Aparkolypse 2015: North Lynnwood Park

Tucked among virtually all of the city of Lynnwood's municipal facilities (library, police station, courthouse, fire station, rec center, etc.) is North Lynnwood Park, commonly referred to as Dragon Park since Game of Thrones frequently films there. Or it's because of the dragon-shaped water dispenser at the spray park, but you can decide which explanation you prefer.

Amenities/Facilities

Dragon Park hosts one of the city's two spray parks, an excellent swimming substitute for parents with very small children or are just too lazy to go to the pool. Our pictures of it seem to have disappeared, so here's one we stole from the city's website:

On the north side of the park there are two picnic shelters available for reservation. Having not actually counted, there are an estimated 427 picnic tables elsewhere in the park; this place is primed for masses to eat outdoors. Surrounding that are several open and lightly wooded areas for picnic and play, but with a major caveat: running through the center of the park is a drainage creek, creating a perpetual marsh line and water hazard for receivers going long for that pass or your children who have no ability to pay attention to what's two feet in front of them.

Decent bathrooms with a water fountain are next to the play and spray areas. The park's biggest annoyance is parking. The "main" parking area has about a dozen spots off of 44th Ave, which are usually filled in this high-traffic facility. The park's map shows entrances from the neighborhood on the north and west sides if you care to park residentially. Parkgoers' primary alternative is to park at Lynnwood Elementary and walk over. The walk isn't itself that onerous, provided proper gates are open (which they usually are, or you can walk along 44th to the east entrance) but it can be a pain if you're coming with strollers, toddlers, swimming gear, coolers, etc.

A unique feature of Dragon Park is the "performance area" though our seven seconds of Googling didn't yield any hits of anybody performing there.

The park has points plotted out as part of an orienteering course, which we don't know anything about, so we'll direct you to the Cascade Orienteering Club. Ambulators will find the standard loop-around-the-park walking path.

Play

Dragon Park also boasts a basketball court (full court if not regulation dimensions) and a hopscotch/four square area.

The main playset is decently friendly to smaller kids, but is often very crowded. Adjacent are a set of tot swings and standard swings. It's all in pretty good shape, especially considering the volume of business this park sees.

Our kids were fascinated with idea of climbing the fake boulder (unlike the real one at Martha Lake Airport Park), but their apartment-bound lifestyle apparently doesn't lend itself to mountaineering success.

Review

We have made many trips here and enjoy it a lot. Being close to the police station and elementary school limits the number of teenagers and other criminals, which keeps the place pretty clean and relatively weirdo-free. If we're nitpicking (and we are, since it's our blog), the parking situation is annoying if you have any cargo, the forever swampy areas are a nuisance, and it is frequently crowded. But it's crowded because it's a cool park that's well-maintained, so all but ignore our complaints.