Day #689 (Wed., Nov 23, 2011) – Pullen Park
This evening we took Katie to Pullen Park in downtown Raleigh. It has been under renovation for quite a while and opened up last weekend. It was still busy…but we were glad that we were able to avoid the huge rush on the weekend.
The first thing we did was purchase some tickets for the train ride. It cost $1.00 per person and since Katie was under 12 months old we had to purchase one for her as well. Total: $3.00. We sat at the back of the train so that we could see all the activity and sights in front of us.
Before we boarded the train we noticed a little boat pool in front of the location where you board the train. It was set up in a Merry-Go-Round fashion and kids could get in the boats and ring the bell while they encircled the pool. One child tried to climb out of the front seat of the boat into the back so his father picked him out of the boat. Interesting…there is no safety belt or anything to hold the children in place…it only takes seconds for a child to drown. We won’t let Katie get onto this ride until she is older…
Back to the train. They didn’t have any seat belts on this ride either, so my wife had to hold onto Katie tight. I sat behind them so that I could video everything. The rain took you over a couple of bridges and through a couple of railway crossings. The whole ride was 7 minutes in length.
With the train ride over we let Katie run around and explore the various sights. She visited the amphitheater area and had a quick ride on the swings. After all this running here and there we thought that this might be enough for the day…but we decided to do one more thing…
Pullen Park has a restored carousel from over 100 years ago. They restored it to it’s former glory and hand-painted all the various animals. Do you know what the difference between a carousel and a merry-go-round is? A carousel has different animals while a merry-go-round has only horses. My wife told me this the other day…interesting…
So, that’s $1.00 per ticket for 3 people…another $3.00…but it was well worth it. Katie loved it (see photo to the left). My wife put her on a horse and stood next to her. I sat in the booth nearby so that I could video the whole ride. The smile on Katie’s face was worth it! She loved it so much that she had a bit of a tantrum when we tried to take her off it. It’s good to limit her to only one ride though…this way she will learn to cherish it and not think that she can get another ride if she complains enough…
WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
——————————-
1) Katie rode the carousel and train at Pullen Park today.