Parallel Universe (Not-so-much)

not my photo, but dang, it could be.

Yesterday we let The Google guide us to some water and shade. We had time and a car so we drove to Colts Neck, New Jersey to enjoy a "sprayground".

At first look this place was like lots of places that I have taken my kids.  Like Waterslide Park in Chelsea and The Harmony Playground in Prospect Park, there was squirting water things, sand and swinging and climbing things.

But as soon as I approached the park I knew it would be different.  It was at the end of a long road that only had farms and stables on it, then it had a quarter mile driveway.  The ONLY way to get there was by car.  NOBODY walked there and there was NOTHING within walking distance.  When I parked I noticed that families were eating fast food meals in their cars.  This mads sense because you are not allowed to bring food into the sprayground and again, there is NOTHING within walking distance.  eck.

Once inside something else struck me.  Everyone looked the same.  Fist on the micro level, there were no blended groups of people.  No mixed race families, no nannies (who don't always look like the kids they are watching).  Just parents, with their kids.  No, no, no I should not say parents.  This was a place of moms, No SAHDs in Monmouth County.  Oh, and at the macro level, everyone looked the same.  This was a white people place.

I could not have taken this photo.

There was another difference between this park and the urban playgrounds I am used too.  I am not expecting parents to go get all dress up before taking you kids to a park but come on people, this ain't Walmart.

Needless to say, I did not have any conversations with any of the other grown-ups in the park.