Marcella Vivrette Smith Park

A new park opened in Brentwood just a couple of miles from our house about 3 months ago.  It took forever to build the entrance to the park because a new bridge had to be constructed over a set of train tracks but phase one is finally done.  There isn't too much there yet - mainly just some hiking trails.  There is an old mansion (almost 200 year old) on the property where weddings are held and the park connects to the extensive greenway system that I typically use.  I now have a place to park that is closer to the house which is great!

A lot more is planned for the park and hopefully it will get funded.  It's supposed to have 4 multi-purpose fields, some picnic shelters, a playground, and maybe even some mountain bike trails (PLEASE!!!).

We had a relatively mild weekend and decided to check out some of the hiking trails this afternoon.  Since dogs are allowed on these trails, we took Charlotte with us for once!

We started with the red trail since it goes up to the top of the ridge.  With it being winter it's probably the best time to do that one since all the foliage will block views when it warms up.

The trails aren't always very distinct and packed yet but we still didn't have any trouble staying on them.

Grayson stayed awake for the first part of the hike.  I had him all bundled up though because it was super windy in clearings and all that warmth probably helped him eventually pass out.

Carter walked Charlotte most of the hike.  Luckily she was too tired to pull much and send him flying!

There is a large clearing at the end of the red trail on the ridge.  Looks like it'll be a great place for a picnic when it warms up!

Grayson passed out on the way back down trail.

About half way down we split off the red trail and took part of the blue and black trails back to the trailhead to add on a little length.  In all we hiked 1.8 miles.  The big boys did awesome with almost zero complaining from Rylan (and we didn't have to carry him at all).  We are super excited to have such a great new park so close to the house and are excited to try the other hiking trails soon!