Several weeks ago, Sam and I decided to go and explore a new park that was on a list of nineteen of the best parks and playgrounds in the Seattle area. I have a goal to visit all of these parks sometime during the summer, and we started with Saint Edward State Park. This park used to be the grounds for a Catholic seminary. It is pretty impressive to drive up to these grounds: you enter the area driving along a forested road, and then a clearing opens up to a big brick seminary with a Romanesque tower. It's pretty shocking to find this secluded building, especially since the brick medium and style are so unlike what is usually found in the Pacific Northwest.
Right next to the seminary is a very charming park with a whole bunch of huts and little structures that are interconnected with bridges. Perhaps the medieval style of the seminary made me make this association, but I felt like the playground looked like a little medieval village. The steeply-pitched roofs with the darker wood reminded me of the stave church in Borgund, Norway.
After we enjoyed the playground for a while, we visited one of the nearby trails at the park. We went on a very short hike (probably less than a mile altogether) along the Orchard Loop trail. The trees were really tall and beautiful in this area. There are a lot of hikes in this park seem ideal for small kids, so I hope we can go back and check out some of the other trails.
Hooray for a new discovery! This park makes me feel like I'm in Europe and the Northwest at the same time.
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2 comments:
The tower looks a little like the Cloisters in New York, and the brick work looks like some Oxford colleges built during the Anglican high church renaissance during the 19th century.
The tower looks a little like the Cloisters in New York, and the brick work looks like some Oxford colleges built during the Anglican high church renaissance during the 19th century.
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