There’s a Chicago song—if you’re old enough to remember it—called Saturday in the Park. For me, it’s one of those “memory songs” that has a sense of place or emotion tied to it. As a kid, I used to think they were singing about Waller Park. Those were the days when my world consisted of playing in the sun all morning sans sunscreen; of the security of Mom and Dad; of eight-track tapes playing the funky sounds of Chicago and Stevie Wonder as I drifted off to sleep, lying across a back seat that had no seatbelts.
That song must’ve been ringing in my head when I decided to take my kids for a day at the park—but not just any park. My ideas tend to be big. We had to go to all of them—or at least as many as we could get to in one day. The idea was to find one my boys thought was special. One they will think back on fondly 30 years from now when they hear the soulful-turned-retro tunes of Ben Harper.
We started out at Pioneer Park in Orcutt. My boys have Boy Scout meetings there, so we were familiar with it. It’s rustic, with trails and a place where our Scout pack has held bonfires. We stopped, and the kids spilled out of the car. They headed straight for the playground by climbing up a hill, over a stump, and jumping off a fence. My husband Ron and I took the flat path.
After we got back in the car, the boys rated it:
Jake: “Hmm, it’s good.”
Chase: “Awesome.”
Sebastian: “Nnnnoo!”
I can tell they were a little jaded. They’d been to that park before. Nothing new. Plus, they didn’t quite know what we were doing by taking them on a 15-minute break at the park.
“It’s like speed dating for parks,” Ron explained.
The boys were still confused.
So we decided to step it up a bit. We headed inland to Hans Christian Andersen Park in Solvang. The entrance to the park is through a castle archway, but the first thing that greets you is the best public skate park in the area—not the kind with ramps, but with bowls, like giant hollowed-out swimming pools. My boys salivated at the thought of skating it. The park is pretty and similar to Pioneer Park. It’s convenience fit into nature: a couple of comfortable barbecue areas and a small playground, but oak entrenched and otherwise natural.
The votes from the judges, based on a newly created scale of one to five:
Jake: “The skate park is the best part. I give it a four.”
Chase: “I love the skate park. I give it a 19!”
Sebastian: “Nnnnoo!”
Next was Sunny Fields Park in Solvang. It’s one of the more attractive parks from a kid’s perspective. The entire play structure is a series of castles and turrets. There’s a courtyard of sorts in the middle of the structure where a little playhouse stands. There are lots of little nooks where kids can hang out. Best of all, there are benches in the midst of it all where, on this particular day, several couples sat relaxing in the shade, drinking wine while watching their kids. Ron and I, on the other hand, couldn’t resist chasing our kids under archways and up the castle turrets.
The votes from the experts:
Jake: “The best park ever.”
Chase: “That park was so cool.”
Sebastian: “Happy.”
Actually, the word he said could’ve also been translated as “potty,” “pee-pee,” “open,” or “apple,” but since he pointed back at the park when he said it, we interpreted it as “happy.”
On a scale of one to five, Jake gave it a 23.
“It’s a scale of one to five, Jake,” Ron said.
“How can I give it a one to five when it deserves a 23? Maybe the scale needs to be bigger,” Jake said.
So we did away with the scale and headed toward home with a final stop at Orcutt Community Park, which is located in the Rice Ranch development off of Rice Ranch Road.
This park is large and open with plenty of areas to walk or exercise and a large barbecue area. From a kid’s perspective, the park as a whole isn’t interesting, but the small playground is adequate with enough equipment to swing and climb on. The verdict:
Jake: “Definitely the climbing wall was the best part.”
Chase: “I liked the wheel things you hang on.”
Sebastian: “Abba jawa da ba.”
Then he just nodded. (Sebastian is a man of little words—and sometimes a little man of loud words.)
The parks we chose earned high praise from my guys, but I realized that by creating this harebrained adventure, we weren’t helping them find a memory-filled attachment to any park, but forming one surrounding our family itself. We’re still working on the soundtrack to that.
Every now and then Arts Editor Shelly Cone takes out her vinyl collection and listens to her albums for old times’ sake. Contact her in 1982 at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 2, 2010.
