Journeys›Photograph

Sunny Afternoon at the Preschool Playground in Cow Hollow

·San Francisco, California·#bay area#spring#kids#playground#2011
Three young girls on a purple dinosaur spring rider in a wood chip playground, with buildings and a fence behind.

The playground at Miley and Baker in Cow Hollow has a purple dinosaur the length of a car, jaws open wide enough to walk into, and that is where the afternoon started — three girls in dresses lined up along its back like it was a parade float. It's tucked into the Marina among the low buildings, wood chips everywhere, green shade cloth strung over the paved strip where the tricycles run.

And the tricycles ran. Old chrome-and-red ones, the kind with the fat rubber wheels, plus yellow scooters and a red wagon — one boy hauling another across the pavement, the passenger sitting cross-legged like he'd hired a driver. Still holding a blue paddle toy in his free hand, so the towing was one-armed the whole way.

By the end everyone had migrated back to the climbing structure, taking turns on the curled end of the blue slide, which apparently works better as a seat than a slide. Nobody wanted to hand back the sunglasses shaped like a cat.

Two children are in the foreground, one standing and one sitting on a red wagon, with other children playing on tricycles in the background.Two young children sit smiling on a blue slide at an outdoor playground with wood chips and equipment in the background.Three children, two on tricycles and one standing, are outdoors on pavement with a building and shade canopy in the background.Two young children sit together on a blue slide in a playground with wood chips and people in the background.Three young children stand on a playground with wood chips, blue slides, and a building in the background.Three children stand with scooters outdoors, with playground equipment and buildings in the background.

More Entries