Sundance Park in The Woodlands

This medium sized park in the Village of Alden Bridge is one for a family who lives nearby. It is easily located and is frequently accessed by residents in the local neighborhoods.

The four table pavilion is useful for small group events.

Picnic tables are available and basketball courts provide the neighborhood youth a competitive energy outlet.

  Getting there:

GPS coords: 30.210358, -95.552222 Alden Bridge at Sorrel Tree Pl

Terramont Park

This beautiful place is one of my favorites. It has a rather large hill for these parts, covered in grass.  This hill is the outstanding feature of this park, great for a picnic. Another special feature of the park is it's nine hole disc golf course. That course is listed with photos in DG Court Review. The small pavilion would be perfect for small group events such as a birthday party or a multi-family picnic. Like all Woodlands parks, to use the pavilion, it should be reserved in advance.

To me, this is a classic family park for an adhoc spontaneous visit on a nice Texas day (and they are all nice, right?). 

I got to wondering about Disc Golf when I visited this park. For one, how do you play it? For another, why do we have such a sport here? I cannot answer the second question or really the first. For the life of me, I do not know if anyone uses this facility or not. I have never seen anyone there, but I have been there only three times, so what do I know? Basically, this is a form of Frisbee and golf but don't take that lightly. This is a professional sport and it is available in many communities. Click here for simple some advice on holding and throwing the disc .  If you want, you can Google the sport and learn how it is played - fairly simple.

I saw some evidence  of wildlife here and sure enough encountered a couple of deer on the perimeter of the park.  With the soccer field, the bathrooms, the tennis courts, and the dog park, I rate this park high on my list for diversity and just a good place for the family. By the way, I saw a children American football team there on a Saturday morning with their parents for a practice on that hill. They rented the pavilion and consumed all the parking. 

GPS coords: 30.201730, -95.556706
Branch Crossing at Terramont

Small town USA July 4th

July 4th in a small neighborhood in Spring, Texas, was like thousands of small towns throughout the United States on this occasion. Starting with a bicycle parade ending at the local community park, a hundred or so residents gathered to have a picnic and watch fireworks.

Lovely people of all ages munched on something cold or something spicy in the heat of the Houston area. It is always hot on July 4th, and this year was no different.

Whoever wanted to get sweaty in the heat were welcome to join in a game of volleyball using a makeshift "net" but without the net. All that was important were the people and the ball. From there, we had a volleyball game! Amazingly, after such rains over the past week, there were no mosquitoes to bother people.

Some young people were driving a mule around just to enjoy the social aspect afforded by the event. They were dressed in red, white and blue. Even the mule four-wheeler was dressed out in national colors.

The fun goes beyond the people. You need to bring your pet to such an event. This boxer was seen to almost endlessly wag his tail as he greeted each person or dog that came along. People dressed the way they wanted for the event. Some came in colorful shirts, shorts, hats or whatever. This dog wore a red white and blue band bandanna.

For sure, July 4th provides many photo opportunities for families and friends.  This pretty lady got in my lens when she was using her lens.

Over the loud speaker you could hear the announcement throughout the park: " we will have fireworks at dusk. This is a reminder that we are raising money to replace a Live Oak Tree that was destroyed by winds last year. Come get some lemonade or other item to help us raise the finds we need, as exhibited by the fund raising sign. Remember - to have fireworks, we need your contributions each year for the fireworks display. The association cannot pay for it because of the risk. The association dues are not for that purpose." 

The voluntary fire department was of course there as a first responder for any problems associated with fireworks. The announcer made sure she got the point across why the community fireworks display is a good idea. It is to displace the personal use of fireworks. They are dangerous and create a risk to people and property. Little did she know that this night would underscore her words with an exhibit of what can happen. While families gathered in the evening, the fire department provided children with the opportunity to hear and see the sirens and lights and water spraying from the truck. That is always a hit and a very good tradition at about every small town fireworks display.

Friends found each other here and some out-of-towners had not seen each other or seen old time friends for a  long time.

People caught up on one another, including the teens and even in this modern Facebook instant real time era where the exchange of life's events occur daily. 

And then the guys prepared to shoot the fireworks.

As the sun began to set and move behind the horizon, the time was approaching to celebrate America's independence by tune and by fireworks. Now the music began.  

Suddenly, here came the fireworks.

The skies were filled with explosions and color.

Spectators were fairly close to the source but far enough away where the remnants of the burning display would not fall on clothes or start a fire. The materials fell harmlessly on the grass reserved for that purpose. There was hardly any wind, helping to mitigate any fire risk.

Then everything seemed to go wrong!  Oh no!!! Cried some spectators. What has happened? The entire source area turned into a burning inferno. One misfired cracker started a a chain reaction that was frightening! Suddenly a beautiful fireworks display turned sour. The crowd gasped in horror, holding their breath, praying that no one was hurt. Fortunately on this night, the technicians putting on the event were not hurt. They departed the area immediately when the first cracker went awry. These people were trained to react to the incident, and the fire department was trained to respond.  Within 20 minutes, the technicians recovered the remaining explosives and announced that the display would go on, and it did. If a private untrained person had been conducting this display, it might not have had such a good ending. But this story ended with more fireworks, a resumed effort and determined crew wished to remember the event, not by the incident, but by the very much appreciated recovery from the incident.

Happy birthday America!  : from Hometown America. 

Lakeside Park in The Woodlands

Lakeside Park is a large village recreation area in Alden Bridge Village next to the Bear Branch Reservoir and Bear Branch Creek.

Behind the sign above is a commemorative marker where the 1000th mile of Woodlands pathways was laid.

This swimming pool is standard for The Woodlands and very modern. It was sure inviting on this hot Memorial Day weekend!

  Entrance to swimming area

There are two pairs of courts making a total of four courts. This village park has several "twin" amenities.

In the back of the park, there is a kayak and canoe launch for those interested in an outing on the reservoir. These two fishermen left the dock just as I positioned myself for taking some photographs of the reservoir.

A soccer field, baseball diamond, and  lacrosse field are available here.

Normal playground equipment for children

Wheels friendly area for skateboarding

Down this pathway are two identical twin pavilions, named "A" and "B". They can be reserved separately.

Unit "A" with four tables

There are several areas for picnics, some have twin tables and all have a grill. These are special in that they overlook the reservoir.

The kayak launch. There is often large amounts of vegetation on this reservoir, making it difficult to fish near the launch. If you plan to fish, you should be aware that the reservoir is not managed by the township, but by the state and therefore, you must have a fishing license. Perch, bass and crappie are regularly caught by fishermen in this body of water. The Texas Game and Fish Commission does enforce their laws here. They occasionally check for licenses and safety of boats, so if you plan to fish, bring your license!

Getting there:
GPS coords: 30.204512, -95.542807
Near Alden Bridge at Benton Woods Dr

Social Life of our dogs - a Saturday at the Dog Park

In The Woodlands, Texas, we have some awesome dog parks. They are spread out over the community for easy access on a Saturday morning, or after one gets home from work. It was hot today and the animals really appreciated the dog pool. I did too actually. Splashing me felt refreshing.

Yes, the dog needs his exercise, but what the dog looks for and appreciates the most is the social aspect. That includes its human family as well as meeting other dogs.  It even includes meeting strange humans!

It is not unusual for there to be conflicts among individuals. Some are "puppy social", others are "alpha social". In this particular case, the white dog is an alpha female which just arrived at the park. She was accompanied by both human family caretakers. She had her toys and her caretakers were throwing her toys for her to chase and fetch.  She did not want to share. When she arrived at her caretakers to give them the toy, the brown dog tried to take it. The brown dog wanted to play with her. She responded with a growl and jumped on the brown dog, biting her in the leg. The brown dog yelped as the white dog continued to attack. There were tooth gashes on the leg and in the skin on the brown dog that I saw after the dogs were separated. It happened again with a second dog, two of three large brown dogs that a young lady had brought to the park. The young lady left with one dog slightly injured, another one possibly injured and the third unscathed. It was my opinion that he owner of the white dog should have put a leash on the white dog but never did. The owners tried instead to calm the dog and later released her to run free again, only to repeat the attack.  I have heard of similar situations from various other people over the past few months.

All remaining dogs had no problems whatsoever. Most of the animals I saw were very puppy-like. They wanted to romp and play with other dogs, and sometimes they wanted me to play with them.  I had two or more of them jump into my arms wanting my full attention, even though I had the camera and equipment on me.  That was OK. I am used to it, and I would not have belonged there if I was not willing to be their playful friend.

Many of the dogs simply loved this little swimming pool. Some would totally immerse their head and body under the water to cool off. This one kept his head out of it. The dogs would often bring their toy and place it where they could an eye on it.

Here I am about to be enthusiastically bathed and loved by a wet dog.

While the white and brown dogs remained together, there was an acrobatic attempt to catch a toy in mid-air. The white dog was a human-oriented dog, not really interested in the other dogs.

This dog was much prettier when she was dry. After getting soaked in the swimming pool, she was a bit more wiry looking.

Despite her behavior and the heat, this dog was a good subject to photograph. She chased her toys with lightening speed.

This smaller dog played in the small dog pen. There are two separate pens, one to protect the small breed dogs and puppies.

This Beagle was fairly docile. He played and socialized but not recklessly, like some of the others.

This is something us humans can't do, run at their speed and go nose to nose in a race.

To cool off in this scorching sun!

Then it is time to go home. Where's mama? Carry me back home!