Lamar Park, Porter St., Wyoming, Michigan

I am happy to say that Lamar Park is our home park. Mom takes me there just about every day, sometimes twice a day...and I always love it no matter how long or short our walks are.

It's humongous...like 93 acres. There's a half mile walking path around a lake, and sometimes, when I'm lucky, I get to jump in and chase after geese or ducks. There are a lot of other little ponds and a stream...so there are always birds. There are also fish, and a lot of people fishing in the ponds.

There is also an 18 Target Frisbee golf course, and so far I've never been able to catch one of the Frisbees, but I'm still trying. I remember people out there in the snow playing this sport.

There's a REAL ball diamond, with stands, and everything. This is one of the BEST things about this park because in the winter, even though we're not supposed to, Mom takes me into the fenced area and I can run around to my heart's content. In the summer months there are ball games and other events in this area, so I have to stay off.

There are lots of tennis courts, basketball courts, and volleyball courts in the park too. There are two different play areas, a huge soccer field, and indoor bathrooms for people to use.

The big claim to fame for this park is the Splash Park. It's really cool for the little kids who use it. There are a lot of brightly colored things that spray water and one that even dumps out buckets of water.

Sometimes the park is really quiet, other times, it's extremely busy or there might even be a festival going on.

I almost always see a bunny, and I always see ducks and geese, and sometimes, like the day we took pictures for this article, I found a big feather. I love feathers.

When Mom and I had to live in a different place, while they fixed our house from a fire we had, we lived right across the street from the park entrance, and I got to watch the park all day long. I love being back at my big house, but it was fun living right across the street from the park, too.

The park fills almost the entire block north of Byron Center road.

I give this a 5 paw rating. It just doesn't get any better than this. Things to chase and smell, a chance to get loose every now and then, water to get into. I love this park. Mom's rating: same. I give it a thumbs up. I feel very fortunate too have this big, green space near my home.

HERITAGE PARK, 4280 Canal, Grandville, MI

Heritage Park is a nice spot. Tucked away on Canal Street, I've never actually seen this park busy. We've been there 3 or 4 times, as it's just not somewhere we think of going...but today, on my birthday, that's where Mom decided to take me. First we stopped at McDonald's. Being my birthday I got my very own Egg McMuffin. I don't generally get such treats, but hey, if ya can't splurge on your birthday, when can you? But I digress.

The park is really really big, by dog standards and pretty big by people standards. I'd love to tell you HOW big officially, but do you know that search as we might, we can't find anyplace online with info on Grandville parks! So let's just say about 3-4 acres, with the majority of that taken up by a big pond.

There's a nice parking area, indoor bathrooms, and the Heritage School House. It's from 1887 and evidently school kids come spend a day there when arranged by their teachers.

The park was developed in 1987 according to a plaque on a rock. There are lots of trees, bushes, ducks, geese, and plenty to sniff and look at.

There's a large play area for kids, with 2 big play set things, and a separate swing set. There's also a sand volleyball area. Since this is at the back edge of the park, there's a little porta-potty there as an added convenience.

There is a nice pea-gravel walkway that goes around the lake, and even over a couple of little bridges. There's also a nice boardwalk area and an area that juts out into the pond.

The park is surrounded by trees on one side, but surrounded by neighborhood homes on two sides and Canal St. on the fourth side...so there's really no opportunity for being off leash to fetch a ball because I might be tempted to run off somewhere.

There's a lighted basketball court too.

Overall this was a nice place to take a morning walk, with lots of things to sniff and look at. There were lots of little picnic areas that were not all on top of one another, provided charcoal grills, lots of trash cans, and benches to sit and just look at the lake, or whatever it is hunans do.

There is also a covered pavillion overlooking the lake, which we've seen with groups of kids sometimes when we have been there....probably the same kids who were using the school house. They were kind of dressed in frontier garb the day we saw them, so now this makes sense, since we've found out about the schoolhouse.

So, our ratings: Ginger: 2 (out of a possible 5) paws. It's nice and all, but there were only ducks and geese, no squirrels or bunnies spotted. No opportunity for being off leash. Donna: A simple thumbs up. A nice park, quiet, lots of places to sit, not a lot of distractions. For a nice quiet lunchtime park drop in, this is a good place.

THE BEGINNING, THE IDEA, THE FORMAT

It's August 23, It's my birthday. I'm a standard poodle, Ginger. (Or Cherie Gingerella B. Lane, as my AKC papers would identify.) I'm 2 years old. My mom, Donna, takes me on outings. She's an overachiever. Always has to be accomplishing two things at once, if not more. So today, while we're on what I think is just a nice outing to the park, she says, "Ginger, as long as we're here, how about if we start blogging about parks." I think, "Oh geez, here we go again. I'm just here to sniff out some bunnies, bark at squirrels, raise some ducks, poop and pee. Can't a dog get a little peace?" But, she's my food source, without her, the sorry fact is, I die. So, I guess I'm in. We're going to review area parks...and if that means I get to go to more parks, so my obsessive compulsive owner can work on "my" blog, well I guess I can weather that. So following is our first park review.

So, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to give the parks ratings based on, dog friendliness, like how many animals I saw, or whether trash barrels are nearby, and how interesting the place is for a dog. My wacky mom will give it ratings based on things like how "pretty" it is or how many place to sit down (lame)....so here we go!