Aparkolypse 2015: Martha Lake Airport Park

Martha Lake Airport Park, not to be confused with Martha Lake Park (the former is just north of the lake, the latter directly on the south end of the lake), has a wide variety of options for organized and informal play. From the 1950s to the 1990s, the property actually was a family-run airport which the owner sold to the county instead of some evil housing developer. The original owner built the airport to commute by plane to his job in Seattle. The park's official website makes it clear Snohomish County is very proud to have gone into debt to buy the land, then raising taxes and fees to pay for it.

Amenities/Facilities

MLAP, as it not known anywhere, serves as multi-purpose athletic facility for organized sports and other activities.  There are two soccer fields and a baseball field, but they are closed for the duration of 2015 for restoration of the turf.  We callously played on one of the soccer fields anyway (the soccer goals are locked up in the baseball facility).  As is fairly standard for parks in the area, there is a walking path around the area.  Actual decent bathrooms are right next to the play equipment, attached to the generic picnic shelter.  Parking is plentiful in well-maintained spaces.

If your device doesn't display these maps well, go to the originals here.

Unique Features

A 12-year-old boy named Colton Heaverly "gave many impassioned speeches to the county planning team and community organizations and gathered large lists of signatures" for the county to build a skate park, so they did.  The result is pretty cool.

Another prominent feature is this, either a lousy pavilion or a terrible piece of art (more of that soon).

Visitors can also attempt to climb this boulder, left here by a glacier thousands of years ago (damn you caveman-caused global warming!)

Visitors are also treated to views of Snohomish County's fetish for hideous and pointless art:

    

                                     Ode to Tetris                                 Sponsored by Gillette                         Gargoyle Mating with Oil Pump

Further research suggests our captioning of the sculpture pictures may be slightly inaccurate, so if the readers care they may go here for more information.

Play Area

The playground celebrates this area's love of play areas that look like the graphics of the Saved by the Bell theme song, but are less functional.  It has a couple of tot swings and a cool seesaw; otherwise the playground underwhelms.  At least it was very clean, had some additional parking right next to it, and borders the clean and very handicapped-accessible bathrooms.

    

Review

Martha Lake Airport Park is great for skating, sports, and questioning how governments spend money.  The place was immaculate and offers a wide variety of potential activities.  While suitable for kids about 6 and up, parents of small children will be disappointed with the playground offerings which are hard to climb and use for little ones.  We spent most of our time playing sports and having a great time.