Hidden Lakes Park, Martinez – An Outing

Feb 182012

On Thursday, Thomas and I went to Hidden Lakes Park in Martinez. My wife and I had been there before to take walks with our dogs so we knew a little about the place, but things change when you have a child (everything changes). You begin to see places with a new perspective. For example, I took notice of the playgrounds this time. I paid attention to how much parking there was, the bathrooms, how busy it was… many more things that would matter if we were to spend an afternoon there instead of just walking our dogs.

Starting with this article I also plan to provide much more detail when I visit a park and put the post into a similar format for future reference. My hope is that people can use my posts to determine if a certain park will meet their needs for any given outing (or not). Of course there are many people that read this blog that do not live around me and for those visitors I am still going to be sharing much about what we did and some pretty pictures etc. so I hope that these posts are not too boring. If they are, please speak up and I will try to alter the format to please all!

When Thomas and I arrived at the park, the parking lot seemed pretty empty, perhaps a half-dozen vehicles there and not many people visible. I knew that the part of the park that I wanted to use was actually where the “lakes” were, along the paths and not the sidewalks. While Hidden Lakes Park has plenty to do right up front and out in the open, what is hidden is where I wanted to spend my afternoon with Thomas. In order to go on these trails, our normal stroller would not cut it. The bumps, dirt, rocks, gravel, and sand would be way too hard on that stroller. This meant I needed to break out our Jeep stroller. Thomas has been too small for it and the occupant really needs to sit upright for the stroller to be considered, as of a few weeks ago, he was finally ready! I had to first figure out how to use the thing… I got it from a friend for a good price and it had been sitting in my garage for maybe eight months. I didn’t know how to recline the seat position, lock the wheels, unfold the stroller when it was compact… or do anything with it… so I had to figure this all out before putting him in it… plus I had to feed him and change a diaper in the parking lot.

Needless to say, we finally made it onto the trails and Thomas seemed to really be enjoying the bumps, twists and turns. The weather was great, about 70 degrees and perhaps just a few high-up clouds that didn’t block much of the sun. We passed a few other walkers/hikers/dog walkers that were also out enjoying the weather and even someone fishing in the lake. Amid the bumps Thomas even fell asleep somehow… I guess that Jeep suspension really helps!