The Essence of My Place: Tom Sawyer Park
Driving up to E.P Tom Sawyer State Park, I am here for a different reason than normal; not here because I am dropping one of my younger brothers off at a practice, or because I myself want to get a workout, but purely because I wanted to explore the park that I chose as my place. In the past, I have held a connection to Tom Sawyer Park due to the fact I have spent a lot of thinking while I have run a multitude of draining miles for hard soccer conditioning and the fact I have spent time with close friends on the playground swinging through the air. From this, I have formed a connection to the park initially, both positive and negative. Positive because I enjoy being outdoors and taking in the dramatic scene the park provides, and negative just because I have ill thoughts towards being forced to run.
As soon as I get out of my car to start becoming reacquainted with Tom Sawyer, I just stop to take it all in. As a whole, the park is large and what I am most interested in is the trails that the park provides. They are unfamiliar to me, so I’m curious to see what they hold for me. Through slowly walking about to get to the trails, I am just watching, listening, and considering everything. Basically, I feel as though I am one of the creeper people watchers that I normally get a tad freaked out by, staring everything down. It is so scorching hot that the sizzling sun is melting me as my sweat simply drips off me. I put on my neon sunglasses to block the bright, dazzling sun as it kills my eyes. I see the familiar scenery; the vivid green grass, shady trees, those who are unenthusiastically exercising, and the gray gravel rock pathway where I would always run long laps for soccer. I can hear the pure peacefulness that the park provides such as the steady pounding of steps on the path, and the birds cheerfully chirping their hellos to each other. I even focus on the smell of the bloomed trees and flowers filling the air with their perfectly charged scent of pollen creating the park’s perfume.
Upon being greeted by the Goose Creek Nature Trail, I enter cautiously just trying to soak in as much as I am given by the trail. It strikes me because it is simply just too serene. I am entirely alone except for the sounds of crickets musically rubbing their wings, birds twittering, and branches becoming broken and snapped as a creature ventures through the woods. I see an attacking hawk fly through the sky down to the brush towards the trail, as well as fluffy squirrels scampering across in front of me. For the whole time, I am just wandering on the trail, taking pictures of anything that catches my eye such as weirdly spiraled roots coming through the earth, as well as going a bit off of it. I like to hold my hands out and grasp onto the leaves pouring off the trees next to me just to stroke their smooth texture. The trail opens up to reveal wild fields filled with all kinds of plant life. When I turn the corner, I happened to scare a fragile deer that ran off to go back into the woods. I was simply amazed how alive everything was, the plant life, the animals, and the energy that came from it.
The weirdest thing that I came upon on my trip was a cemetery. It was definitely something that I didn’t except, but it excited me because I thought to myself, how remarkable is it to stumble on something like this? The graves sit out in the field going unnoticed by an unobservant passerby. I really look forward to researching it more to find the historical side because there was a sign stating the graves where from the state mental hospital. I just had no idea it was there. It gets me thinking; why are they here unattended, are they hurt by this, and why is this the exact spot? In general, the place is peculiar because it’s not really much of a cemetery as much as just headstones because the green, wild brush is overgrown hiding some of them all under a bulky, aged tree. I received an eerie outlook on life from investigating.
From my experience in venturing to Tom Sawyer Park, I have gained a fresh perspective on the park. I learned new information such as the cemetery, and also emotionally, I believe I have a better connection to it. I trust that if I ever need somewhere to go and think I will visit “my place” for awhile. I felt very welcomed by the nature of everything, and as a whole, simply calm and relaxed. I actually lost track of time as I mindlessly wandered which is hard for me to do. Visiting the park created a happier outlook for my day. I believe I will associate Tom Sawyer Park in a much more positive light, and put the negative thoughts of conditioning aside. Secretly, I felt like running through the trails, but I just didn’t want to give in. Next time, however, I know I will.
Driving up to E.P Tom Sawyer State Park, I am here for a different reason than normal; not here because I am dropping one of my younger brothers off at a practice, or because I myself want to get a workout, but purely because I wanted to explore the park that I chose as my place. In the past, I have held a connection to Tom Sawyer Park due to the fact I have spent a lot of thinking while I have run a multitude of draining miles for hard soccer conditioning and the fact I have spent time with close friends on the playground swinging through the air. From this, I have formed a connection to the park initially, both positive and negative. Positive because I enjoy being outdoors and taking in the dramatic scene the park provides, and negative just because I have ill thoughts towards being forced to run.
As soon as I get out of my car to start becoming reacquainted with Tom Sawyer, I just stop to take it all in. As a whole, the park is large and what I am most interested in is the trails that the park provides. They are unfamiliar to me, so I’m curious to see what they hold for me. Through slowly walking about to get to the trails, I am just watching, listening, and considering everything. Basically, I feel as though I am one of the creeper people watchers that I normally get a tad freaked out by, staring everything down. It is so scorching hot that the sizzling sun is melting me as my sweat simply drips off me. I put on my neon sunglasses to block the bright, dazzling sun as it kills my eyes. I see the familiar scenery; the vivid green grass, shady trees, those who are unenthusiastically exercising, and the gray gravel rock pathway where I would always run long laps for soccer. I can hear the pure peacefulness that the park provides such as the steady pounding of steps on the path, and the birds cheerfully chirping their hellos to each other. I even focus on the smell of the bloomed trees and flowers filling the air with their perfectly charged scent of pollen creating the park’s perfume.
Upon being greeted by the Goose Creek Nature Trail, I enter cautiously just trying to soak in as much as I am given by the trail. It strikes me because it is simply just too serene. I am entirely alone except for the sounds of crickets musically rubbing their wings, birds twittering, and branches becoming broken and snapped as a creature ventures through the woods. I see an attacking hawk fly through the sky down to the brush towards the trail, as well as fluffy squirrels scampering across in front of me. For the whole time, I am just wandering on the trail, taking pictures of anything that catches my eye such as weirdly spiraled roots coming through the earth, as well as going a bit off of it. I like to hold my hands out and grasp onto the leaves pouring off the trees next to me just to stroke their smooth texture. The trail opens up to reveal wild fields filled with all kinds of plant life. When I turn the corner, I happened to scare a fragile deer that ran off to go back into the woods. I was simply amazed how alive everything was, the plant life, the animals, and the energy that came from it. 
The weirdest thing that I came upon on my trip was a cemetery. It was definitely something that I didn’t except, but it excited me because I thought to myself, how remarkable is it to stumble on something like this? The graves sit out in the field going unnoticed by an unobservant passerby. I really look forward to researching it more to find the historical side because there was a sign stating the graves where from the state mental hospital. I just had no idea it was there. It gets me thinking; why are they here unattended, are they hurt by this, and why is this the exact spot? In general, the place is peculiar because it’s not really much of a cemetery as much as just headstones because the green, wild brush is overgrown hiding some of them all under a bulky, aged tree. I received an eerie outlook on life from investigating.
From my experience in venturing to Tom Sawyer Park, I have gained a fresh perspective on the park. I learned new information such as the cemetery, and also emotionally, I believe I have a better connection to it. I trust that if I ever need somewhere to go and think I will visit “my place” for awhile. I felt very welcomed by the nature of everything, and as a whole, simply calm and relaxed. I actually lost track of time as I mindlessly wandered which is hard for me to do. Visiting the park created a happier outlook for my day. I believe I will associate Tom Sawyer Park in a much more positive light, and put the negative thoughts of conditioning aside. Secretly, I felt like running through the trails, but I just didn’t want to give in. Next time, however, I know I will. 
Does the city/country or whoever maintains Tom Sawyer keep if "unmaintained" for sake of wildlife? Some parks do that.
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that you stumbled upon an old cemetery is pretty amazing, and I look forward to more reading on the subject. In Shelbyville where I live There are very, very, old tombstones in the front yard of our library. Just hanging out. It is very strange.