and

Oh it’s still there. But it’s not in the middle of a beautiful field anymore.

You see, I went to Lake Needwood yesterday and was surprised and disappointed to see that an “adventure ropes course” is being built in the woods adjacent to this field. A giant wood platform 10 feet off the ground is being constructed right next to this tree. It looks like the platform is going to be the end of a “Zip Line” that people will ride down from the forest.

I wonder who decided that Lake Needwood should be an amusement park? There will now be tons of cars, tons of screaming kids and adults as they climb and zip all over this course. I bet you’ll even be able to hear the noise while down at the lake.

Doing a web search I see that the course is called “Go Ape”.

Now … to be honest … my family and I did something like this north of Quebec a few years ago. Yes it was fun. But it was at a ski resort. A place paved with hotels and restaurants. An already loud and crowded place. Not a scenic slice of suburbia by any stretch of the imagination.

I just think it’s too bad that they’ve decided to construct this amusement park kind of “ride” in our park.

JB Haber

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such pieces for consideration — the more voices the better. Simply send them to rockvillecentral@gmail.com. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!

Continuing our reader-submitted theme.

This shot of Town Square is by Rockville Central reader Jonathan Haber. After all that Hanna activity, the clouds above the courtyard gave me chills. (This was taken near the beginning of summer, though.)

Of the photo, Jonathan says, “I took the elevator the to roof of the VisArts building for this wonderful view.”

We love VisArts here at Rockville Central!

You can submit photos for me to consider for the POTD anytime — just email them to me. Make sure they are fairly recent (within a couple of months), were taken by you in the City of Rockville, and that you aren’t offering them for publication anywhere else first.