No, I’m not talking about Michael Jackson’s estate. One highlight of Point Defiance Park is a place called Never Never Land. This attraction once featured a half-mile long trail punctuated by life-size dioramas depicting scenes from Mother Goose, Disney movies and other fairy tales. Elaborately decorated statues were placed inside cartoonish miniature houses with impossibly canted roofs and crooked doors. Dr.Caligari for the wee folk. One space is occupied by a life-like Jack Sprat and his balloon-shaped wife. Another space hosts Jack Horner, his thumb permanently thrust into a plumb pie.

One of my parents’ photo albums contains a snapshot of me and my sisters standing in front of the 20-foot-tall statue of Humpty Dumpty that presides over the park’s entrance. Elbow to elbow, we’re all three smiling in ear to ear in unison, soaking up the last rays of our childhood bliss, our private gilded age captured like a diamond in amber, in Instamatic Kodachrome.

Due to age and vandalism, one by one, those statues have been disappearing from the park. Humpty Dumpty and about 9 other structures remain, but I would visit this attraction soon and often, just in case the Puget Sound weather continues to erode these childhood gems - and don’t forget to take lots of pictures.

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Josh

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