So, after the past several issues containing the ruminating, codgertating and philosophizing about everything from Kermit the Frog, potato salad, and even the Grand Canyon, I have decided it is time to chat a moment about some possibly underappreciated ‘gems’ in and surrounding the Barre City area. I have discovered these gems one at a time, over the past several years of babysitting and then child sitting my now five-year-old granddaughter, Nahla.
You see, five-year-olds really need places to go and play and exhaust their energy (and their grandfathers.) Nahla and I have successfully located just such places; they are the wonderful neighborhood playgrounds Barre City and Barre Town have to offer ‘us’ kids.
I may be easily stupefied, (I wonder if I resemble that word too much.) but I am amazed at the thoughtfulness, caring, and hard work that went into the wonderful playgrounds in and around our small city. Those places show that local adults and town leaders really do care about our children, and I and Nahla are grateful for that.
If you are unaware of these great, colorful, safe, and clean places for your kids and grandkids to burn off a little energy, I think that you might not have been paying attention. For a quick tour of the local ‘kid spots’, you might take a short drive up Trow Hill in Barre to see one with exceptional climbing gyms, an old-fashioned merry-go-round, a picnic area, a basketball court, and even chickens that hop over their fence to visit you, especially if you have something to eat. (Nahla calls this playground the ‘up’ playground, as it is up a hill.)
Then head up to Websterville for that town’s great playground, with a super rope climbing rig, basketball, a picnic area, and a huge climber with slides, among other things! (To Nahla this is the ‘kitty’ playground, because twice a cat has visited her from a house across the street while we were there.)
After that go up the hill and down to the Lower Graniteville playground which features tons of fun things to play on and even a climber shaped like a rocket ship! (This one is the ‘rocket playground’ to Nahla, as you might have guessed.)
To be fair, Northfield also has an unusual and very interesting playground that Nahla just loves. This one is the ‘house’ playground because it features many unusual things to play on and a Disney-esque playhouse right in the middle.
Now we come to Playground 2000, at the bottom of the hill which leads to Barre City Elementary School. This one is the mother of all neighborhood playgrounds. (Nahla calls it the ‘down’ playground, in that it is down a hill, the opposite of the ‘up’ playground mentioned above.) Playground 2000 is huge, with every type of climber, swing, slide, and twirly-whirly, make-Grandpa-sick-just-watching things for kids to do. And this place is much more than a playground, with a skateboard park, a huge public picnic area, two basketball courts, tennis courts, and the crème de la crème, (Is there any chance that I spelled that right?) Barre City’s new, huge, and beautiful, family oriented, state of the art swimming pool! That place is amazing!
So, I know, summer is going to be over soon. The kids will be back in school, and moms will eventually stop pulling their hair out. To everything there is a season. Still, there are weekends, and there is plenty of good weather left for you and the kids to visit one of Barre’s gems. Get out there this fall with your kids, grandkids, basketball, and/or tennis racket and enjoy those playgrounds!