Lexington Parks - Veterans

Veterans Park (650 Southpoint Dr.)

Location - in Veterans Park neighborhood, near Veterans Park Elementary

Playground? yes (one near a baseball field, one from Rockbridge)

Trails? yes (paved and unpaved)

Other? mountain bike trails, baseball fields, tank!, war memorials, historical, creek, bridge, bur oak

    This is one of our favorite parks in town, but I'll admit that I had way under-estimated this park for most of the time I've lived in Lexington. When we visited parks back in 2015, I judged the parks based on their playgrounds.  The Veterans Park playground has always been small and was replaced a couple years ago. I just assumed that it wasn't that great of a park because it didn't have that great of a playground.

    In late spring 2020 when the big boys were staying with their grandparents for the week, I brought the little boys (then 2 and almost 1) for a wagon walk on the trails. The beauty of the wagon is that I'm not dependent on their endurance as walkers/hikers and can go as long as I want. Not knowing where I was going, I took a paved path that split off into the woods. There, I was amazed at all the pathway possibilities -- there were constant intersections, but I stuck mainly to the wide mown path. We wandered and wandered and stumbled upon a little bridge in a clearing (presumably for mountain bikers). The best find, though, was Hickman Creek -- a wide wading creek suitable for playing and even swimming. 

    I was excited to return later with the big boys. We started on the same path but took some of the side paths, too. They loved the creek as much as I thought they would. On another trip to the trails, we got really turned around (and, of course, that was the day that Calvin got injured, so I ended up pulling a 6-year-old in the wagon, too). When we finally saw some other hikers, I asked them to point us in the way of civilization. Eventually, we followed the creek to the familiar bridge.

    I have so many pictures from our many trips to Veterans Park that I have separate pages for the creek and the tank/playground. These are just mostly of the trails.

This was from my first trip there with the little boys

He loved finding flowers as well as "ticklers" for me 

This is when the big boys joined us

This was off the paved path. Calvin was excited to find this cross because we had just memorized the verse on it -- 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Here's the bridge where the boys like to act out "3 Billy Goats Gruff"

This picture isn't great, but it's the time we saw a deer in the forest

Finding a vine to swing on

This was a hot, sweaty day. I was thankful for the mostly shaded trails

Such a happy boy!

This is where we usually have lunch

They like to squeeze into the hole at the base of the tree. They've done it twice, so I have pictures of both times.

We returned to Veterans Park in February on a warmer but still chilly day

Colson has grown up a lot from the baby who was learning to walk when we first came to Veterans Park.

He was fascinated with his shadow

I usually don't let Cooper ride in the wagon like this, but he likes to see forward

Most of the mountain bike trails are wide enough for the wagon, but this one was a little tricky to navigate

We ended up carrying the wagon up these tire stairs, which led to a paved walking path. We probably could have kept going on the trail, but I wasn't sure

I didn't realize there was a bur oak here, too. We love the one at McConnell Springs. The sign helped me imagine different veterans interacting with that oak tree during any of the wars in America's history. Oh, the stories that tree could tell!

(Note: We visited all 88 LFUCG parks in the span of a Covid year -- mid-March 2020 to February 2021. These are not meant to be extensive reviews but more a record of our experiences. Eventually I will add hyperlinks to all the blog entries here)