When we travel abroad, we noticed in large cities there tends to be a lot of parks. What is shocking is that people actually use them and use every amenity available from soccer (football) fields, gym equipment, playsets, and open space to practice yoga. The afternoons in Paris were filled with elementary school children playing in the park. When the sun is out, people come out to the parks to celebrate good weather by running, walking, wandering, using the gym equipment, and simply people watching.
Luckily living in Los Angeles, people do use parks and green spaces. There are some parks I drive to and times there are no spaces for me to park my car. But I think Los Angeles falls in the minority compared to other large American cities who have parks. One time when we were visiting our in-laws in suburban San Diego, we took our dogs to a dog park nearby. Sadly we were the only people and they were the only dogs at the dog park. There is another neighborhood park nearby my in-laws’ home and most of the times it is deserted. You would think in suburban neighborhoods people would be encouraged to go to the parks — it uses so much land. Also, it is not like people in the suburbs play in their large backyard with a swimming pool and plastic playground set. Instead I’ve observed most of the suburbanites tend to stay indoors playing on their smartphone or their Xbox.
Tuesday Photo Challenge Theme: Yard
