I'm looking at it on google maps right now and helicopter is all I can think of. There really is no way unless you go straight through someone else's yard. It's got swingsets, I never knew that.

Edit: I just spotted a little gravel drive off of Oak Grove Rd. that goes into the park. Also, I am super burned out at work today.

There are actually a lot of little places like that around here. They don't get advertised much, which keeps them a little more special I think. https://www.springfieldcommunitygardens.org/gardens

edit: the Midtown garden at Division and Benton has a free plant exchange where they invite people to take or leave plants, I like that one.

I'm sure it's used more now that the area has more development, but when I was younger the little lake with a walking path around it behind Burrell on S. National was pretty quiet. It's off of Bradford Parkway, Schaible Lake. Tiny little area between the medical buildings near Cox South. And I'm sure the boy scouts use it plenty, but there's a wooded area with a trail and a pond behind the Boy Scouts building on Eastgate.

If you don't mind the drive/bike ride, there's a little park off of the Frisco Trail as you get close to Bolivar called La Petite Gemme Prairie that I don't think a lot of people know about. It's literally just a few acres of prairie. Probably pretty beautiful with spring flowers soon.

I was reading about that one (Walnut St) in 417 magazine. Apparently the homeowner came from Seattle and one of the things they missed was random little gardens like that in neighborhoods.

If I'm remembering right that's our smallest area city park. I've also always felt weird walking back there so I've never been either.

That sounds like Lurvey. Another often overlooked park.

George Washington Carver Park. I live like half a mile away and it took me over a decade to realize it exists. It's 25 acres donated to the city in the middle of the Oak Grove neighborhood with the stipulation that it never be developed. (full of sinkholes anyway). It's just a big chunk of woods with no sign, no real parking, but open to the public.

Lurvey Park is just down the road and is one of our smallest parks. Similarly overlooked. The driveway to it goes between some houses.

This one gets used a lot I think by people in that neighborhood, but few people know about it citywide. There's a privately owned 1 acre garden off of Walnut that the owner maintains for the public. They have a small gate to let people walk in from the street and enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wczkA_cULYk

lol, truth. I had a couple of surgeries through Mercy last year and it all started with an ER visit. We were at a rural ER in Aurora and I kid you not, the door was locked to keep me from leaving until I paid them $1040, and an armed guard was sitting by the checkout lady. I felt like I was being muscled for cash. I handed them my credit card through the window, she ran it, then signaled to buzz the door open. I honestly felt like it was a mob run thing.

Had the same experiences with a couple surgeries at Mercy last year. I don't know how Cox works but at Mercy the surgeon had a separate office that did billing for his services. I was able to talk to them and make arrangements even if the website made it sound like I couldn't. Also you might try applying for a Carecredit credit card. Those are used specifically for doctor and veterinarian visits not covered by insurance and they have pretty good financing terms.

I'm taking beginning salsa right now at Dance With Me. It's pretty fun. Couple other studios have latin dance too. I did tango for a long time at Step by Step. It's a drop in class on Sunday afternoons, no partner required.

Dance With Me on commercial has 2 step, swing, tap, and salsa. Plus they do classes sundays all summer for people who want to be in their big Thriller production on Halloween. Hellafun. I've never done it but I love watching it every year. Spooky fun.

Step by Step does 2 Step, line, ballroom, swing and tango.

Also Sonshine Ballroom has adult classes. I've taken classes at 2 of these and can confirm they're beginner friendly. Check out their websites if you want to know more.

Also, almost forgot. You'd have to Google it because I forget the name but there's a contra Dance group with weekly dances here. That's basically square dancing.

According to the news the toes were lost as a result of her estranged husband shooting her three times, leaving her pretty badly wounded and killing her friend. I suppose that sort of trauma could lead to some significant mental issues. And I'm no psychologist, but I'm also supposing that if you could convince yourself some aspect of that trauma had been healed for you, that might go a long way in aiding your mental well being. I'm not inclined to believe that the toes actually grew back, no. And yes, I understand the frustration at the church using this to further itself among sometimes gullible parishioners. But at the end of the day I guess I fall into the camp of people who just don't really care that much because I've got my own things going. If she wishes to dance a pirouette to show she's recovering from and regaining control of what does appear to have been a shitty time in her life, I'm not interested in robbing her of that. It's no crazier than things we all heard in church every week growing up.

He does, I work there and he does a lot of work for our alumni fundraising.

I'm reminded of an old SNL skit with Paul Simon. He makes a deal with the devil to become a star and in the final scene as a little old man he steps onto an elevator and there's the devil. As the doors close The Boxer plays on Muzak in the background and he says 'I'm ready'. "oh Paul," the devil responds with maniacal laughter, "we're already here!".

Moxie is awesome. There's a similar place called bookhouse in joplin. Combination pub and indie theater.

Forever in our heads. I hope the marketing geniuses that came up with it are in hell right now

I remember having to eat chikfila a few times because it was next to.the theater and we had to rush. Back before people went so nuts over it and it was just mediocre fast food.

I can beat that. I saw most of the classic Bond movies at dollar movie marathons at the old Fox theater downtown. Was a treat to go to a play there this winter and see how it was fixed up. I saw empire strikes back at the Tower and once spent all night movie hopping at town and country on n. Kansas before it became the "star trek church" as we used to call it.

Back in the day there were 2 theaters just in the mall, wherenberg (wehrenberg...wehrenberg... ifkyk) and century 21. And then like you said, petite 3 and Fremont too. We had a ton of theaters

It's back and forth.

There's a lot of places to play. Cooper for members, park board, art museum courts, drury. I don't know a lot about it, I mostly just came here to make a lame joke. If you drive an hour to Carthage missouri I think there's still a tennis club in one of their big caves. Looked really cool.

There's all kinds of stuff around. If you have a couple hours for the drive, the upper Buffalo River wilderness past Harrison is amazing and has a lifetime full of things to explore. If you're rushed for time, I like the local conservation areas. Sac Woods, Pleasant Hope, Compton Hollow, those are all within about twenty minutes of town and never very crowded. I personally spend a lot of time at Stockton Lake. They have regular hiking trails, but they also have miles of rocky shoreline and bluffs to explore and lots of good canoeing and kayaking.

Aurora is a nice airport. I actually took lessons out of there when I was a kid. Do you by any chance know if there's a flying club called Vicious Goose there now? I know it sounds like a weird question but it's a club I was in a couple of years back that was really affordable. Last I'd heard they were moving from sgf to aurora for a cheaper hangar.

The guy that did their website when I was there wasn't really an employee, just a pilot who hung out at the hangar all the time and helped out with the site and youtube channel, so sometimes the links were hit or miss.

Here's more detail on the BBQ, looks like it's being put on partly by the local EAA. These are fun, they make some fine homemade ice cream for desert. https://www.fulltronaviation.com/eaa821/

I'm in the same boat, went back a couple years ago after a similarly long hiatus and got close to my checkride, but had some health and financial issues that sabotaged it. I'm looking at going back this year.

I was flying out of Fulltron and I plan to go back there, really enjoyed the small school atmosphere and they were pretty nice and professional. Definitely a very pro general aviation vibe and the owner is an aerobatic pilot, so it's really fun to just talk flying with him. I think the instructor I had (Joseph) may have moved on, which is a shame because he was really good. Overall I was very happy with them and the training environment. I can confirm that they're still open at the downtown airport (saw them flying this morning) and according to their website, they're having a bbq on March 25. If you're interested in checking them out or even just meeting local pilots and CFI's that's a good way to do it, it's how I got to know them originally two years ago. It looks like they probably did buy out Springfield Flying Service, because the website now shows them as managing the whole airport. https://www.fulltronaviation.com/

Sky Adventures is unfortunately closed. I saw that someone had bought their fleet and was planning to keep the airplanes available as rentals.

Premier is still there and is obviously pretty top notch. I think most, if not all of Fulltron's instructors (along with Sky Adventures when they were open) were Premier grads. With them you get the advantage of getting used to the Class C environment. That being said, you can get a lot more landings per hour at smaller airports so it's just up to what someone prefers. I've seen the same advice about sticking to Part 61 schools if it's just a hobby.

Pro Flight is definitely out of business. I don't know much about EAS.

Anyway, I definitely recommend Fulltron. I had a good experience and I plan to go back this summer. If you want to check them out just give them a call or go by their bbq in a couple of weeks and I'm sure someone will give you a look around.

One time, I gave that driver tree fiddy.

When Scramblers was on N. Campbell we had a lot of accidents from nice, sweet older folks from the south side who wanted a nice breakfast for affordable prices and had zero awareness that Campbell had turned one way two miles behind them. People were constantly turning left from the right lane to get that good yum yum.