Introduction
Hello everyone. I just wanted to talk about West Creek Park.
Journey
The earliest I remember going to West Creek Park was probably 2017? I went to India in even years (2014,2016,2018) and it definitely wasn’t 2016 as that seems very early. It was also before Nithya Kasireddy moved to Seattle in 2019. Anyways, back then the park was just 2 areas: the side with the swings and the rock, and then the other side with the play structure. And of course, all the huge fields nearby.
The rock was the place of so many happenings. I remember we would all try to find the different fossil prints on the rock and it was so cool when we found a new one. We would also try to find different routes to climb onto the rock, and I remember the route underneath the “cliff” of the big rock being the hardest route. The rock was my favorite part of the park.
Everyone would also play capture the flag all the time in the fields. It would be me, Shriya, Nikita, Nikhilesh, Hardhik, Advik, Prajna, Praaneel, Nitya, Adi, Jathin, Adi Ram, Shanthi, Meghna, Nithya, Navya and more. Literally everyone would play Capture the Flag and it was so fun. We would also play Infection (which I think Adi taught us). I remember that for some reason, it was always the guys chosen first and the girls, even though some girls were faster than the guys. Shriya would also always get chosen last, but one time she somehow broke all the older kids out of jail and then she was chosen first a lot after that.
We would also play cricket a lot; all the kids and the uncles. The lighting pole would be the wickets, and then some bag would be the other wicket thingy that you run to and back. That was also fun.
During the first 2 years of COVID, we didn’t go to park. I don’t think we started going again until 2021? And even then, we would wear masks and not really touch each other. We wouldn’t even go to the main park and stay in the field all the way at the end of the park where there’s the big bars.
I think it was in 2023 when the park got renovated. They basically made a whole new park where one of the smaller hills was and then they filled up the old swing place with concrete and put the basketball hoops up. The place where we had the playstructure became a workout area. The new park was still very fun though; there was a zipline, the double swing and the spinny thingy.
I think double swing and the spinny things were the most memorable though, as we would try to push the double swing as hard as possible that it would make your stomach do the flippy feeling that you would get at Six Flags. At the spinny thing, we would all try to sit on top of it. First, it was just me, Shriya and Janani. Then Prajna joined and lastly Leela. I guess this was the new park gang, as the OG ones didn’t come anymore since they all went to college or were busy with high school work. I think 5 was the most we fit on top of there, maybe 6 but I don’t remember. I’m pretty sure Nikita went to India that summer.
Now, Prajna and Leela don’t come to park anymore and it’s mostly me, Shriya, Janani and Nikita. We usually just walk around, but sometimes we go to Circle K and get the icee. We also walk to Albertsons too for fun.
Well yeah that’s about it. The park has been very fun the past 7 or so years and I’ve made so many memories there. I think this is the last summer where I’ll actually get to go to it, as who will know what I’ll be doing next summer.