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.