Grant Park

Posted by meli on Thursday, August 04, 2011 in family, life of play, stories of my youth, travel | No comments

Grant Park (or as we referred to it ... The 7 Bridges Park) was another of my favorite hang-outs as a kid. Mostly because it reeeally stretched my boundaries. It was right at the end of where I was allowed to go alone. I rode my bike from my house, down to sheridan park, and followed the trail over to Grant. It was great. Such freedom!!! 

After a while, though, I wasn't allowed to step foot into the park without an adult. There was a killer, or maybe a rapist (I can't remember which - probably both) that was targeting kids in that park ... so my Mom put the kabosh on me going alone. I continued to go RIGHT up to the entrance, though, and sat there for hours - just staring in. lol.  And then every time I went in the park with adults, my friends and I swore we saw the killer ... every . single . time! We saw him lurking in the trees. There was a staircase leading up to a chain-link fence ... we figured he lived beyond that fence. We would dare each other to get closer and closer to the fence ... and stay for longer and longer each attempt. High pitched girly screams (even from the boys, lol) filled the air as we tempted our own fate. 

Yea, I'm pretty sure he still lives up there! Soo, I made sure to warn my boys today when we went. They found great humor in my stories, but I'm sure somewhere, deep inside of them, they know he still lives up there, too!