Power On Self Test: Playground Rockets

Gallery [Lauren Orchowski]

[#1 posted by strider_mt2k , March 10, 2009 5:20 AM]

Stop STOP!

They're all decayed and abandoned, just like my dreams of riding the real thing when I was new too.

The heroes are all fallen and their tools have turned to rust.

DISCORDIA!!!

[#2 posted by strider_mt2k , March 10, 2009 5:22 AM]

Oh...sorry. Bad mood. Saw Watchmen.

Plus the discordia thing was a bad reference to "The Dark Tower" and was poorly made.

[#3 posted by Agies , March 10, 2009 5:35 AM]

Ah the days when playgrounds were more dangerous and therefore more fun.

When I was little the playground was built on the same asphalt as the basketball court, jungle gym and all. At some point in my youth they built a new playground off to the side in a large gravely sandbox. These days the kids play on a bed of recycled tires.

[#4 posted by dculberson , March 10, 2009 6:35 AM]

Watchmen: more penis than most pornos.

[#5 posted by Blue , March 10, 2009 7:50 AM]

And as a cool bonus, the children get to play 'don't let the headcrabs zombify you!'

[#6 posted by Anonymous , March 10, 2009 8:04 AM]

How well I remember the one in Wheaton Regional Park, just uphill from the F-86 Saberjet.

[#7 posted by hugemonkey , March 10, 2009 9:08 AM]

I know of at least two instances as a child when some other kid decided that climbing to the top of one of these and jumping off was a good idea. One was pretending to be Superman and one was pretending to be Batman. All of the other kids watched in amazement as they broke their legs. This was in two different cities and a few years apart. There is something about this rocket that makes kids want to jump.

oh yeah, as long as we're off topic...hail Eris.

[#8 posted by LightningRose , March 10, 2009 9:36 AM]

We have one that looks to be the same design as the blue and yellow California rockets in a city park named for home grown Mercury 7 astronaut, Scott Carpenter.

http://www.boulderpics.com/images/Scott_Carpenter_Park_10-8-07.JPG

[#9 posted by TedJohnson , March 10, 2009 10:06 AM]

See the style of rocket in "Blue Sky, Recline," "Yellow Rocket," and "Los Angeles, Night, July 3rd?"

Here's a tip. Use at your own risk:

Climb up the slide. Spit on your hands and bare feet if necessary for better stick. When you get to the protective tunnel, climb on top of it. When you reach the top of the tunnel, hold onto a couple of the bars, and then stand up on the tunnel. Now, with a little climbing you should be able to get to the third level, with your toes sticking into the rocket on the platform.

Move to the left or right one or two bars at a time. Keep going until you are over the pile of playground gravel you created earlier with your hands.

Jump.

Land safely.

Feel awesome.

Me, 1973, Lakewood, CO

[#10 posted by Anonymous , March 10, 2009 11:40 AM]

Reminds me of the abandoned playground rockets you find in the wilderness in "Fallout 3".

[#11 posted by bbonyx , March 10, 2009 1:01 PM]

Wow. I had totally forgotten about all the rockets I played in as a kid. The main one being right here at Fairview Park, Sherman, TX so so so long ago.

Doubt it's still there though.

[#12 posted by the boy , March 10, 2009 1:27 PM]

I knew I'd climbed one of these! Looking through the gallery, there's one in New Mexico, and I'm almost certain that's the one. Fun times being a little kid on trips through the southwest. Surreal, rockets in desert, but lots of fun.

[#13 posted by Halloween Jack , March 11, 2009 11:39 AM]

These play rockets always remind me of a story that I read as a kid about a boy whose dad builds him a play spacecraft. One day, some aliens visit him and tell him that they'd like to have his play spacecraft because their own vehicle is no longer capable of interstellar travel; after they adapt the toy to leave Earth (yeah, I know), they leave him their original craft, which is still capable of suborbital flight and can take him anywhere in the world. Dubious logic aside, I thought that was a great fantasy; see also Explorers.

[#14 posted by graphicsman , March 12, 2009 8:01 PM]

I was gonna build my kids a play spacecraft. only it was mostly gonna be for me.

[#15 posted by igpajo , March 12, 2009 10:31 PM]

I remember seeing one of those in a daycare playground in Spokane Washington when I was about 4 or 5 and begging my Mom everytime to take me there. I think I remember Mom saying once that place was for kids who's Mom's have jobs too. To which I told her to go get a job.