Half a Million Stairs Later

So probably not literally, but it certainly felt that way, especially once we got back home. We were told about this really cool park that you have to walk to of course (remember the stairs). It is also next to or part of a plum grove, and I've been told that when the trees bloom the emperor comes to this grove to see them. Evan really wanted to go to a park and I was told that it was about a 20 min walk away and totally worth it. Here's where my pat answer comes in (It sounded like a good idea at the time). Also, I think perhaps I was misled on the actual distance, however the map should have been some indication, since it seemed really far away on the map. I kind of assumed that the map was skewed or something. See what happens when you assume?

After a quick call to Grandma, we headed out to the park, it was just after 10. I knew where the road was that I needed to take to get to the many stairs that would lead us up to the park, it was only a few blocks away. Evan really wanted to walk but I was able to convince him to ride in the stroller to the stairs since I was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to walk the distance to the stairs and then to the park. Turns out I was right. I took me probably about 20 min to get to the base of the stairs, not a bad walk and I was able to find them without any issues. Then we started the climb. Evan was racing up the stairs at a pace I was having trouble matching. He was excited and didn't have a stroller and a bag to carry.

At the base of the stairs

Still more stairs and not nearly all of them

We just kept walking up the hillside. We walked past a few small gardens and passed by part of the plum grove where there were a few trees with blossoms but mostly Jonquils and a small white flower, perhaps Paper Whites, not sure though. When we did make it to the top, it was pretty cool.

We walked up a little further and then we could finally see the tops of some play equipment, it was down on the side of the hillside. It was rather interesting, sort of a large obstacle course. At this point it was 11:10, so it had taken us almost an hour to get here.

As far as I could tell this was a ninja course

As evidence by this sign at the entrance

The various structures, Evan and I did each one.

He played for about 40 min and then I decided it was time to head back, it was 11:50 and nearly time for lunch. I knew the walk back was going to be just as long as the one up. As soon as we started to head back, Evan asked if I could carry him, boy were we in trouble. I managed to get him to come along at a rather slow pace at first, but it gave me opportunity to take a few more pictures along the way. We finally made it back to the bottom, at which point I wished that Evan could push me in the stroller, instead of the other way around. My pace was a little slower than when we came but this was still a relatively quick part of our journey. We walked in the door at 12:50.

Was this a really cool destination, yes, I'm glad that we went. However, it is not going to satisfy our need for a park, it is just too far and a little too much work to get to. We will continue to look for a park a little easier to get to. I hope that I can convince him to go back when all the trees are in bloom, I'm sure it will be amazing.

These flowers smelled amazing. You could smell them in the air as we walked  along. I'm not sure what they are though.