T-Time: Another walk in another park

Saturday 6/23/2012

Hastings Campground

Hastings, NE

Thunderstorms were predicted in our area late last night. Around midnight I went on to bed, while Mike decided to stay up for awhile. (He prefers to stand vigil when bad weather is predicted.) Sure enough around 1:00 AM the weather radio went off, the wind whipped up, and I could feel the RV rocking. The National Weather Service predicted wind gusts in excess of 60MPH, and it sure felt like it!   Thankfully the worst of it didn’t last long, and I was soon able to go back to sleep. A couple in a very small travel trailer next to us is on their very first RV outing, and I wondered how they made it through the storm. Apparently it shook them up pretty well because I heard her telling Mike this morning that they thought they were goners! Nope, it’s no fun to be in an RV during a thunderstorm.

It was a beautiful blue sky this morning at a comfortable 65 degrees, and we wanted to get our walk in early again before the heat set in. At the suggestion of my physical therapist, we had checked out Heartwell Park on Thursday and Friday and decided to return to it once again today.

 

This park is also located less than five minutes from the campground and is a real gem. It’s a rather small park nestled between two residential streets and has its own unique allure.

Nicely manicured grounds.

Shade trees.

A paved bike path, although it only borders the park on two out of its four sides.

Picnic tables.

I’m not quite sure how someone would be able to rest their lunch on this table.

Benches.

A sweet flower garden.

Playground for the kids.

Not exactly sure what this is in the playground. I’m sure a 5-year old could clue me in.

A charming pond.

I love the stonework that borders it. With the accenting bridges, it reminds me of a canal in Venice. I could almost envision a gondolier rowing two sweethearts through the water in his gondola.

It also has a wading pool which I could easily be tempted to utilize on these hot summer days!

Our campground has a pool, but it’s in disrepair and there are no foreseeable plans to repair it.

And we spotted this!

I presume that it’s operable, although I haven’t seen one in so long that I don’t know if these rates are still current.
We saw several ducks getting some shuteye.

This mother duck and her newborn babies.

And a few others that were just chillin’.

This morning we saw several fallen limbs and branches from the storm.

Unfortunately this young tree was another casualty.

Last Thursday night we checked out Fisher Fountain, which offers a brilliant light display and is the largest water fountain between Chicago and Denver. The fountain began as a temporary exhibit at the 1932 Adams County Fair and was so popular that it was permanently moved to Highland Park. Renovated in 1982, we were shocked to read that it was dynamited by vandals in 1984! The community, however, rallied together to raise $63,000 to have it rebuilt, and it was rededicated on Mother’s Day in 1985. Unfortunately our camera couldn’t capture its beauty, but I found a video of it on YouTube. This also doesn’t do it justice, but it at least gives you an idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b00g5nAkt5k

Our good friends Jim and Dee arrived today and enjoyed an evening at the races with Mike. I’ll let the race fan report on that in an upcoming post. Stay tuned.