Bebo Grove is open!

Yay! It's been closed for 2 years or so, while they put in a mega-huge stormwater drain system. I've missed being able to park there and wander. Yes, we could park further away and walk or ride in, but it wasn't the same.

So first a photo for the Facebook thing, taken during our first walk after the parking lot opened, then back to the main story.

Here's a map of the area so you know what I'm talking about. It's at the south end of 24 St, on the north side of the park. The parking lot is 3 K from our house, and about .9 K from the last stop on the Yellow Max bus route.

That big open area was just that, a big open field with the bike path going through it. It's so boring I don't have any photos of it by itself, you have to take one with my dear friend Michelle riding through it on 2017-09-02 at 10 seconds to 6pm, after a really long hot ride out in the boonies east of town during IM Arizona training. It's taken from the path near the parking lot looking east towards bridge 4. I was hoping to get a series of shots of her emerging from the heat shimmer, but it wasn't quite hot enough there.

That area is now a hole in the ground. An engineered wetland and storm water drain buffer. The bike path is a bit different down, in that it goes around the pond, and connects up to bridges 3 and 4. Here's a view from the north east side near where the path takes that sharp bend in the top right corner of the map. Of course the landscaping has had more work done to it and is looking pretty good.

The ducks and dragonflies have already discovered the pond and are making themselves at home. I don't know if the pond has been stocked with any aquatic life or if it migrates in through the outfall ducting.

The rest of the walking areas near there are much the same. The river has changed a bit. My favourite tree has moved a bit, and some of the smaller spines have been worn or snapped off. There is a big pile of debris against the roots so it's nowhere near as photogenic. I've missed my opportunity to pose a model on the tree. It wouldn't be the same now.

The place was full of people, which is nice in the sense of seeing the park used. It makes it a bit tougher to wander through looking for photos. I had one family giving me a bit of stink eye as I wandered along the path. I think they were a bit spooked by the big lens on the camera.

Still, I found a quiet spot for some dragonflies. These aren't the best photos, but then I only took about 60 shots, not the several hundred it usually takes to get a good shot.

And a current piece of distressed wood in Bebo Grove. There's lots of it.

Of the Day
Curtis on the shirt I kept handy for presenting a good appearance during video calls. He didn't know I was done for the day and it was going in the wash.

Flowers

White Peony

Driftwood