SRQ <> PDX

I’m here in Sarasota, FLorida for a little while. SRQ is the airport ID, just as PDX = Portland. Last time I was here at this skatepark there was supposed to be an old man night on Fridays. Well those guys either all died or they moved it to a different night. They’ve added a big fancy building to the park since I’ve last visited. As near as I can tell, it’s only purpose besides giving you a place to pee, is to come up with a reason to justify paying $8 to skate. The park closes at 8:00pm and isn’t open during school hours. It’s weird having to plan out when I can go skate. It’s basically a five hour window every day until summer time, when it’s an eight hour window. I don’t now how the heck Oregon manages to keep it’s 80+ skateparks open and free for every hour of sunlight. We must be freakin’ geniuses or wizards. There wasn’t much happening there this particular Friday night, although to be fair, I was only there for the last hour. That’s the lifeguard or safety monitor or whatever that job is called in the shot at the top right. There were a couple kids I skated with and took a few pics. My son enjoyed the park too. Man, rollerblades everywhere. I don’t know how that scene is staying alive in 2009. The kids are trying to look cool and/or tuff and everything. It’s quite comical.

This is Oliver. He was hitting the tiles on these frontside runs. I tried to push him on to the coping but he wasn’t feeling it.

I forgot this kid’s name, sorry. This was an ollie from the top step. Maybe his name is Tyler or Jeff. It seems like every kid I meet is named Tyler or Jeff.

Here’s Oliver again.

Your job it to make sure everyone where a helmet. JP got busted for ditching his, but not by this guy.