Exploring the World with Pokémon Go: River Oaks Park
I passed a strange shaped park while grabbing food the other day. So I decided to check out River Oaks Park as soon as I could.
River Oaks Park is a little different than many of the other places I have visited. Especially compared to my recent adventures. This was not a conventional park. No basketball courts or soccer fields. There are not many paths to guide the tour around either.
In fact, multiple times while walking around I had to watch my step so that I didn’t accidently step in a swamp or at least mushy ground. I’m not sure if the place floods frequently, but I don’t recommend coming here right after a storm.
As I moved around River Oaks Park, I more easily found the river and the oaks. Though the river was really a creek. At least the oaks were oaks. (I think. I’m not a tree expert.) Some of these photos more visibly show how soft the ground around this place was. I was careful not to step there.
I love how the picture above with the creek turned out. In no way shape or form am I a professional photographer. I don’t play one on TV either. But I am allowed to enjoy a good picture I snapped? Right? If it wasn’t for me being consistent with having park signs as head pictures, I probably would have used that image for this blog post.
Anyway, what is not pictured here are the hills that I walked up and down. I got plenty of exercise exploring River Oaks Park. You should come check out this place if you seek little hills.
Up and Down:
As I continued exploring River Oaks Park, I not only had to watch my step to avoid sinking into the ground, but I remained vigilant for another reason. I didn’t know where the park ended and people’s private property started. There were few pathways here. As a result, it was difficult to figure out the boundaries of this place.
For those of you who don’t know, I am in Florida. Florida has a lot of crazy people, many with guns. Due to some poorly written laws, I could potentially get shot just for stepping the wrong way. Better safe than sorry. Especially in this Covid World we live in.
I cautiously explored the remaining parts of River Oaks Park. Keeping in mind what I mentioned earlier about avoiding walking onto people’s property, I stayed safe.
The final part of the park was not as mucky and soft. Instead, there were a lot of birds living their best life. I didn’t want to get too close and bother them. So I had no choice but to cut my adventure a little short. Please forgive me just this once.
Oh one other thing of note. That sign in the last picture warned of dangerous bacteria in the water. A good thing that I did what I could to avoid the river or stepping on mushy ground. Probably would have been happier if I had seen that sign at the beginning of my adventure instead of at the end.
Pokémon Go:
Let’s take a look at River Oaks Park under a Pokémon Go lens. How does the park measure up in game you might ask? Unfortunately, quite poor. While there are three Pokestops, its so spread out that the image above doesn’t even show them all. And there were almost no spawns.
Most of what I found was near the streets. This is a beautiful park if you are looking to get back to nature. But if you are looking for your next Pokémon Go adventure, I advise going elsewhere.
I’m still walking this Eevee. Not sure how much longer that will be though. I only need to travel 10 Kilometers with them. I’ll reach that point soon.
Here I am once again without my mask. I saw almost nobody the entire time I was at River Oaks Park. The mask was in my pocket in case I did run into a crowd. Just need to clarify that.
Wrap Up:
My adventure for the day ended a bit early. Maybe I have a second one in me. My next blog post will answer that question. Look forward to it.