The Real Buckley Park

 

Stromsberg, Nebraska (pop. 1143)

I repeated the population for this town just so you can keep it in mind while reading this post.

We woke to a dark and chilly morning beneath those trees in the campground.  I decided we’d stay another day in Buckley Park but we’d go over to the baseball diamond I had seen on the satellite image for the day just to be in the warm sunshine.  In the evening we’d return to the campground.  We had to leave the camp area, drive down the highway two streets to get to the ball diamonds.  And what do I find?  Another whole complete campground!  All out in the full glorious warm sunshine, twenty spots, each with electricity, all free as before, and only ONE other camper in a trailer.

 I was miffed at myself for not finding this the day before.  We had stayed in the full shade, cold, battling flies every time I opened the door, surrounding by others well within my uncomfortable zone, listening to traffic noise and the whine of the grain elevator ventilators to the point of having to wear ear plugs just in order to sleep.  It took me awhile to get over all of this.  

Each site had this as they didn’t want you driving on their grass.

A lot of planning and expense went into setting up this campground.

After letting Beans out to explore I went for a walk to simmer down. 

I discovered a whole other part of the park, a huge park.

That is a sheltered picnic area to the left, a playground to the right.

I would discover nearly a dozen separate playground areas throughout the park.

All with fancy new colorful equipment.  Only a couple were prehistoric apparatus playgrounds.

 

One of which held the largest fall-off-and-break-your-neck climbing dome I had ever seen in a park.

There was a large horseshoe playing field.  Like most I have come across in my travels it appeared unused.  I guess people don’t play horseshoes much anymore.

 

I had no idea this town/park had a swim center, a quiet elaborate one at that.  I wasn’t surprised to find empty of water.  School is back in session. 

But it did look to be still functioning during summer as there wasn’t all that much of leaves and debris inside the empty pool.

I found tennis courts and...

...and a volley ball court.  Hard to tell if they had been used this year.

I kind of think so.  It is just late in the year now.

Also a full length disc golf course winds in and around the park.

Nearby was this pavilion.  I saw a poster in the ball diamond snack center advertising some music scheduled back in June of this year.

There were two baseball fields and a soccer field separating the two.  I was inclined to think the baseball diamonds had not used by the sight of the weeds growing in the infield.

But maybe enough time has past since the end of baseball season that the weeds could have grown this much.  Baseball is extremely popular in Nebraska based on what I have observed staying at other Nebraska city parks during the season.  It seems to be a sheer obsession with Nebraskans. 

 

This one even had a batting cage with a robot pitcher.

I think that Buckley Park was the most elaborate and fully equipped park for a small town of this size I had yet seen.  I was very impressed.  And as you may have observed, not one person was in the park.  Not even one exercising their dog in the doggy corral park.

Coming back home down at the end of campground row was the cutest little donation box ever. This place was unbelievable.  All free, donations requested, whereas other parks require as much as twenty dollars a night offering much less.

Thank you for the sunshine Dad!