I was in the Seattle burbs over the weekend. I did get in a couple sessions at the Sammamish Wa skatepark, which was overrun by scooters and bladers on both occasions. That park sucks. I think I was way to generous in my first review. Still, part of the fun in that park is figuring out how to have fun at that park. One day I happened to be in the neighborhood of the the new Seattle Center skatepark (replacement for the demolished SeaSk8) so I decided to check it out. So far it’s just a flat slab of concrete, which is not what I expected at all. It makes it look like the elements are going to be prefab. But hey, I don’t know anything about skatepark building, except that the only other street plaza I saw under construction still looked like a conventional dig site. There were a couple of guys there who looked like they were painting a ledge that went around the perimeter of the park, something that doesn’t show up in the renderings. All in all, I’m confused. You can check out some not very enlightening photos after the jump, but don’t say I didn’t…

I went on a really fun road trip last weekend. I went down to Grants Pass for a fundraiser party/session at a private bowl. Along the way I stopped at three brand new skateparks in Oregon, including, Winston, Myrtle Creek, and Harrisburg. I even went to the old Grants Pass skatepark for the first time. I took a little over 200 pictures, and lost them all to a corrupt memory card. Unfortunately, this isn’t an April fools joke. Those three up top were the best I could salvage. I don’t want to hear any arguments about why film is better, because I’ve had catastrophic failures there too. Rich has some shots up from the bowl party, Harrisburg, Or and Winston, Or. I imagine he’ll be doling them out over the next week or so. Still, it could have been worse, I could have broke my leg like Shane Bell did.

The last stop of the min tour of Chicagoland parks was the Waukegan Illinois skatepark. I believe this was the last of the Chicagoland concrete parks that I hadn’t been to. I was excited by the prospect, and it looked like it had potential (ie. height) as we drove into the parking lot.

This week’s Shot of the Week is from Peter Diepes over at OMSA. It’s a shot of Txus Dominguez with a one footed carve at the Hagen bowl in Germany, and yes, it’s a make. You can catch it on video over at EuropeSkate. Txus Dominguez has been accused of trying to turn Spain into Oregon as one of the principals behind a skatepark building company called Zut Skateparks. You don’t see teh one footed carve grind much, unless you’re a Northwest Skater like Dan Hughes. There’s a full frame version in the gallery. Check it out.

Everyone seems to think this is the Gurnee, Illinois skatepark, but I think it technically belongs to Warren Township, which is adjacent to Gurnee, home of Six Flags Great America and the lovely accompanying ditch. What’s the scoop on this park? Keep reading.

I’m in Chicago for a few days, actually flying back home by the time this post goes live. I went to the Northbrook skate park on Friday. It was a little bit chilly, but there were a handful of people riding. I actually met this guy named Pete (Hi Pete!) who was there the last time I was at this skate park back in August. I didn’t take many photos, but I did get this shot of Trevor with a little bit of board slide action. I can’t believe I got the exposure right. While I was there a cop showed up to give the boot to some BMX riders. They were ineffectually whining at the cops saying they should be allowed to use a public park, and the cop replied “If I had it my my, neither of you could use it, and there would just be an empty parking lot here.”

Went to Ed Benedict today, had a lot of fun. It’s kind of boring because every bank is exactly the same, but on the converse side, there are lots of places to work on things, be you regular or goofy foot. Some complete assholes appear to have stolen a granite slab and some of the pool coping. Classic. I encourage a supreme level of narcing on the guilty parties if anyone ever sees it. I took two pictures of Kaden, and because I can’t edit myself, you get to see them both.

Yeah, sorry. I just like looking at this place and imagining that I only lived a couple minutes away. Mike Estes sent in a couple more pics of the roof at Hood River. It seems like it went up overnight. I wonder how the covering fit together. Hey Carl Warren, where are the construction shots?

The Benton County Skateboard Alliance is holding their second annual music and art benefit for the skatepark they are trying to get built. These guys are making it happen, and if you are near that part of Oregon this Saturday you should make a point of helping them out. Last year’s event looked like it was well attended and fun to boot. Live music and an art show/sale to benefit the concrete. Details at the BCSA site, or you can check out a flyer for the event by Diego Banuelos after the jump.

It’s hard to associate the word “epic” with a wooden skatepark, but I think Team Pain may have in fact pulled it off. Epic I was skeptical when I heard some of the gushing about it in the intro to the Transworld video, but as the frames kept coming, it started to become more and more clear. Not only is this thing huge… HUGE, but it’s also go some very interesting obstacles in the form of wooden bases or tranny topped off with concrete skating surfaces. Epic Indoor Skatepark in Rocklin, CA (near Sacramento) is set to have it’s grand opening March 14th and 15th. Check out some pictures, as well as the Transworld viddy after the jump. – Thanks to Tito for the tip and pics.