SLIDESHOW: Forested Burien park is highest, best use of childhood homestead
The old homestead is looking very different these days.
In 1999, Dad donated the five acres where my four siblings and I grew up to the City of Burien.
The last time I had been up to Mathison Park was last summer at the family reunion.
At that time, there was a playground by the street and some rudimentary trails.
But over the winter, Burien Parks completed Phase II of the improvements.
Added features include a toddler playground, a meandering paved path and a steep hiking trail.
As I drove up to the north end of the park, the first thing I noticed was you can practically see clear through the whole five acres.
Thanks partly to the munching goats brought in last year much of the old stickers and ferns (now known as invasive plant species) in the lower 4 (acres) are gone.
And in place of the straight steep dirt path we used to trudge up after school as we made the final push home from Sunnydale, Sylvester or Highline is a winding paved road wide enough for emergency and maintenance vehicles.
Just like Dottie Harper Park down the street, this Western Washington dense underbrush forest now looks like an Eastern Washington clear forest.
