So fun! Lu had no idea where we were going and she was quite happy with the little surprise I planned. The slides are just off of Seward in a little park, about 50 feet up from the Douglass intersection.

There are 2 of them, about 30 feet long and they are made of cement. One still has a few reddish patches and the other some yellow, so they are named Ketchup and Mustard. We learned that from cool kids that were hanging out there. You move pretty quick down the slides, and if you use cardboard and put a little sand on the chutes, you can even catch a little air at the midway bump n' turn.

The park is actually called the Corwin Street Community Garden, and the slides were built back in the late 60s. Developers wanted to use the lot to build houses, but the community rallied, had a sit-in when the bulldozers arrived, and finally managed to secure the area as an open space and mini-park. On May 21, 1973 the park was opened with the 2 slides. Many years later the abandoned lot above the slide park was turned into a garden where you can see a whole bunch of amazing plants, and chill out on a bench named "Paradise Found."

And of course, the view from up there is amazing!

After the park we continued our little urban hike, going up up up until we could go no more. But on the way back down to the car we saw an owl perched in a tree far above, hooting softly. It was really cool. We also stumbled upon Kite Hill Park which was just around corner, and although incredibly windy, it was also a great spot to view our gorgeous city.

Labels: fun, san francisco, seward, slides