There are many parks in Greensboro without parking areas and, like the natural areas, these are neighborhood parks--the ones with the maroon wood signs and yellow letters that usually say PARK CLOSES AT SUNSET. Again, these seem to be for folks who live there--you walk to these spaces. It's just a crime that so many of these are located in areas of town that are better off economically.
As for dogs, these little neighborhood parks make me nervous--swing sets and slides, you know. Maybe if your dog is indifferent to kids, it would be easier. Severn's not a mean dog--she just likes to nibble on little kids' ankles.
The Gracewood Park feels small--I felt sort of claustrophobic just looking at it. Definitely not the place for Severn although Buddy might do alright since he's smaller and could care less about a child. The Guilford Hills Park is BIG--well, long--the daggum thing runs from Pembroke to someplace all along Benjamin Parkway. This is awesome if your house backs up to it (you can almost see stars pretty clearly because it does get dark) but I don't know how much of a park it is--seems more like a natural area (see previous entry for definition) to me. I don't have more information to confirm this, however, because I felt strange getting out and creeping around folks' back yards. If you know different, though, or you live there and want to invite me to come see for myself, I'd love to.
GO ON, BLUE RATING:
Gracewood Park: *1/2 (a real nightmare for a big dog who wants to eat kids)
Guilford Hills Park: * (subject to change)
Area of Town: Guilford Hills/Garden Homes
Location: Gracewood Park is on Gracewood Drive between Holden Road and Benjamin Parkway. Guilford Hills Park is located off Pembroke east of Benjamin Parkway.
6.30.2008
Alderman Natural Area
You may not be familiar with what these so-called "natural areas" are because they aren't always marked but they show up on detailed maps of the city and if you're a geek like me who looks at maps, you'll spot them and wonder about them and go try to find them. I think these are areas that city planners designate so everybody can feel better about themselves for saving something that's been subdivided to hell. They are basically noise buffers or lots that are too undesirable or too awkward to develop. They become potato chip bag and coke bottle receptacles but they work nicely for real estate: BORDERS WOODED LOT!
Anyhow, the Alderman Natural Area is the strip between Benjamin Parkway and Northampton Drive. You can see/hear all the cars zooming by on the parkway below but if you live in that neighborhood, it's a cool place to do some road walking with your dog because there's not a whole lot of traffic and you don't have to feel weird about your dog stopping in front of somebody's house to do his/her business. (I try to pick up my dogs' poop wherever it is but I'm not a tyrant about it. People freak out about dog poop but all the other stuff like battery acid and gasoline in the watersheds and asphalt run-off, there ain't hardly a peep about.)
These natural areas, I've decided, aren't really for non-neighborhooders however because, I don't know, I'd feel weird driving to a road to walk my dogs down it.
More to come on some neighborhood parks in this area.
GO ON, BLUE RATING: *** (if you live there)
Area of Town: Green Valley.
Location: Alderman Natural Area is the strip of woods between Benjamin Parkway and Northampton.
Anyhow, the Alderman Natural Area is the strip between Benjamin Parkway and Northampton Drive. You can see/hear all the cars zooming by on the parkway below but if you live in that neighborhood, it's a cool place to do some road walking with your dog because there's not a whole lot of traffic and you don't have to feel weird about your dog stopping in front of somebody's house to do his/her business. (I try to pick up my dogs' poop wherever it is but I'm not a tyrant about it. People freak out about dog poop but all the other stuff like battery acid and gasoline in the watersheds and asphalt run-off, there ain't hardly a peep about.)
These natural areas, I've decided, aren't really for non-neighborhooders however because, I don't know, I'd feel weird driving to a road to walk my dogs down it.
More to come on some neighborhood parks in this area.
GO ON, BLUE RATING: *** (if you live there)
Area of Town: Green Valley.
Location: Alderman Natural Area is the strip of woods between Benjamin Parkway and Northampton.
Bicentennial Gardens/David Caldwell Park/Bog Garden
Truthfully, none of these are very good dog walking spots. I mean maybe if your dog's the size of a teacup and poops only a thimble full. It's most definitely not a multiple-dog walking park. There are very precious flower beds all around. And little boys in sweater vests and brides getting their pictures taken all along the paths. But my mom loves to walk there because she has a lot of trouble with her balance so this is ideal for her. Or if you're in a wheelchair, these places are totally accessible. The only exception are the dirt paths in the Bog that go up on the hills above the pond--those are dirt trails with steps and everything.
The Bog is a little better for dogs than Bicentennial/Caldwell but the ducks are awfully fat and tempting and close.
Even up in "the woods" section of the Bog (which has security cameras and I'm not sure why--falls? mischief? dogs off leash?), the path is lined with split-rail fencing which every time Buddy wanders off the path he gets tangled up in.
As for the plants in Bicentennial Garden: I like the place but it's a little too neat for me. I like the terraced hillside (back, south end) a little better but I have come across many couples kissing back there and it's been awkward. Now every time I imagine a college-age couple kissing there and can't dissociate them from the azaleas (by the way, if you're an azalea freak, you might like it back in there when they're busting out). Not that I'm some kinda prude, but the kissers always look at me like I'm looking at them (which I am cause I come around the bend and there they are and then I pretend like they're not there)--I'd prefer it if they'd be more Frenchy-French about it and ignore the hell outta everybody and just go to town. My brother had this experience at Oka Hester Park--right off the trail a couple of folks were getting it on. I've always loved that they were doing it at Hester Park.
The Bog's a little cooler because it's not so manicured and, honestly, if you sit still long enough to blend in as much as possible, you might see some awesome birds. I dig birds--I don't really know shit about them (not like the Piedmont Bird club which is cool as hell and provides free handouts there for you in the bog--look for them) but I'm always learning.
GO ON, BLUE RATING:
Bicentennial Gardens--*
David Caldwell Park--**
The Bog--**1/2
Area of town: Green Valley
Location: Hobbs Road between Northline and Cornwallis, near Friendly Shopping Center. Bicentennial & Caldwell are on the west side of Hobbs. The Bog is on the east side.
The Bog is a little better for dogs than Bicentennial/Caldwell but the ducks are awfully fat and tempting and close.
Even up in "the woods" section of the Bog (which has security cameras and I'm not sure why--falls? mischief? dogs off leash?), the path is lined with split-rail fencing which every time Buddy wanders off the path he gets tangled up in.
As for the plants in Bicentennial Garden: I like the place but it's a little too neat for me. I like the terraced hillside (back, south end) a little better but I have come across many couples kissing back there and it's been awkward. Now every time I imagine a college-age couple kissing there and can't dissociate them from the azaleas (by the way, if you're an azalea freak, you might like it back in there when they're busting out). Not that I'm some kinda prude, but the kissers always look at me like I'm looking at them (which I am cause I come around the bend and there they are and then I pretend like they're not there)--I'd prefer it if they'd be more Frenchy-French about it and ignore the hell outta everybody and just go to town. My brother had this experience at Oka Hester Park--right off the trail a couple of folks were getting it on. I've always loved that they were doing it at Hester Park.
The Bog's a little cooler because it's not so manicured and, honestly, if you sit still long enough to blend in as much as possible, you might see some awesome birds. I dig birds--I don't really know shit about them (not like the Piedmont Bird club which is cool as hell and provides free handouts there for you in the bog--look for them) but I'm always learning.
GO ON, BLUE RATING:
Bicentennial Gardens--*
David Caldwell Park--**
The Bog--**1/2
Area of town: Green Valley
Location: Hobbs Road between Northline and Cornwallis, near Friendly Shopping Center. Bicentennial & Caldwell are on the west side of Hobbs. The Bog is on the east side.
why i've started in the northwest
I was thinking maybe it was storms, how they always seem to roll in from the west, the southwest or the northwest, and how I somehow think that's where beginnings happen, even though the old atavistic yearning has been to go west, to move west, and here it's rolling east. Whatever. The truth is that my parents live with my sister in the WNW section of the city and I end up spending a lot of time in that area (I also work at Guilford College, so). I live on the opposite end of town in Glenwood. I say all this because the West & Northwest gets all the fancy stuff already anyway, and here I am highlighting it some more. The truth is it does have all the huge nice parks and trails and greenways and watersheds. The rest of the city is in desperate need of some of that kind of thing.
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