Never Never Land
Quick photo post. Some words.
P. and I were up in Tacoma and Seattle over this weekend. Sunday, before we left, we dropped by a huge, gorgeous forested park in Tacoma: Point Defiance Park with P.'s young nieces and nephew. Within its depths is a small and forgotten pocket called Never Never Land, populated with child-sized houses and figures from fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The houses are separated by narrow walking trails through the woods.
Built in the 60s and many of its previous structures lost over time, Never Never Land feels dilapidated and abandoned, but this I liked. This gives the place a wonderfully eerie Grimm ambience, as if the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood could truly leap out and devour you as you walk down the pathways. ("I'm scared!" P.'s 3-year old niece Anora cried out at one point. P. assured her that he was a monster who would eat any other monsters we came across, so she was safe.) Peeling paint, rusty nails, penned graffiti inside the tiny ramshackle houses from what I'd guess are teens who go there at night to drink and make out. From what P. says, it's similar to Enchanted Village closer to Seattle (and Enchanted Forest in southern Oregon), but Enchanted Village is much larger. We plan to take his nieces & nephew there sometime this summer, since neither they nor I have ever been there.
Playing with my hoop inside the entrance:
Entrance to Never Never Land:
The Hickory Dickory Dock house:
Candy house, probably the witch's from Hansel and Gretel:
Penned graffiti inside:
Another little house:
I've been taking fusion belly dance classes, and on the side, I've been teaching myself hula hooping. Dancing with a hula hoop is fun in its own right, but I find that it really helps me with muscle isolations, rhythm, and kinesthetic awareness for dancing in general.
I made the hoop I'm playing with below.
Spinning it up my sides/arms:
To my neck (one of the first tricks I learned):
Back to work with me.
P. and I were up in Tacoma and Seattle over this weekend. Sunday, before we left, we dropped by a huge, gorgeous forested park in Tacoma: Point Defiance Park with P.'s young nieces and nephew. Within its depths is a small and forgotten pocket called Never Never Land, populated with child-sized houses and figures from fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The houses are separated by narrow walking trails through the woods.
Built in the 60s and many of its previous structures lost over time, Never Never Land feels dilapidated and abandoned, but this I liked. This gives the place a wonderfully eerie Grimm ambience, as if the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood could truly leap out and devour you as you walk down the pathways. ("I'm scared!" P.'s 3-year old niece Anora cried out at one point. P. assured her that he was a monster who would eat any other monsters we came across, so she was safe.) Peeling paint, rusty nails, penned graffiti inside the tiny ramshackle houses from what I'd guess are teens who go there at night to drink and make out. From what P. says, it's similar to Enchanted Village closer to Seattle (and Enchanted Forest in southern Oregon), but Enchanted Village is much larger. We plan to take his nieces & nephew there sometime this summer, since neither they nor I have ever been there.
Playing with my hoop inside the entrance:
Entrance to Never Never Land:
The Hickory Dickory Dock house:
Candy house, probably the witch's from Hansel and Gretel:
Penned graffiti inside:
Another little house:
I've been taking fusion belly dance classes, and on the side, I've been teaching myself hula hooping. Dancing with a hula hoop is fun in its own right, but I find that it really helps me with muscle isolations, rhythm, and kinesthetic awareness for dancing in general.
I made the hoop I'm playing with below.
Spinning it up my sides/arms:
To my neck (one of the first tricks I learned):
Back to work with me.