Thursday, February 2, 2012

Let's go for a walk... Part 3: Goblin Town

[Note: Tib part 8 is up >points to the Tiberius tab above<. You should go read it and let me know what you think. Next week (I hope), look for some changes in the Tiberius tab.]

I'm waiting for the dog to eat, right now, so that we can head out on our walk. She seems more content to be taking a nap, though. You know, I think that's what that saying "a dog's life" is all about. Naps. I want one of those. But... this post is not about napping, it's about walking.

As I've mentioned, we have a troll bridge off to the right down the creek path. But, if you go to the left, there is something completely different. Goblins. Actually, the goblins are sort of everywhere, but the closer you get to the troll bridge, the scarcer the goblins become. Not that we've actually seen the goblins, but we know that they're there. "How's that?" you might ask. Well... here's how:

This is an entrance to Goblin Town. There are many of them along the path, especially if you go left out of the park. Trolls eat goblins just as readily as they eat people, so there are not so many entrances to Goblin Town if you turn right and none near the bridge where the troll lives.

The dog finds the smell of the goblins very interesting, and she always wants to explore the doors to Goblin Town, but goblins love to eat dogs (they're a delicacy), so we do our best to keep her away so that no lurking goblin can reach out and snatch her up. Of course, goblins also love to eat little children. They're so juicy and tender! They especially like to throw children into pots and cook them up in a stew. They'll eat adults, too, but it's not their preference.


This is another entrance into Goblin Town. If you look closely, you can see the warnings painted on the door. Although, goblins love to catch people, they also don't like uninvited guests, so they paint warnings on everything to keep people away.

The trail isn't safe after dark. Daytime is mostly okay, though. Goblins don't like sunlight, and they tend to stay underground during the day. I've heard that sometimes they creep out on really cloudy or rainy days, but we've never seen any. Yet.

A better view of the "keep out" warning. It's written in goblin language, though, so I'm not sure how it actually translates.

This is one of the main entrances into Goblin Town. A fortified entrance. It's like a concrete bunker. It was getting late as you can probably tell by the darkness of the picture, and I had to run before I could get a better picture as I heard the concrete lid start to slide open. Not a place you want to be when the goblins come out!

Some time ago, there was a battle between the goblins and the early human settlers in the area. Here is a picture of the place where the human's fortress once stood:
The foundation is all that's left, so, as you can see, the goblins won this great battle and drove the humans out for a while. Drove us out. But, you know, I didn't know those people, so it's kind of easier to just think of them as the "humans."


There is a new watchtower built to keep an eye on goblin activities in the area. I thought I had some pictures of it, but I'm not finding them. At any rate, it's disguised as a practice area for the local fire department, but some of us know the truth. It's a good cover for all the personnel that come and go that are busy monitoring the goblins.

Which brings us to the end of today's exploration of the path where we walk the dog. My kids enjoy learning about the "history" of the area, and my daughter, especially, asks lots of questions about the entrances to Goblin Town. She has even mentioned becoming a goblin hunter and going down to wipe them out. The boys generally just content themselves with singing that song from the animated version of The Hobbit.

"Down, down to Goblin Town..."

13 comments:

  1. Singing the song from The Hobbit...too cute! Love the pictures. I can see how the kids (and adults for that matter) would get completely sucked into the world of goblins and trolls :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. They should fill in those holes before some kid falls in and they have to dig him/her out at taxpayer's expense. Hasn't it been about 25 years since that Baby Jessica fiasco that inspired an episode of "The Simpsons"?

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is very cool. I enjoyed the new Tiberius very much! This part might be my favorite so far.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is such a kick-ass way to explore with your kids. I would do the exact same thing, even if I didn't have kids. I will never grow up. Ever.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love that you are teaching your kids the true history of your area - this is the stuff that their teachers won't tell them :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Like Sarah, I love that you're nurturing your children's imagination, teaching them to expand on the ordinary, think outside the box. Very cool.

    Oh, and I totally sang the song the whole time I was reading. My favorite from The Hobbit. ;) Oh, well, and... Chip the glasses, crack the plates...that's what Bilbo Baggins hates!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Goblins are the last great group of folks that is still sociably acceptable to discriminate against. I hope those young Goblin hunters are humane.

    Great looking walks you have.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jess: I thought that was THE world? Is there more than one?

    Grumpy: I don't think they're very deep. They empty into the creek, and the creek is right there.

    Jennifer: Thanks for letting me know! It's just going to get more intense from here on out. Except for what's coming next. Which is actually what came first. It will all make sense soon.

    ABftS: Yeah, well, what can I say? Mundane answers rarely just pop into my head.

    Jeremy: Thanks!

    Sarah P: Well, you know, the true history of anything is so hard to get at.

    Alyssia: There's a box? Oh! You mean that box everyone else lives in! Oh, yeah, we don't like that box.

    I think my favorite is the road song but the goblin one is pretty close.

    Rusty: It's cause they refuse to play nice.
    heh

    ReplyDelete
  9. For some reason I can see your comment in my inbox but not on my blog, I don't know why. So I will respond here :) I actually exaggerated immensely. I should have compared myself with my co-worker. The friend you describe sounds way more like her. I am never rude or insulting except only once in a gray moon and when I realize I am I profoundly apologize, like I did to the person in my story and he said he wasn't even offended. I am very very sensitive. I worry all the time that I've done or said something wrong. So really what I am, rather than insulting or rude, is paranoid and awkward. I would never walk in a room and say "it smells like sex" never never.. I would never make anyone feel uncomfortable or hurt either. I'm just an idiot that blurts out things like "I need cocaine!" at work.

    My co-worker on the other hand is rude ALL the time and doesn't seem aware that she does it or care. She would never spend an entire night agonizing over whether she hurt someone with her constant snide remarks. She'd laugh and say "tough".

    My work-spouse is a best friend at work of the opposite sex who is my confidante and supporter and mate. He's also gay but not out so we joked about how the students ask him why he doesn't just find a nice girl to settle down with and I said we could just let people think we date. So we laughed and he calls me work spouse.

    Man your world is full of trolls and goblins and such! Is this in SR?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love all the pictures you post from around where you live. I feel like I know what rural Cali looks like.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This was a great post! I wish we had goblins where we live. Mr F and Mr Bunches would love it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Pish: Well, my friend never -meant- to be rude to anyone. He just didn't have that thing in his brain that allowed him to analyze his thoughts for appropriateness. Instead, anything he thought just came out of his mouth before he could stop it. It wasn't something he (or anyone else) was really happy with. His real problem was that he desperately wanted to be liked, and he did that by being funny. Or trying to be funny. His attempts at humor lead him to not be able to stop his mouth.

    And, yes, this is in SR.

    Michael: Actually, none of this is rural. This is right through the middle of the city I live in. There's a project to restore the creek area to a "wild" condition, and they've worked very hard on that. It's really nice. We take the path right to downtown to get coffee at our favorite cafe.

    Briane: Goblins are pretty pervasive. I bet you can find them where you live if you look hard enough.
    (Sorry I missed the pineapple thing. I just didn't have the time.)

    ReplyDelete