One of my all-time favorite parks. It's not far from where my mother lives in the southwest Chicago 'burbs.
I first discovered this amazing 118-acre space on my bike, back in the days when I would ride all day & cover great distances. I used 167th Street to avoid traffic (it cuts through a residential neighborhood) on my rides from Oak Forest to Orland Park. I traveled through forest preserves as much as possible, with side streets as my second choice.
So anyway, when I first spotted the park from 167th, it was a beautiful sight. The 12-acre lake is at the bottom, in a valley, and the park surrounds it. The landscaping is gorgeous.....trees, bushes, flowers, a footbridge. And natural plants galore at water's edge, so it's not too sterile-looking.
This review needs photos! Next time I go back I will take 50 or so, haha, at least.
The lake is stocked with fish, and there are piers for the fishermen. There are covered picnic areas, and playgrounds, basketball & volleyball facilities, and even a skatepark (so I am told but I've never seen that section of the park.)
My favorite thing is the walking path that circles the lake. In some areas, the path is way up at the top of the hill, and in other places it curves down to the water. There are seating areas in prime spots. I loved to walk & bike that path.
One time I took my mother to the park, not long before I left Chicago almost 9 years ago. She was in her 70's at the time & I was amazed at how she was almost running up and down the grassy hills! Jeebus! No lack of energy there, probably she keeps in shape by climbing ladders to clean her gutters and digging out weeds by their roots.
The day I was there with my mother was a time of year when the milkweed was going to seed. Anyone from the Midwest must remember scattering milkweed as a kid. I guess I was still a kid nine years ago because I was picking stalks of milkweed in Centennial Park and waving them into the air to watch the silky white seed-carriers fill the early Autumn sky. There's nothing like it. They sail far and high, who knows how far those things travel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Milkweed1.JPG
My mother was trying to make me stop, telling me the park would not appreciate me seeding milkweed all over the place. It's considered a nuisance in most gardens.
To hell with that, I say.
As I recall, those caterpillars I used to see on the milkweed plants turned into Monarch butterflies, and that's not a bad thing at all.
I think a visit home is in order, just in time for Autumn leaves & milkweed season. Mom, put on your walking shoes......I got my new camera ready. read more