Moffett Park, Huntington Beach

Moffett Park(1), on the wonderfully named Meander Lane, is a nice little pocket park next to a school. That means that, right after school gets out, it's full of kids and parents enjoying the chance to rest after a busy day.

On the other hand, it stretches back quite a bit further than I'd have expected, so even after school, there was a nice, shady corner near the wall suitable for quiet contemplation of the view and sitting down to take notes on the park in general.

And, yes, it was shady. There are plenty of tall, well-grown trees in the park. Some of them even have flowers, which may account for the fact that there were plenty of bugs and birds. Hummingbirds and butterflies both seemed to appreciate the chance to snack.

In addition to the jacarandas, Moffett park had a lot of those lovely, knobby trees that grow strange and wonderful trunks (I have got to get the names for some of these plants!), plus some of those twisty-trunk conifers, so it scores high on my trees-of-character scale.

The park is also made interesting by not being completely level. There are several little hillocks that keep it visually interesting and also help separate one section from another without forming absolute barriers. All in all, one of the better parks I've visited so far(2).

Drinking fountains: No. Restrooms: Does a fenced-and-locked port-a-potty count? That was weird. I mean, who builds a port-a-potty-sized fence? And why? Surely the point of the things is that they are portable?

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(1)Yes, I do watch too much Doctor Who. I keep wanting to spell it Moffat and thinking that is a much better name.
(2) I am pretty sure I've said this before, but just in case: All parks are good parks. Any park creates a zone of good-ness just by existing. However, ones that is established, there are shades of greatness, and Moffett is higher up on the scale than some.