Last of its Kind?

Rai, in the last story, we wrote about the downsizing of the S.F. Recreation and Parks Department, its programs, its playgrounds and community centers. The interesting thing is that even while San Francisco may be losing manned playgrounds, its physical playgrounds are undergoing a serious modernization.
For several years now, we've seen those old, wooden-beamed play structures that your Mom and I grew up with, being torn down in parks all across the city. Each is being replaced with a modern play structure of metal, plastic and bright colors. Gone are the monkey bars, the rickety swinging, wooden bridges, and wooden towers. We've watched this transformation occur in every single park that holds a play area for children.
However, one play structure remains untouched and shows no signs that modernization is on its way. Pretty soon, it may be the last of its kind and, for nostalgics like us, we hope that somehow, it continues to fly under the radar. It's nice to know that with all those fancy new play structures out there, this rustic one remains available, almost secretly, for us to use.
The good news is that this playground is close to home. Down the hill, into Golden Gate Park, past the chain of lakes and towards the Sunset District we walk. All in all, less than 10 minutes from us is this great play structure, built on sand in a beautiful forest knoll. The swings, the slides, the steps and bridges are all of aging wood. Even more fun is the centerpiece: a giant boat sailing in the sand of the playground. At one time, each playground had something unique like this that made it stand out from all the others, a landmark to distinguish each particular playground. Nowadays, they all look the same so, little Rai, even though this may be the ghetto of the playground world, we'll keep bringing you here so that you can have one place to call your own, a playground you'll always remember as 'the playground with the boat!'