Today we spent the afternoon at McKinley Park. McKinley Park is far south of us, near 22nd St. It was built in 1902 near the Union Stockyards. It's location was an experiment. Prior to this park, most parks in Chicago were located far from the overcrowded city center. But McKinely Park became very popular and according to the Chicago Park District, it influenced the creation of other parks throughout the US.
There are so many parks closer to us that we normally wouldn't make the drive to explore this one, but Charlie's soccer team plays there, and occasionally the boys and I go along to watch. The park is nearly 70 acres, but while Charlie plays soccer, the boys and I stick near the turf field, playing soccer on the top of a big hill and throwing the frisbee.
After Charlie's soccer game we had planned on making the short drive to Chinatown for dinner, but the weather was so nice that we stayed at the park. I'm glad we did.
We bought fruit, burritos, and tortas at the food trailer/vendor parked next to the playground.
The boys climbed trees, played tag, and rolled down a grassy hill.
We bought ice-cream and then rode bikes around a lagoon. Actually, when the park was first created, the lagoon was a wading pool. In 1906, they expanded the wading pool into this naturalistic lagoon. We saw fish jumping in the water, we fed the geese and watched them take off and land in the water (which is surprisingly noisy) and we saw a lot of people fishing.
(Watching the geese and reading the joke on the popsicle stick)
The weather was beautiful and it was a beautiful afternoon.
I want to go back to this park and find the music court plaza and open-air gymnasium if they still exist after over 100 years. I love exploring the city and finding gems like this. Happy Mother's Day!
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