Last year, I found that Walmart was selling the game Hanfordopoly. It’s like Monopoly, but for my town. Well, I had to buy it! Then Lauren and I went around town and took pictures of each of the places on the game board. It was so much fun! I can’t wait to introduce you to our sweet little town and some of its history.

Part 1-Freddy the Firetruck and Carousel

Part 2– Hanford Mall

Part 3– Fox Theatre

Part 4– Civic Auditorium and Civic Park

Part 5 – Downtown

Part 6 – The Plunge

Part 7 – Kings Art Center

Part 8 – Hanford Library

Part 9 – Renaissance Faire

Part 10 – Centennial Park

Part 11 – La Fiesta Restaurant

This is Hidden Valley Park and it is near my house and near to where I grew up. I brought my kids here many times over the years to play and explore. There is the required play structure which is pretty amazing! There are so many tunnels and slides and places to have fun! There is a water area too for when our weather gets so hot.

The pond has been here since the beginning and there are always ducks and geese around. The city fills the pond with fish in the spring and there will be a special fishing day in the spring for the kids to come out and try their hand at catching some fish.

These are just a few of the ducks who were taking a break from the water. You do have to be careful of the geese though. They can be mean!

Frisbee golf is a newer addition to the park. To be honest, I’m not even sure how to play. I do know that this basket is in the middle of a group of trees and would be very difficult to get a frisbee into.

As a kid, I spent hours at this park with my best friend and neighbor, Kenny. We would ride our bikes and spend all morning or afternoon here exploring. There is water down in the basin in the spring and we would find pollywogs and tiny little frogs. We could also hear the bullfrogs and they would scare us when they would jump into the water. We had our own special tree, where the trunk went out from the shore and the rest of the tree hung over the water. We would sit and talk and I’m sure we made up stories too.

We found lots of treasures there too. I remember finding a creepy doll down there after the water had gone down.

Unfortunately, a lot of the trees are gone. We have had so many years of drought so a lot of them died and have been taken out. This tree is the same kind we would play in though.

They have even added a fitness center to the park. I saw a sign that there are classes at 9:00 every Saturday morning, but it is open all the time if you want to go work out on your own.

We tried to get some pictures of my husband and I with the dogs, but, umm, they didn’t work out so well. This is the best we got. You can see two of them ‘protecting’ me from the people at the end of the bridge. 🙄

This park holds the most memories for me, both from my childhood and my kid’s childhood. Do you have a favorite park in your town too?