Hike 9C: Meadowbrook

Dear Diary,

It was getting dark on January 20 as I approached Meadowbrook.  Now, if you were to look at the map I was hiking to check, say, today, it would show two symbols at that park - one for the playfield's restrooms, and one for the buildings a fair way east of those.  But in January the playfield's restrooms were closed, and since there were no "sanican"s near them, the map admitted they were closed.  Observe:

And on the other side?

Here's what I thought the best face of the restroom building, which was, as you can see, dear Diary, in January heavily covered with graffiti.

At least it was good graffiti on this side.

Now, as I said, this was January 20, and there were big doings in the other Washington.  But I'd kind of forgotten about them until I got to the Community Center, which the map then said offered restrooms and showers - and to which I'd been pointed for showers by an employee in June.  My attempt at a postcard shot:

The unexpected closed doors:

The unexpected extra-closed doors:

The dedication sign nearby, rendered deeply ironic by the previous picture:

How times change.

I actually needed a restroom by this point, so it was with deep disappointment that I turned away.  But as I was leaving I noticed a light in the direction of the building.

Well, it was pretty much full dark by then.  Above the picture sort of in the middle of the photo, though, I could see words then that I can't see in the photo, and those words included "Meadowbrook" and "Pool".

Now, obviously it makes sense for a pool to have showers, but this was the first sign I'd encountered that the pool was actually the building to go to.  Moreover, I was worried about a reception similar to the one I'd gotten at the Ballard library:  I only wanted a toilet and sink; the map claimed I could get those, but was it telling the truth?

It was.  Despite the signs' emphasis:

and the fact that I smelled pretty terrible (I was then only a week from the motel, but had been wearing the same clothes much, much longer), nobody considered it at all unreasonable for me to want only a restroom.  And what a restroom:

I'd just about forgotten that indoor public restrooms can be pretty nice.  Seems to me a pool, where people might have to wait in line to shower, is an unexpected place to find such a thing as a public restroom deserving the label "nice" - why encourage people to be slow?  But maybe the showers have some flaw that discourages lollygagging.

Anyway, the people staffing the place also had snacks on hand, and I left the building much happier than I'd found it.

Good night, dear Diary.  I'm actually not sure whether, that night, I went "home" to southeastern North Seattle, or just back to Green Lake and Woodland Parks, but anyway, the next stages in my investigation of those parks' restrooms' hours are the subject of the next page in the January story.