The Forest

Mikaela’s Garden Entrance
From the kitchen, down a hallway and through a door that leads to a second short hallway, and then a door that opens up into a small grass clearing, like the size of a front yard, and then a heavy forest with several paths disappearing into the flora. The yard area has some tables with chairs.

After a minute of walking down the main path from this entry into the forest, the forest gives way to a fairly large clearing where parties are often held.

Deli Entrance
Lampposts by the entrance

The Main Lake
The Forest boasts one major lake. It’s relatively small in size, but surprisingly deep, especially towards the “upper end” that is slightly more elevated than the second half. The land at the upper end of the lake dips down, which in part creates the depth, and then rises back up. This is where the stream feeds into the lake as a small waterfall that’s been built up further by large slabs of stone, creating several places rising above the lake where people can safely dive into the water. Along one part of the upper lake there are a group of trees with swings and ropes attached so people can fling themselves into the water. The lake also has a water fort that can be inflated, which is basically like a playground fort, but anchored to the bottom of the lake and the shore and floating on the lake.

A large part of the area around the major lake is clear land, and in that area several large playgrounds and jungle gyms have been permanently set up as of December 2011. Some features of the play space are: swings, a twisting slide, a series of interconnected monkey bars of varying difficulty, a very large fort setup with a lot of heaving netting to climb between levels that looks a little like a castle, tunnels to crawl through, a sandy area, a small zip-line set up between one play structure and another, a large toy box full of props and costumes. Some of the forts have scenery hangings (done by Orien) like a mad scientist workshop backdrop and a fantastical fantasy setting. The main fort is a very large structure, a couple of stories, plus a tower with a dragon wrapped around the castle that’s an actual slide.



Other Water Features
The stream also feeds multiple other lakes, all much smaller and more pond-like in size, but most not shallow. Many of these lakes are tucked into slightly denser pockets of forest that give them more privacy. There are several frog and fish ponds with very tolerant frogs. There are a handful of heated pools in appropriately lush areas of the forest.

Physical Features
Somewhere in the forest, near Mikaela’s Garden, a bend in the path turns into a lovely wooden bridge over a slightly wider stretch of river. The river banks are covered in rocks and pebbles, moss and plants. The bridge is covered in growing plants, and the railing is set up so that you can easily sit on the edge of the bridge.

Throughout the entire forest there are small buildings tucked into the trees, restrooms with water fountains attached to the buildings.