A Nice Day in The Park

Put the back seat in the Dodge van to pick up my grand-daughters for church. Afterward I took 4 of them, ages 9, 7, 5. and 5 to the park.

Had soda's and bottled water in an Igloo cooler. Along with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I let them make themselves. DUMB
idea. Drove into huge park, 2 baseball fields , 2 soccer fields, 3 basketball courts surrounded by chain link fence and a giant skate park with a dozen ramps. Sunday afternoon 1 PM 75 degrees and windy. Total kids on those fields, 3 kids in skate park.

Park near giant pavilion, 3 barbecue pits and 12 large tables, of which only 3 were occupied. Shaylee was carrying a light blanket, I had the Igloo. Just a few steps under the roof and middle management says, " Can I help you ? " He's 50+, wearing white shirt and a tie, to a picnic. I ignore him and he says again. " Can I help you ? " I say NO and he proceeded to tell me has has reserved this pavilion. I keep walking and say, " I didn't stop, did I ? "

Walk to other side of pavilion, sit on metal bench facing huge playground, and turn the girls loose. Shaylle and Mary Jane are tomboys and hit the monkey bars. A woman comes out with 2 boys 5 and 6 and takes pictures of them in front of the equipment. That was it for their exercise.

A few minutes later I get a tap on my shoulder. The tribal leader's son or son-in-law , all 6'4 and 250 lbs, tells me the playground is reserved too. I tell him" Go Away ". He does not. He leans down and says " It's Reserved " Now this park is in Clifton, so the Sheriff patrols it, not the Grand Junction police. Betting these folks are Grand junction, and getting a free ride on my tax dollar. Still sitting down. I tell Big Boy." Call the Sheriff, and if you touch me again, somebody will be calling an ambulance for you. " He gets red faced, then slowly walks away. He had a few tattoos, but definitely not prison artwork. No marks or scars, probably a big guy who rarely if ever got called. 10 minutes later the girls wanted to go to the other playground. 15 minutes later we leave. I walk around the pavilion, as even a cornered rat will fight, and we go to the other playground.

The pavilion there is smaller and a large Mexican family is having a birthday party there. Behind it is a lake full of carp. I had a bag of popcorn and let the girl feed the fish. 2 little Mexican boys came to watch and I let them throw popcorn too. One of the dads invited the girls to have some birthday cake and ice cream.

So all in all, it was a nice day in the park. And my Igloo cooler does not have a dent in it from Big Boy's head.

Did people ever show up to use the reserved space? I
used to get that crap when I let my dog loose in the
park. Somebody would say that the pavilion was reserved
and I'd say my dog can't read. What they meant was,
we reserved the whole fricking park, we thought, what
are you doing here.

This is a really nice park. Even have doggie bags on a pole so you can pick up after your dog. Really disappointed at no kids on any of the athletic fields. We used to have to set fire to the vacant lot behind the stockyards, use rocks for bases, and after a few days, had to put black tape around the remnants of our one and only baseball.