Bike Ride To Hamilton Park Splash Pad With Cranky Sikes Lake Geese

 

Today has been the first day in a couple months which has not been extremely windy.

I do not like riding a bike when the wind gusts over 40 mph, which has been the case, of late.

So, on this second Saturday of the 2022 version of May, with the outer world almost in dead calm mode, I let my bike take me on a ride today.

We rolled north on the Circle Trail to Hamilton Park, where a couple kids were having fun getting wet in the splash pad, which is what you see in the photo documentation.

Tomorrow is predicted to hit a high of 102. I expect this will have a lot of kids getting wet in the Hamilton Park Splash Pad.

Last night around the time the sun was setting after doing its daily illumination duty, all hail broke loose. Frozen balls of water, golf ball size, rained down, making a lot of noise. The pummeling did not last too long. 

I do not think the Sikes Lake geese like getting pummeled by hail. They seemed cranky, yet subdued, when I rolled by them today. Most of the geese were under the shady cover of tree leaves. None were floating on the lake.

That we are hitting the 100 degree mark, well before the arrival of Summer, bodes ill for the next few months, keeping cool-wise. 

WCMA Doctor's Splash Pad Up & Running Water In Wichita Falls Hamilton Park

Early yester evening my bike took me north on the Circle Trail, eventually reaching Hamilton Park where I saw the cooling scene you see above.

The Doctor's Splash Pad seems to be a rousing success, judging by the number of people I have seen since it opened enjoying getting splashed on.

The Doctor's Splash Pad and its adjacent climbing playground were brought about by the good people of the Wichita County Medical Alliance. 

Below is a screen cap from the WCMA website.

Okay, the actual Doctor's Splash Pad, in its completed state, looks a little different than the artist's conceptual rendering on the WCMA website, but the conceptual rendering is fairly close to the eventual reality.

Methinks this is a mighty fine thing the WCMA doctors have done. A literally cool place to take the kids, with no admission fee, and with a big parking lot. Along with modern restroom facilities. 

I can think of another Texas town, or two, I have lived in which might do itself a favor by emulating the good example of Wichita Falls, including building modern restroom facilities and getting rid of outhouses.

Fort Worth. Are you listening?

Driving Elderly Senior Citizen By Hamilton Park Doctor's Splash Pad

 

This morning I was chauffeuring the elderly senior citizen who I regularly chauffer to doctor appointments and drug dealing pharmacies, to get some drugs from the far side of town from my home zone location.

After successfully getting the drugs from that far side location I drove to the west side of town to get something I needed. Completing that task, ready to take the elderly senior citizen back from whence he came, he remembered he needed to get another prescription from another pharmacy. So, I headed back in the direction of the far side of town, stopping at the pharmacy about midway between the far side and west side of town.

The pharmacy is on Brook Avenue. Which intersects with Speedway Avenue, which intersects with Hamilton Boulevard. Hamilton Boulevard runs west of Hamilton Park, which is the location of the Doctor's Splash Pad, which is having its grand opening today.

So, one of the routes to take the elderly senior citizen back home goes right by Hamilton Park. So, I drove into the park to check out the new Doctor's Splash Pad. There were a lot of kids getting splashed.

I think the Splash Pad has some sorta sensor which only splashes when weight is detected. I thought that, because after taking the old man home I decided it was early enough for a bike ride. So I rolled the Circle Trail north to Hamilton Park and took the picture you see above of the Doctor's Splash Pad.

Without any kids getting splashed.

Or any water splashing. Hence my conclusion that the splasher detects weight and then turns on the splashing.

I think this Doctor's Splash Pad is going to be quite popular. I wished I would have thought to roll my bike over it to see if that caused splashing to erupt. Maybe next time if I find it unoccupied...

River Runs Through Wichita Falls Hamilton Park Waterpark

That which you see above is almost completed. I have been watching this under construction for over a year, as I bike north on the Circle Trail through Hamilton Park.

When this is completed it will be a water fountain playfield for kids. The photo does not show the shade awnings already installed above the fountain playfield. The shade awnings match those already installed above the avant garde climbing playground which came to life a couple years ago.

I biked to this location late yesterday, as in Wednesday, afternoon. As you can see, the sky is blue, free of clouds.

And yet, at this location, ironically with the fountains not yet active, I suddenly found myself pummeled by large rain drops. I turned around and saw some cloud action to the south and figured a strong wind blowing north must be delivering these odd drops. The rain did not last long.

Between the avant garde climbing playground and the soon to open fountain playfield there is a sort of plaza, made of bricks. Some of the bricks identify donors who made building this addition to Hamilton Park possible.

The brick plaza also provides an identifying plaque identifying the group which is behind this excellent addition to this Wichita Falls park.

The Wichita County Medical Alliance. A close up look at the identifying plaque...

"Physicians' families united to care."

Methinks on a HOT day when I find myself biking through Hamilton Park, if the water fountain playfield is not currently busy with kids having fun, I may do a quick cooling off ride through.

I suspect such may be doable quite soon...

Wichita County Medical Alliance Hamilton Park WCMA Installation

Today when my bike wheels rolled off the Circle Trail into Hamilton Park I saw that which you see above, installed since last I was at this location.

Upon first glance I thought the letters YMCA were what I was seeing, with the song associated with those four letters popping into internal play.

When I got close to the towering sign I saw that each big letter explained what word was being represented by the letter.

Wichita County Medical Alliance

Now I was aware that this particular alliance was responsible for the building of the imaginative playground installation you see behind the sign.

But, methinks whoever was given the job of designing this sign did so on a computer, chose a big font size, not realizing how BIG the scaled full size version would be. The order then was sent from the designing computer to whoever built the sign, who built it without inquiring if whoever was paying for it really wanted the sign to be so BIG.

Long before last summer arrived I remember reading that the Wichita County Medical Alliance was planning on building a water playground adjacent to the installation behind the big sign. But, so far there has been no sign of that water playground...

Wichita Falls Hamilton Park New Hammock Included Playable Park Art

A few days ago I made mention of the fact I had not seen any kids playing on the new piece of abstract looking playground equipment in Wichita Falls' Hamilton Park.

Well, today that phenomenon of not seeing kids playing on this abstract looking playground equipment came to an end as soon as this work of playable park art came into view.

Two barely post toddler sized kids were having themselves a mighty fine time climbing on the conveyor belt type straps strung between angled posts.

While what appeared likely to be the kid's maternal parental figure used one of the wider conveyor belts as a hammock.

This is one cleverly designed piece of playground equipment.

In that previous blogging about this serious subject I opined that maybe a sign with directions explaining how to play on this thing might be needed. Apparently, as I often am, I was wrong. Kids can figure out how to play on this, and mom's can figure out how to relax whilst the kids play.

Warm Wichita Falls Ride To Hamilton Park Playground Art

No, that is not some sort of hang glider flying type contraption you see my bike looking at here.

What you are seeing is the new playground installation in the Wichita Falls park named Hamilton.

This looks more like some sort of art installation than something for kids to play on.

I have yet to see any kids playing on this. I have seen kids crawling around on the padded ground cover upon which the playground installation sits.

I think maybe kids are not able to figure out how they are supposed to play on this. Maybe there should be a sign with instructions.

My last bike ride was on Friday, when the outer world was heated to nearly the 80 degree zone. Then later that day a cold front arrived, dropping the outer world temperature to below freezing for most of the next two days.

That return to winter left by this morning. Let us hope this past weekend was finally the death rattle of the coldest winter since I have been in Texas.

If I remember right it was in December of 1998 I arrived in Texas. I left Washington in a heavy rainstorm and six days later arrived at my new Texas location in an even heavier rainstorm. With flooding. My weather intro to Texas was harsh. That wet entry was followed two weeks later by the first Ice Storm I've ever slipped in.

I moved to my first Texas domicile without having previously seen it in person. I only saw multiple photos. I remember when I first saw the pool I was appalled by how small it looked, not realizing my perspective made it look smaller than it actually was, which turned out to be plenty big, with a deep end and a diving board.

Currently there is an operation underway to find me a new domicile, in a state out west called Arizona. I am heading to Arizona, again, in a couple weeks.

There is a fairly good chance Durango Texas will soon become Durango Arizona.

Time will tell....

Wichita Falls Run-Off Voting Leads To Solving Hamilton Park Slingshot Mystery

Saturday I had an interesting run-off voting experience in my current location of Wichita Falls.

With early voting one can vote in any early voting location, so I early vote in what seems a rather odd location, that being inside a mall, in the concourse in front of Penney's in the Sikes Senter mall, which someone unfathomably thought clever to spell center with an "S".

For election day run-off voting one must vote in ones precinct's voting location. For my precinct this was in the Hardin Administration building on the MSU campus. Not hard to locate, once one finds a map of the campus. Driving to that location on Saturday there was only one car parked on the north parking lot. Is this the right location I wondered? Then on the west side parking lot I saw a few more cars. But, no where did I see any "Vote Here" type signs. Or one of those ubiquitous red, white and blue American flags.

I parked and went in the only door which seemed as if it might lead somewhere. I came to a long hall. Down the long hall I saw an elderly lady sitting at a table, still no flag or signage indicating I was in any sort of voting location. I walked to the elderly lady to find I had found the correct location. Soon I had done my duty and voted for the only item on the ballot, Penny Miller for City Council at Large.

Penny Miller lost the run-off election. Most people I vote for lose. I should have voted for Trump.

After voting I told my fellow voters, who I had taken to vote with me, that I wanted to show them something I've seen growing in nearby Hamilton Park, the purpose of which was a mystery to me. A few days prior I had biked by this location to see what looked like a giant slingshot being assembled, with a lot of other material piled up on the parking lot awaiting assemblage.

Above is the photo I took of this Hamilton Park mystery last Saturday.

And now today, four days later, the Wichita Falls Times News Record, (I may have the order of those last three words wrong), had an article explaining what the giant slingshot is going to become.

An "artistic, modern and functional piece of equipment for “Doctor’s Park,” so named for the more than 100 trees planted there donated by the WCMA."

WCMA is the abbreviated version of Wichita County Medical Alliance.

I first saw initial groundwork on this project underway what seems a couple months ago. And now, with construction underway, completion is expected to take a couple weeks.

In addition to an actual project timeline another difference from something being built in Fort Worth was the following sentence...

"The playground is close to the Circle Trail, restrooms and near a large parking lot."

Do you see the item in the above sentence that you would not likely be seeing mention made of in a Fort Worth Star-Telegram about something being built in a Fort Worth park?

If you identified "restrooms" as the item, you are correct. Most Fort Worth city parks do not have modern facilities, no running water, no modern restrooms. Some don't even have that Fort Worth staple of an outhouse.

Shocking, shocking I tell you, for an imaginary world class city like Fort Worth to not have modern facilities in its city parks.

Meanwhile in another town in Texas, Wichita Falls...

Visiting A Swinging Bench With Massive Mansions At Hamilton Park In Wichita Falls

Today my commune with nature took place at yet one more Wichita Falls city park that is less than a mile from my abode.

Hamilton Park.

I don't know if this park was named after the Founding Father Hamilton named Alexander, who was shot and killed by Aaron Burr, or a famous locally Hamilton.

What I do know is several of the mansions along Hamilton Road across the street from Hamilton Park appeared to be inspired by houses from the Colonial era, like Jefferson's Monticello. One of the mansions looked like the White House was the inspiration.

In my memory the only place I have been which looks like the Hamilton neighborhood is Beverly Hills in California. At some point in time a large number of people in Wichita Falls must have been making a large amount of money.

In the Dallas/Fort Worth metro mess zone the only location I ever came across remotely close to this Wichita Falls collection of old mansions with massive grounds was in Dallas around White Rock Lake.

I think I have already a mentioned a time or two that Wichita Falls has more park benches in more locations than I have ever witnessed in any other town.

Of all the Wichita Falls parks I have visited Hamilton Park had the most unique park bench I have seen yet. That of which I speak is that which you see above. This bench was a bench swing, which swung quite vigorously.

Mr. Galtex is a well known aficionado of benches, traveling all over the world looking for special places to sit. Methinks Mr. Galtex would really like this swinging Hamilton Park bench.

Also, in this picture, in the background you see something rarely seen in a Fort Worth city park, which I have seen in all the Wichita Falls city parks I have visited.

A modern restroom with running water.

Wichita Falls is a modern American city, unlike that Texas town I once lived in for far too long....