Childhood Playgrounds

When I was little, my house was on the outskirts of town. There was a small creek that ran behind us where I spent most of my time playing. The creek was usually dry, except in winter when we got rain. There were many nights we stood outside watching the water rise hoping it wouldn't flood the house. Not many kids lived near me and most of my playtime was spent alone in this creek -- making boats, watching them float down the water, catching frogs and tadpoles, making my Barbies high dive from the rocks. I loved it and thought it was the greatest place to play and grow up.

Two years ago we moved from southern California to northwestern Montana. The picture above was taken in Glacier National Park. It used to take us 3-4 days to get here for vacation. Now it takes us less than an hour to get to the park. This is the type of playground my children have now. We go to Glacier often to camp, hike, fish, swim, kayak or look for wildlife, which can include mountain goats, eagles and bears. The term a day in the park has a whole new meaning to us. Sometimes people see pictures I've taken and say they didn't think places like this still exist. I consider myself fortunate to live in such a beautiful place where my children can grow up with memories like the one in this picture. It sure beats my little creek in the east end of town.