I remember going on adventures at Crane Park as a kid, but back then, it didn’t have a name; it was just a place where many kids in the mid-80s would go. It was a place for adventure, with kids running around, exploring, climbing trees, and looking for crawfish, turtles, and snakes. In the mid-80s, kids would go swimming in the smaller river that led to the larger river. It was fun and much simpler as a kid; we really had no care.

Waking up too early, watching morning cartoons and then heading down to the river on our bikes. It wasn’t just the river; there was a great bike path there too, and someone had built a small bike track where we would all ride for hours.

As I mentioned, this park wasn’t named Crane Park back then; I don’t even know if there was a name for this place. It was just an open field with trees and a river where kids played all day and went home for dinner all dirty.

There was a time when a bunch of us went there after it rained the night before. My best friend at the time was wearing his rain boots because we knew it was pretty muddy. We were walking and running around in the forest when we came across a pretty large, muddy area. We all made our way through it by stepping on large rocks or fallen trees, pretty much anything we could find, but of course, my best friend decided he would go through the mud, and of course, he stepped into a deep area and got his foot stuck. He tries to free himself and ends up pulling his foot out of his boots and steps right into the mud with only his socks. It was actually pretty funny, he did manage to finally get out.