:  Mulch
Play Structure Count:  24 (or more, I may have lost count)
Safety Rating:  High
Trash:  Light
Fun:  WOW

When you enter the park, this playground is on the right.  There's a lake beyond this, and big green fields, and I get the feeling alot of grounds past it all.  But we didn't get that far.  Bear with me, as this is going to be a lot of pictures!  First up, the big kid playset.

This is the front right.  Nice big slide, and the top bit up there is fully fenced, so the only exit is down the slide.

Left from the first picture.  That tube going to the right leads to the slide pictured above.  The tube behind these three purple slides leads to the back of this structure.  Steps lead up to the level with the purple slide.

Front left of the structure.  That neato looking pod thing is controlled by the metal swirly thing you see those two kids at.  You pull it down, the pod moves horizontally.  Deceptively heavy.  Takes kid teamwork!  Notice that man on the left, I'll bring him up later.

Back of the big kid play structure.  I didn't want to post TOO many pics, but you can see a touch of a monkey bar type thing on the left, that seems like a training tool for ninja warrior.  The yellow things need to be slid across the rails.  Mad kudos to any kid that can pull that off.

On to the toddler area!  Can you clearly see all the pieces?  No?  Oh, I'm sorry - is the picture too far away?  That's because it's huge!

There are two main attractions, in my opinion.  The first is this slide structure.  Steps go up to landing one - yellow slide.  Steps go up to landing two - steering wheel toys, bench, and exit down via the swirly fireman's pole.

Main attraction number two!  TRAIN!  One engine car, one closed, one open.  Sparrow and Skylark spent almost their entire time here.

Otherwise, there's a truck thing.  There's a shower thing.  There's a house thing.  A weird dome thing.  A swirly bucket thing.  A few other things that I can't remember 'cause there were so many things.  There were baby-level benches in a few spots, so it was nice to get Skylark (who's just mastering walking) up against those and she could fiddle with mulch while leaning on them.

And swings!  Of course there are swings!  Two baby, two adult, one tire, and two rocking toys.

PHEW!  This place was awesome!  I had heard good things from other moms but I had no idea it was this massive.  The trash was minimal - one napkin and one crumpled up piece of aluminum foil, both of which were in close proximity to covered picnic tables.

The saftey was overall very, very high.  The parking lot was a good 40~50 feet from the playground, and it's surrounded by woods.  The structures were well designed so there were places to put toddlers where they could play without being tempted to jump off an edge. 

I had one complaint.  One.  And it's not the park's fault.  But remember that guy I pointed out?  If you didn't catch what he was holding in his hand, it was a lit cigarette.  Seriously?!  The rage: it boiled within me.

Lombardy Park

Lombardy Park

The corners of Park, Hanover and Lombardy in the Fan District
Ground Cover:  Sand
Play Structure Count:  2
Safety:  High
Trash:  Light
Fun:  Very!

This park goes by three names:  Lombardy, Triangle Park, and Kuba Kuba (which is located across the street).  I've always heard it called Triangle Park, as it is literally the triangle formed when Hanover and Park meet, and crossed on the top with Lombardy.  It should be noted that there is only on-street parking, and that the zones are an hour.  If the sneaky meter maids catch you, you're in for a $50 ticket.

While the park only has two structures, swings and a playset, the playset is very well designed.  There is a three sided rock wall (on the right) that leads to a rounded bridge.  The following landing is deep and covered, with stairs down and two slide options.  There is no exit other than the slides from the landing, so there's no where to fall out from. 

Both sides are lifted off the ground, and since the ground is sand, it's good digging and scooping space. There are even little shelves and cubby holes for just that purpose, which the above picture (the back of the structure) shows.

Behind the structure is a swing set.  Two adult and two baby swings.  There's a small patch of grass beside the swings, which is a nice depository for any immobile infants that don't have shoes to hide sand in.  To the right of the frame is where a half naked male came out on his second story porch and hollered at someone on the street.  The Fan - always something to see!  (And see I did!  Wasn't half bad, either...)

One of the biggest perks of this park is the giant (by this I mean 4') brick wall surrounding it on all sides.  Parents of climbers be an alert - it can be scaled.  There are three massive iron gates, one per wall.  They're nice and heavy, so in case your child is smart enough to lift the latch (also heavy), you'll have a few more seconds of running time while they're struggling to push the gate itself open.

The trash was light.  A few lollipop sticks (why are these at every freaking park?!), but the scary moment was finding the top of a water bottle in the sand.  Just in case you thought your infant was mostly safe sticking her slobbery hand in the sand and having a sensory overload bringing it to her mouth, you do need to be wary of hidden choking hazards.

I didn't take any pictures of the back half of the triangle, but there are a few trees and some shaded benches. 

Really nice park, overall.  If I lived closer, we'd frequent it more.

Laurel Recreation Center and Skate Park

Laurel Recreation Center and Skate Park

10301 Hungary Spring Road
Ground Cover:  Mulch
Play Structure Count:  3
Safety:  Low
Trash:  Moderately Gross
Fun:  I'd rather go to the dentist

I knew going in that I shouldn't expect much.  The county does bill this place as a skate park.  But I figured there'd be a playground.  There are playgrounds everywhere!  But I didn't expect the epic suck that I experienced.  The grounds include a soccer field, baseball field, skatepark, and the playground.

Tiny.  Teeny tiny.  You can't see the road, as there's a bit of hill in the way, but Hungary Spring is literally twenty feet away from the playground.  Look closely - do you see the fence?  No?  That's because there isn't one. 

This teeny little slide thing is all this playground has going for it.  And it's completely open on the back.  So Skylark could not, I repeat could not, play on it.  Sure, it's not thirty feet up in the air, so I can't damn it completely.  But common.  Common. 

So this whole playground is nothing more than that slide, a teeter totter, and four swings (two baby, two adult).  That's.  It.  Oh, and the road hazzard.  Which is awesome for people like me with two kids who have free will and minds of their own, but haven't learned the basics of self preservation.

The trash was moderate.  Lots of lollipop sticks, napkins, I found a kid hairband (the type with those two giant balls on the ends).  The highlight was a bottle cap for a Corona.

But!  If you're a skateboarder, this place is heaven. 

Well, I guess it would be heaven if there wasn't a giant freaking lock on all the awesome skateboarding thingies.  There's that giant ramp, and a whole field of cool doo-ma-hickies that I understand skateboarders do tricks on.  But again, it was locked.  So what's the point!?

We stayed for all of twenty minutes.  Robin and Wren met us there and were smart enough to suggest we relocate.  We went to the library on Staples Mill, which was a fabulous idea.

Springfield Park

Springfield Park

4600 Springfield Road
Ground Cover:  Mulch
Play Structure Count:  5
Safety:  High
Trash:  Quite Clean
Fun:  Deceptively Fun

This little park surprised me.  I know the play structure count is only five, but the main attraction is a single, very large, well designed structure.  It's basically one giant ramp that's well closed in with metal rails, so even a tiny baby who's only just begun toddling can well navigate the structure safely.  Attached to the structure is a swirly gig thing, a set of ballancing stones, a climbing rail, and two very cool slides.

Here's a view from the front of the structure with both slides.  Behind this picture is a field that leads to an elementary school.  It feels like this park should have trials behind it, but it doesn't.  I guess that's a downside, but this structure was so well designed I didn't care.

There's a building with bathrooms and a good few picnic tables between this large structure and a tiny baby section of park.  Two baby swings and three rocking toys.

The place was very clean.  I found one empty water bottle and one empty pack of cigarettes and that was IT.  Very impressed.  The bathroom was also exceedingly clean.

While it isn't fenced in and does butt up right to the parking lot, there is a bit of distance between the main structure and cars.  So if you sit between the kids and the cars, they're not likely to run off anywhere particularly dangerous if you look away for a moment.

Tiny park, but a good review.  Well designed.  Good job, Henrico, good job.

Maymont - Spottswood

Maymont - Spottswood Entrance

Ground Cover:  Paved walkways
Safety:  Supervision required - animals!
Trash:  Immaculate.  Other than the goose poop.
Fun Rating:  Awesome

For starters, a little background on Maymont.  It's huge.  There are three entrances, and this post is only covering Spottswood and the Children's Farm.  The pictures do not do it justice.  We were there over and hour and didn't even see the bison.  Or the butterflies.  Or the bottom of the hill.

So do the park a solid, and bring a few bucks donation for the grounds.  And when you're exiting your car, scour the floormat for a quarter; that's for a handful of feed for the animals.

Inside and past that building you will find chickens, rabbits, sheep, pigs, and goats.  We saw six day old baby goats, so be prepared for the cute.  There are two outside bird cage thingies with two hawks.  At the bottom on the hill there's a butterfly house.  Around another hill there are bison.  I'm sure there's more.  We never see it all.  Way too much.  Fun overload.

Pastures behind the barn.

A survey of the grounds as you exit the barn.  Gorgeous, eh?





Short Pump Park

3401 Pump Road
Ground Cover:  Mulch
Play Structure Count:  12
Safety:  High
Trash:  Moderate
Fun Rating:  Mmmkay

First off, let me say that when you see this sign,

Don't turn.  I know that arrow says, "Turn Right!  Turn Right right now!  The butterflies and unicorns await!"  But don't.  It looks like it goes down a nice little gravel path, and into the woods surrounding a quaint, tucked away little park you never knew existed...

And BAM.  A chained off road, far enough down that you didn't see it from Pump, so you couldn't stop yourself from turning in time.  And now you're screwed because you don't have enough space to 180 around, so you have to back out onto Pump.  Having fun at the park yet?!

Turn here for the butterflies and unicorns.

A baseball field will greet you on your right.  Across from it you'll find football field, complete with bleachers and a scoreboard, and a cute bathroom building with, "Home of the Kanawha Redskins" painted above it.  While we were there, lacrosse teams were practicing on the field. 
But you won't see the playground.  You'll have to get out and walk in between baseball and football, towards some covered picnic benches and then you'll find it - tucked away, a quaint little playground you never knew about.

That slide you see is one of the steepest slides I've ever met.  So I went down it myself, and I must admit it was actually really fun for the whole half a second of sliding time I got.  I was worried that Sparrow would fall flat on his little two year old face going down, but he seemed to manage OK.  There are no scary drop offs from that slide structure.  Even the rock wall is angled well so that, should a curious toddler attempt to climb down it after rolling a critical miss on his climbing skill check, he would tumble down as opposed to falling straight onto the ground.

From atop the slide structure, this is the view from the left.  That teeter-totter with the three cars has a really nice spring.  That little play house on the right entertained my little birds for a good twenty minutes.  The two swings are baby swings, and back up to the football field.

And here's the view from the right when atop the slide structure.  There's one of those fancy dancy rock walls and walks of doom that my children have no use for.  Maybe once we truly master stairs, but one thing at a time.  Tire swing, two big swings, and three of the swirly gigs.  The highlight however, is that tiny little thing you see Sparrow and Skylark poking at.  It's just some random table thing, with a little bowl and a sieve.  Sparrow got himself a stick and poked at stuff while Skylark took mulch out of the bowl and put it back.  Out of the bowl and put it back.  Poke poke with the stick.  Out of the bowl and put it back.  A good ten minutes of glorious toddler fun.

While I got a chance to survey the trash!

Standard fare that you'd find close to picnic tables.  Paper towels and napkins strewn about.  Candy wrappers.  Straws to juice boxes.  The most notable, however, was finding an empty canister of CO2 for a paint ball gun about six feet into the woods behind the slide.  The teenager in me giggled.

Overall I liked the toddler safety level.  No fence, but far away from the parking lot, woods on three sides, nothing to really fall off of.  The only injury was sustained when Skylark managed to get her hand caught between the car and spring on that bouncy car thing.  I'm sure there's a word for that.  So quite high on the safety scale.

The kids had fun.  Our pals Robin and Wren joined us.  We swang.  We span.  We slid.  And we found another park we never knew existed.