Claiborne West park

This morning, Daniel was off work. So we decided to go to the park he always went to as a boy. It's called Claiborne West park, and is only a short drive from here. It has been so interesting going to places when nobody else is off work! The park was empty except for us and one park ranger cleaning a shelter. We started out playing on the playground. It had a lot of neat playground equipment, but Xavier kept asking to go play in the "big pile." We were like, "What big pile??" and looked around for some kind of cool slide or something. Nope, a pile of sand had been dumped by the gate to use as filler for the sand inside the playground. That was all Xavier could think about! Ha.

Daniel had Track Meets at this park in high school. It was pretty hard to envision, as there was still a lot of damage done from Rita. It seems like I keep talking about those hurricanes doesn't it? It has been absolutely amazing to see the damage a storm can do!! At the park, the bridge we would have used to cross over the small pond was out of commission. It had several sections ripped apart and was completely unsafe. And around town, you can see houses sitting there, abandoned because the owners couldn't or didn't want to spend the time and effort to repair them. Huge trees are laying thru some houses still. It's crazy, and yet it could have happened anywhere! Two years later, there is still so much that needs to be done! Mind-boggling.

I should have gotten some pictures of the "Caution: Alligators" sign for you. Yeah, that's right, beware of alligators in the park. Sigh.....such a big adjustment!!! :-)