My current favorite park in Seattle is this little gem, Dragonfly Pavilion. It’s tucked away on a street you’d never go down, unless you go to my gym and take the back roads, or if you happened to live near it.

From the street, it’s almost abstract, the pavilion itself is a metal latticey structure. It took me a few times driving ever so slowly past it, to get what the shape is. An airplane? A bird? A dragonfly!

I finally got my lazy bones out of my car the other day to investigate this treasure more closely. The wings and body of the giant bug are tubular steel, and below it is a pair of sculpted concrete benches, to shadow the shape of the dragonfly’s body. The cement of the benches is inlaid with shiny stuff- not quite mosaic, or at least not in any obvious pattern, just sort of tapped into the concrete. It’s pretty, like mother of pearl. The flowerbeds that extend out on each side echo the wings’ shape. I imagine that this installation is really amazing from the air. Sadly I couldn’t find any such pictures online. Maybe I can arrange an aerial tour of city parks for myself someday (are you listening, universe?).

There are plants (is it jasmine? I couldn’t tell. I hope so!) strung all the way up, from the flowerbeds to the wings, evidently the whole thing will serve as a beautiful trellis later in the summer. I can only envision how lovely it’ll be by then! I am excited to watch the daily progress. I’ll keep you posted as things bloom and thrive.

As you come into the park and head down the hill, you find another piece of magic- a footbridge that crosses the little creek. Not just any footbridge, mind you. It’s a huge metal rib-cage footbridge! It’s a big, (also tubular steel) structure, with huge curvy ribs and a giant, vertebral spine tying it together at the top. Fabulous! Okay, I realize now, upon looking it up that the concept of the bridge is that it’s fish-shaped in the name of salmon and creek preservation, which implies that those ribs are fish ribs. However, it feels Flintstone-ian to me, and I would rather imagine that it’s the ribs of a wooly mammoth, fallen across this tiny creek, and I get to stroll through the belly of the beast. It’s art, therefore up to interpretation, right?

This park was created in 2005 as a part of the Longfellow Creek restoration project, and the dragonfly is looking over the creek, keeping it safe. That’s a nice sentiment, that it is actually facing something, but what I appreciate, and suspect was a contentious topic when discussing the placement of this art piece, is that the dragonfly’s butt faces to the street, something I find hilarious every time I go by.

I love that both of these beauties exist, in a little pocket park way off any beaten path. It’s my secret, and I love it.