Southeast Corner

We haven't walked -- or blogged -- since it's become so cold and snowy and icy, but we had resolved to keep to our tasks, even if at a slower pace, throughout the winter. So we didn't let the frigid temps last Sunday keep us from our appointed rounds.

Part of the fun of this walking-blogging adventure has been in the planning -- whether that has meant scouring large sections of the city map to explore as many parks as possible in one day or scheduling our visits around other errands or events. In this case our Sunday romp revolved around finally dropping off a gift for the beautiful baby girl born two months ago to our dear friends Brian and Whitney, who live so close to the southeast corner of Ann Arbor that we think they may actually reside in Pittsfield Township (and very close to an enormous Pittsfield Township park we have not explored). But more than a handful of Ann Arbor parks are also within spitting distance of their home, so after dropping off the gift we checked them out.

The first park we visited was Swift Run -- one of the few designated as a "dog" park by the city and hence one of the few places in Ann Arbor where it is not technically illegal to unleash your dog (outside of an enclosed area on your own property). We will note that where there are dogs there is dog poop (and the city dump, whose garbage hump looms just south of the park). But the place was brimming with canines and their attentive owners -- extremely crowded, we thought, for such a raw afternoon. (One little rat-like dog was sporting a knitted coat, which made us feel sorry for him -- and his owner.)

Just across the street, at the northwest corner of Ellsworth and Platt, is the sprawling Southeast Area park, which features spacious baseball and soccer fields and a number of basketball courts. It was empty when we visited -- not a car in the parking lot; not a soul on the windswept fields. But come spring and summer, this place is a madhouse filled with kids and adults playing soccer, baseball, softball, and basketball -- often deep into the night, under the lights.

Though we usually try to visit as many as six or seven parks at a time, the winter chill made us less ambitious. But before we headed home we took side-trips to two neighborhood parks just off Platt Road. First was Pilgrim Park, a quaint little park whose existence is likely known primarily if not exclusively to those who live within mere blocks. Next was Redwood Park, among the smallest parks we've visited (so small that we drove right past it and had to double-back). It would have fit right in among the parks we featured in an earlier Corner Parks post.

So that makes 75 parks visited. Not that anyone is counting.