People’s Peculiar Park Opinions

Tree-lined pathway through a park.

“I can’t believe this is actually a place to review, but, alas, here it is!”

—J.B.

There are reviews online for just about any space you can be in. Not only for the ones you’d expect, like restaurants or hotels, but also for places like parking garages — and parks. Sometimes they’re helpful, sometimes the reviewer just needs to vent, and sometimes they get a bit absurd.

The weird ones are the best.

large inflatable snowman that looks like it's smiling and waving

Case in point: Amberwood Park in Chandler.

I don’t remember how I stumbled on its Google listing, but I was surprised that over 140 people felt strongly enough to weigh in on this little park – if you can even call it that.

Sign for Amberwood Park

A Park by Any Other Name

“Calling Amberwood Park a ‘park’ may be something of a misnomer. Amberwoood Park is more of a good sized green belt with a small playground for kids on the north side of the park.”

—4-star review by M.R.

That sounds exactly like a park to me.

And deep down, even M.R. (I’ll just refer to reviewers by their initials) knows it too.

park

Philosophical questions about the nature of parkdom aside, I needed to see for myself what all the fuss was about. So last time Phillip, Quijote, and I were leaving the Phoenix area to head back to Tucson, we made a strategic stop in Chandler.

dog running through the park

A Walk in Amberwood Park

“Just a park for the kids and the dogs and the drones, etc.”

–4-star review by T.L.Q.

I can now confirm firsthand that Amberwood is indeed a park.

In addition to the playground, it has lots of open space to run around, park benches, a basketball hoop, a meandering path, and a sand volleyball court. In case you still had doubts, the Chandler Parks Department signs are a dead giveaway.

A sign that says "welcome to Chandler parks," followed by park rules and regulations.

We did see kids and dogs there, but no drones. (Maybe they have a separate off-leash drone park somewhere else-?)

Of course, like any place, Amberwood Park has its detractors.

park

Gone to the Dogs

“Dirty place. Wouldn’t take a classy lady there.”

—1-star review by J.R.

Everyone knows that if you want to impress a classy lady, you take her to a city park. A clean one.

“The play area is covered in wood chips, which is better than sand, but makes me feel like a gerbil.”

—3-star review by J.W.

Which sounds less like it’s about Amberwood Park and more like it’s about J.W.

sand volleyball court

Then there’s this complaint…

“Skateboarders have taken over the children’s playground. You’ll occasionally get the smell of weed wafting in your direction.”

—1-star review by A.C.

Which was followed immediately by this much more chill description of the park…

“Huge and pretty level with decent grass.”

—5-star review from K.M.

Interpret that how you will.

picnic table and playground in a park

For the record, the evening we were there, the playground was populated by small children and a large dog. No stoned skaters. Nor wafting weed smells. It seemed more likely that St. Bernards would take over than skater kids.

neighborhood next to a park

The Neighbors Are Nice

“Every holiday season my family and I come down this road at least once. It’s short but sweet and the neighbors are nice.”

—5-star review by J.B. (continued from the first quote)

When I read this one, I was trying to figure out how big of a park this is to have a road running through it. Then I realized they weren’t talking about the park.

street with lots of holiday lights

Amberwood is just one street over from Upland Drive, one of those neighborhoods where all the houses have over-the-top holiday decorations. It actually has its own spot on the map, listed as Upland Families Christmas Lights. But some of its reviews were left on the park’s listing instead.

yard filled with lights and decorations

“Loved how everyone shared their Christmas joy and allowed us to visit and see the beautiful Christmas lights and how creative everyone is! It was a pretty amazing experience. Thank you to everyone who decided and took the amazing time to decorate their beautiful home.”

–O.F.

According to O.F., this was an “amazing experience,” but not a 5-star one.

decorated house

She continues…

“We give four stars only because we wish more of the neighbors had lights around their house. And for everyone to leave the Christmas lights on until 10.”

—4-star review by O.F.

That is some very specific feedback.

yard with many light-covered decorations

I’m unclear why reviewers feel the need to critique a  neighborhood’s holiday spirit. But I guess every Whoville has at least one Grinch. And anyplace people go, online reviews will follow.

All I can do is say that I hope you’re having a happy holiday season, and may all your neighbors leave their Christmas lights on until 10!

walking a dog at the edge of a park



These are real reviews I edited for clarity.

 

Graz Kitchen Fresh

Graz sandwich

I love a good grilled cheese sandwich.

The first time I went to Graz Kitchen Fresh for a breakfast meetup and saw they had a whole menu of them, I was like “oh, I’m coming back!”

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And I’ve definitely been back. So I felt like a post devoted to the goodness of Graz was long overdue.

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Open for breakfast and lunch, Graz is a juice bar and sandwich shop focused on fresh ingredients.

It’s located just south of Downtown Chandler and Gangplank, where I sometimes work. I can easily pick up lunch on the way in or pastries for our Monthly Momentum meetup.

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I’m kinda hooked on their green goddess sandwich. It is goat cheese, mozzarella, pesto, arugula, and avocado on this whole grain bread toasted on a sandwich press. I mean, seriously.

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They serve Peixoto coffee and occasionally do a breakfast sandwich pop-up there. They also provided the food and coffee for Craft Camp. If you order ahead, they make crazy good cinnamon rolls.

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Free Outdoor Movies

I love the feel of free community events where anyone can be in the audience, like outdoor concerts or Ballet Under the Stars.

Free outdoor events

Outdoor movies are particularly interesting because they turn the whole movie viewing experience on its head. In the theater, it’s all about blocking out the surrounding environment – controlling light and sound so that nothing distracts from what’s on screen. Outdoors, the environment becomes part of the experience.

Monsoon

As a teenager, I saw the movie Twister at a drive-in while a monsoon storm was moving in, the wind gusting hard and the sky turning a surreal shade of orange. I’m pretty sure I thought it was a better movie than it actually was because of the natural drama around me. On the other hand, sometimes the sound isn’t good or something blocks your view or the people from the Portlandia sketch show up.

Do you ever go to free or outdoor movie events?

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Some places for free movies (inside or outside) here in Arizona…

May 2016:

Summer:

Library

Ongoing:


Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space

The Living Room in Chandler

sangria and bruschetta at the living room in chandler

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I finally made it in to The Living Room, a cozy wine bar in Chandler, one summer day when my friend Katie was in town. A monsoon storm had just blown through, cooling the temperature down from unbearable to pleasant, and they opened up the patio for us.

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The bruschetta was awesome. One kind had ripe cherry tomatoes. The other had prosciutto that reminded me of Spain.

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My sangria was ok. Turns out I’m very picky about sangria. After that, I ordered the same red as Katie, and that was really good. That’s probably what I should’ve done in the first place. Katie has great taste and is kind of a Living Room expert from her Chandler days.

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The servers came around just often enough, not so much they kept us from catching up, but enough to get our orders and bring us more bread, so we could finish off our delicous artichoke dip.

Craft Camp is coming!

The awesomeness of our monthly CraftHack meetups could not be contained. One of the organizers, Anne Watson Barber, has planned an entire day for the same kind of learning, crafting, and connecting that happens there. And you’re definitely invited!

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Craft Camp is happening Saturday, August 8 at TechShop Chandler. The morning will be filled with talks and workshops to help artists, makers, and crafters learn how to turn their craft into a passion project or business.

I will be part of a blogging panel at 11:15, along with Kitty Carlisle of the Grammatical Activist and Kelli Donley of AfricanKelli. We’ll be sharing strategies and tools to help you get the word out about your craft blog and build your community.

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There will also be panels on photographing your creations, crafting for charity, and how to sell via ecommerce and retail.

The afternoon will be a time to craft and meet other crafters.

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Registration is $20. Proceeds go to Refugee Focus, an organization that helps refugees in Arizona. Several of our CraftHack-ers volunteer with them, teaching refugee women sewing and other job skills.

I think it’s going to be a really great day! Please tell your artsy-crafty friends and register via the CraftHack Facebook page.

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– More info –