Drop Bars on the Cross Check

So after flirting with Soma Oxford bars for a while (both upside down and right side up), yesterday I changed my Surly Cross Check back to a drop bar, geared machine:

Darree Fields (and some notes on the Soma Oxford bar)

We finally got a break in the rain this afternoon, so after dinner the twins and I headed out to knock off another playground. Our destination for the evening was #16 Darree Fields, tucked away on the far western side of Dublin.

Darree has two playgrounds, so we stopped at the northern one first:

 

Frantz Park (Field of Corn), Llewellyn Farms, Llewellyn Farms South, Smiley Park

We had a lot of parks planned for today. Henry was at my parents' place, but I invited my buddy Brian to come along with his two boys. Brian and I used to spend our weekends taking all day motorcycle or mountain bike rides down to Hocking Hills, now we pull our kids around town to playgrounds. Funny how things change. Brian was riding his vintage Cannondale from those halycon days:

 

Our first stop was #40 Sam and Eulalia Frantz Park, better known as Field of Corn or Cornhenge. Pre-kids, I used to mock this public artwork, but now it's really a place our kids enjoy running around in.

Gideon seemed to like it as well:

The corn is bordered by a hedgerow of Osage orange trees that provide some shade:

Sam found an Osage orange:

They're supposed to act as natural bug repellants, so Brian cut one apart to see what's inside:

It didn't smell THAT bad, but it wasn't something you would use to freshen up a room:

I put some new Soma Oxford bars on my Surly Cross Check while it takes over trailer pulling duties:

I'm really enjoying them so far. Compared to the On One Mary or Surly Open Bar that I had been using, the key advantage of the Oxford is that is uses a bar end shifter. This allows use of pretty much the entire bar as a hand resting spot, giving the rider lots of options. They run quite a bit narrower than either of the aforementioned bars, but this is OK for me after I got used to it.

After the field of corn, we hit the road for #33 Llewellyn Farms Park. The thing I liked best about this playground was that it was shady, a nice feature on a hot morning!

Sam showed off his balance skills:

Kate, Gids and Walter all hit the swings:

Then Walter showed off his acrobatic prowess:

After this, we rode around for a while trying to find #34 Llewellyn Farms South Park. Later, I determined it was just a big patch of grass that we rode past. Sorry, but this gets the award for the worst park we've seen to date.

Disappointed, we promised the kids a playground at the next park, #46 Smiley Park. We found these odd pillars on the way there:

No one wanted to walk between them--maybe they would get zapped off to another dimension or something.

Safely past the Pillars Of Doom, we found Smiley Park, but we weren't smiling:

Just a few picnic tables and some grass that needs mowing. Disappointed again, we took the kids through #13 Coffman Park so they could get another playground in. After that, we were ready for some A/C and a big lunch at Cici's pizza!

Four down, 20 to go.