Hovander Homestead Park — Attraction in Washington

There is a cool old tower that once you climb you can see a beautiful view of a small lake and marsh area. Also there is an amazing garden full of THE most aromatic herbs. Any herb you can think of and ones you never thought of is growing there. Lean over and smell fresh curry leaves, lavendar, rosemary and many variations of mint including chocolate. I LOVED that part. Reason I'm giving the place 3 stars is because those stars belong to the landscapists/gardeners. I'd give it zero stars if it werent for that. I'm not at all impressed that this is supposed to be a sanctuary for wildfowl that inhabits the area and is supposed to have a nice boardwalk for visitors to see the various birds that make their home there. Instead there was a barricade to keep visitors from walking the boardwalk so that hunters could shoot the wildfowl. You would never see a wildlife sanctuary doubling as a hunting ground in Canada where I live. Sickening. Shame on whoever gave the go ahead for hunters to ruin such...

Driving to the parking area was so beautiful and relaxing, I wished the drive lasted a couple miles so I could casually meander in my car. The herb garden was interesting but I wished all the herbs could be labeled so I knew what I was looking at. I know most people would recognize them but I'm completely obtuse about herbs and only recognize rosemary and mint. The children's garden was nice but didn't have too many plants and some were unlabeled. I walked towards the restrooms area and beyond the wood pavilion area. Breeze was blowing and it was a beautiful day to be there. Only reason I didn't rate 5 stars because there were no benches around. I'm a laazy person and it would have been perfect to lean my back against a bench and sit in silence to enjoy where I was at and my blessed fortune(not money). Sitting on a picnic bench and table set is not as comfortable as leaning...

I hadn't been in several years and was glad to take my daughter. It was a beautiful park before, now it has more to offer for people too. They've added kids' play areas which were very nice, improved the walking trails, and I was told there was an off leash dog area, although we didn't get to that before we had to go. We found a picnic bench by one of the play areas and had lunch while letting the kids play. The play area we were at didn't have swings but it looked like another one that wasn't far away had a tire swing. Everything was an easy walk and it was nice that the restrooms were centrally located near the parking lot. It was a very pleasant visit and we'll...