Going green

Today was a busy day, both in the shop and on site. In the shop the crew was busy painting completed features and sculpting new ones too. There's only one operator's booth yet to sculpt. One is curing and the other two in the shop got their final coats of paint today. They are looking very colorful!

The first of the play stumps was mudded and carved today.

A tree will 'grow' on the mountainside up at the lake. It made good sense to prefabricate it in the shop. It was built in two pieces. The top unscrews for delivery so we can screw a sturdy eyebolt into the top for lifting. We recycled an old Christmas tree for the foliage.

Up at the lake we had four welders going full blast. I was fabricating the giant mountain while Peter was welding the detail around the edge of the bumper boat pool. Marty was welding on top of the Swing Ride platform while Matt was busy finishing off the bottom. TJ was kept busy cutting and delivering the steel pieces we needed. I didn't get any pictures today but a LOT got accomplished in a hurry!

Tomorrow we do it all over again. Stay tuned...

-grampa dan

Balancing act

When our kids were small they loved nothing more than balancing on all kinds of things while I held their hand. Curbs, benches, rocks, anything off the ground was a wonderful play thing. As we designed the Wilderness Adventure area I thought back to those days and designed the same kind of thing for the young patrons. There are logs and caves to crawl through and a long series of balancing objects. All of it is low tech but pure fun, designed to test the skills and courage of those who play here.

Today the crew finished the mudding and carving of the longest balance beam. It will be less than two feet off of the ground, as will all of the objects to make sure they are safe for the kids and meet code requirements. There will be soft rubber surface all around them for the kids who tumble off. Instead of being perfectly level and geometric everything here will have the same playful style as the rest of the park.

It will be a great place for grampas to take their grandchildren.

-grampa dan

More story signs

We are getting to the fun part of the Cultus Lake Adventure Park Project. Much of the prefabrication is now complete. Now we begin the bulk of the work to be done on site. It is also time to turn my attention to the smaller details such as the many signs that will add character and direct people through the park. One set of signs currently in design serve no other purpose other than decoration and story telling. The building facing the western area of the park has three false fronts. On these fronts we need signage of businesses that would be in a small frontier town. We will add a sculpted concrete skin to the building and carve in the wooden details of the boards.

The first business is the apothecary, (an old fashoned drug store). In the days of old, the flim flam artist would sell snake oil - a miracle cure for all that ails you. To tell this story graphically I used the mortar and pestal with a snake inside - a rattler of course.

The center business is the Amadillo Hotel. He's going to be great fun to create!

The third sign on the building front is for Dusty's Dry Goods. And what could be dustier or drier than a desert tortoise?

These are but the start of the details to come. Stay tuned...

-grampa dan