billmvt

Day Seven: Millbrook Exchange Park

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On the seventh day of Raleigh Parks Christmas, Kris gave her husband Bill (that’s me) an assignment: visit the Carolina Pines dog park with the dog and baby while she was doing Raleigh Jaycees board of directors stuff. After some confusion about where the car seat and stroller were, we ended up at a different dog park: Millbrook Exchange.

There’s a lot going on at Millbrook Exchange: a pool, community center, tennis center, dog park, basketball courts, baseball fields, and playground. Today, we just explored the dog park.

There are actually two dog parks here, sharing a common fence: a large area (maybe 2 acres) for large dogs, and a small area (1/4 acre-ish) for small dogs. Ripken plays like a large dog, but he can get crazier than a sack of rabid weasels at the dog park and I’ve got a baby to manage, so we stick to the vacant small dog area.

There are plenty of water bowls, tennis balls, and poop bags; no need to bring your own. Lots of mature hardwoods and pines, too–perfect for shade in the summer or doggie outhouse all year round.

Ripken and Ashley both had a blast, and we left the dog park after dozens of Ripken races up and down the fence

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and horsey rides for Ashley on daddy’s shoulders.

Next, we walked around and photo-documented some of the other facilities, as you can see in the gallery below. But, it was getting close to nap time and we had to split. This one deserves another visit and a feature-length post in the spring.

Thumbs up: Lots of mature trees, tons of facilities, both large and small dog parks.

Thumbs down: Seems like parking might be an issue on nice days; it was 75% full on a damp Saturday morning in December.

Lake Lynn Park

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A couple weeks ago I found myself in a terrifying position: at home alone with the baby for 36 hours. I hadn’t done that before. My lovely wife, the creator of this blog, was at the Britney Spears concert in Washington DC (I’m afraid I’m not joking) with her sister and some other troublemakers.

I asked my wife, “What do I do with the baby for that length of time?!” After an incredulous look followed by, “What do you think I do while you’re at work all week?” she politely suggested I take the baby to a yet unexplored park, take some pictures, and write a guest article on her blog. I did the first two at the end of July, and here I am mid-August completing the job.

My assignment was Lake Lynn Park. I had no idea there was a Lake Lynn. I knew Lynn Road from the shopping center with Goodwill and the movie theater that serves beer, but this lake was news to me. Turns out that it’s a great location for walking or running, and it’s teeming with fauna, considering its suburban location.

The park is squarely in north Raleigh, between 540 and 440 to the north and south, and Creedmoor Rd and Glenwood Ave to the east and west. I entered at 7921 Ray Rd and parked in a large, 90% empty parking lot on a Monday morning. (By the way, what were those 20 cars doing there? Don’t these people have jobs?) There is a large community center that looks like it’s used for things like summer camps, several lighted tennis courts, a lighted softball field, and a nice playground.

But, the real attraction is the lake and Lake Lynn Trail around it. The trail is alternately paved and a sort of boardwalk/causeway stretching over long sections of water. This segment of the greenway is part of the Hare Snip Creek Trail. I’ve heard it’s around 2 miles, but we didn’t make it to the halfway point before someone got fussy so we didn’t make it all the way around (I’ll leave who it was to your imagination).

There are waterfowl galore, including many stripes of duck and a camera-shy white swan. I even found a pair of adult turtles with their litter of babies sunning on a log, but they scattered when I was close enough for a photo. A little girl was feeding the ducks stale bread as we were leaving. I’m guessing this is a popular activity, due to the large duck population and their affinity to humans, hanging out within a few feet of a busy section of trail.

All in all, Ashley and I had a great time exploring this park. It’s another great Raleigh Parks facility, and ideal for going on a walk, feeding the ducks, or a short run with great scenery.