Flat Branch Park

The last park I am blogging about from Jess's visit is Flat Branch Park, which was actually the first one we visited.  Jess's first full day here was Thursday, and my playgroup had planned to meet up at Flat Branch Park, which has a free sprayground area.  This was the first time this summer I had attempted to take Naomi to play at a sprayground, so I was still hopeful that she would have fun.  But of course, she wanted nothing to do with the sprayground.  In fact, as we were walking on the sidewalk toward it, Naomi started shaking.  I was walking a good 5 feet behind her, and I could see her hands start shaking as we got closer to the sprayground.  Poor girl... I have no idea why she is so afraid!

There was a small (very small) playground area at the park, but it was pretty lame.  Naomi maybe went down the slide twice, and then she was done.  We took a few pictures, walked around a bit, and that was that.  I will say this about the park though--it is one of the prettiest parks I've been to.

We rated it as follows:

Attractiveness-- 4.5 stars
(Flowers, the cool bridge, landscaping, gazebo, stream... it was really pretty!)

Ease/Safety--  4 stars
(Because the park was so tiny, it was pretty easy to keep an eye on Naomi and follow her around.  We didn't give it a 5 because of the stream--the sidewalk went right up to the stream, so it would be easy (and tempting) for kids to run into the stream and play, but there were signs by the edge warning people not to touch or play in the water because it was so full of bacteria.  So that definitely takes the safety rating down a little.)

Playground Equipment Variety-- 1 star
(As I said, the playground was tiny and pretty pathetic)

 Fun/Coolness Factor--  3 stars
(I think Jess & I originally decided to give it a 4, but I just don't think it deserves that high of a rating.  It does have the sprayground, which is cool, and the neat bridge, and a gazebo, but that's really it.)

Parking-- 1 star
(There was one teeny tiny parking lot, which was full when we got there.  The only other parking we could find was metered parking, because this park is downtown, just a block or two from the main downtown street.  I never have change, so we had to drive to a store to get change.  Then I wasted 3 quarters paying for parking... definitely not worth it.)

Composite Rating-- 2.7 stars

So... not the best park.  Although if you wanted somewhere to take some cute pictures or if you wanted to play at the spraygrounds, it would definitely be a good place to go!