Outdoor fun on the B-side
Spring has sprung! Find out where to take your kids for fresh air and excellent energy burning opportunities with this homage to Richmond’s less traveled (but completely wonderful) parks.
Editor’s note: Today’s feature is the next installment in our new parenting column written by two sets of Richmonders: Jorge and Patience Salgado (veteran parents of four gorgeous children), and Ross and Valerie Catrow (parenting rookies who have only been doing this “raising a child thing” for a few months). Check back fortnightly to watch them discuss/agree/disagree/throw down over all kinds of parenting issues, Richmond-related and beyond. This week Patience goes solo to fill us in on where she takes her kids when spring hits Richmond.
When we first moved to Richmond with our eight week old son, we were Ramen noodle poor. We shared one car and every weekend found ourselves exploring a different park in a 20 mile radius. Jorge came home one day and said he heard there were buffalo at some park in the city.
“Do you mean a zoo?” I replied.
“No, a park.” he insisted.
Maymont became one our all time favorites in our park circuit. So now the economy is in the crapper and here we are. It’s time to fall in love with our parks all over again because they are free and fun. Really, who needs a reason anyway?
We all know the big ones: Maymont, Dorey, Deep Run, and Meadow Farm. How about the little neighborhood playgrounds, the hidden gems stashed away? Here are a few we’d like to bring to your attention and a couple spins on the old tried and trues
Letterboxing Love
Letterboxing is treasure hunting for the everyday man. People hide small boxes in public places like parks with a log book and stamp inside. Clues are listed on the Internet and when you find the box, you stamp your log book and the one inside. It’s super fun and can introduce a new element of interest to the old favorite parks your kids have been to 1,000 times. Check out www.letterboxing.org to get started.
Triangles for Toddlers
My kids call the park at the corner of Lombary and Park (in the Fan) the triangle park. It’s shaped like a triangle, totally fenced in and has every Little Tykes riding car ever made inside. Throw in a limeade and Cuban sandwich from Kuba Kuba across the street and you have reached mother nirvana. The Westover Hills United Methodist Church playground at the corner of Westover Hills Boulevard and New Kent is the same brand of goodness. All the equipment at both parks is made for younger kids and always has a tired looking parent chasing a toddler who looks willing to chat. I have spent full days, working hours 9 to 5, at these parks. Kid and mother approved.
Quiet and Reflective
Echo Lake in Henrico is a hidden gem on Springfield road. It is the perfect place to walk a trail, feed the geese or play on the very cool playground. The playground is perfect for families with mixed and wide age ranges as there seems to something to climb for everyone. There is even fishing for those trying to create some future dreamy memory with their kids. My favorite part is wandering the trail thinking about the history of the land.
Nature Center Galore
Maymont isn’t the only place sporting a nature center around town. My oldest son, Josiah, insisted Three Lakes Park be added to the list. You can also check out Rockwood Park in Chesterfield and the awesome Nature Pavilion and Recreation Center at Deep Run. It’s spring people, and that means when it starts raining like cats and dogs, we all run inside to learn about what we hope to see come May.
Honorable Mentions
(Everyday parks that keep us sane and happy…)
Mary Munford Elementary School Playground: The old school wood structure rocks our socks.
Humphrey Calder: It has the ginormous slide that makes every mother nervous and kids thrilled.
Carillon Tot Lot: The equipment is respectable according to the kids and the sand meets the requirement for children who love go barefoot.
Meadow Farm: The big time for all involved and nice shade to boot.
Huguenot Park: Handicap accessibility makes this place fun for everybody.
What did we miss? Which parks make the cut for you?
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Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Echo Lake is awesome. My grandmother used to take us there.
I also can’t believe that there are buffalo at Maymont, even though I’ve seen them with mine own eyes.
Scuffletown!…I mean if you are a dog it is amazing, but otherwise it is also pretty great. Also, on letterboxing, I actually had a really weird and random experience kind of like that in Baltimore this past weekend, in which my friends and I found a map to a time capsule hidden in a small jar inside of an abandoned water tower. We actually found the time capsule in the backyard of a family’s house, and we met the family, and their kids, who had planted maps all around the area. Very long story, but we did not accept the time capsule, and instead opted to re-hide the map for them, as they had only hid it about a month ago. Great idea though.
If you are on the Southside near Salisbury there is a great playground called Wishing Well behind Salisbury Episcopalian Church. (Corner of Winterfield and Salisbury Roads.) My daughter calls it The Superfun Playground.
Patience,
It’s not truly a park, but we use the Texas Beach/North Bank Trail over by Maymont more than any other outdoor area. Crossing the bridge over the railroad to head down to the little beaches on the river is something the kids always find exciting. Our fave thing to do is pack a picnic, wade out and have lunch on the rocks.
We love the great playground at Patterson and Libbie behind the school. Lots of cool things to climb!
We love the great playground at Patterson and Libbie behind the school. Lots of cool things to climb!
P.S.: Forgot to say great post!
We also like the playground at Patterson and Libbie (we call it Libbie Park) because there is a big structure for big kids and a small one for little kids. It’s very sunny and hot though. And you have to have a high tolerance for Lily Pulitzer dresses. :p
Also, Cheswick! Nice and shady for a hot, sunny day with plenty of picnic tables, a creek, and wooded trails.
Cheswick Park – nice newish playground equipment, plenty of shade even when the other playgrounds get hot in the summertime, picnic pavilion, woods to explore, and a great creek with bridges, sandbars, and places to build dams.
Short Pump Park – cute little gem tucked away near the playing fields by Short Pump Elementary (across from Ukrops). Not a lot for the big kids, but it will keep preschoolers busy for a while, and there’s a path through the shady woods with great bug-hunting possibilities.
Humphrey Calder – I know you already mentioned this, but it bears repeating! We call it the “curly twirly slide park” and its perks include some old-school items like the merry-go-round that you just can’t find at modern parks and a great shady tree by the sand where parents can hang out. You can also see the trains coming down the middle if 195 about every half hour, and it’s walking distance from Ellwood Thompson’s grocery.
Don’t forget the James River! We especially like the 42nd Street Island area – more train-viewing possibilities, rock hopping on the river for big kids, lots of beautiful flora and fauna, and the part of the river that goes between the islands and the mainland is more like a creek, perfect for throwing rocks with little kids.
Patience, great post! I love the way you see things! I have a couple more suggestions:
Maybe I’m a little biased — but if you are a member, you can’t beat Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden for learning about plants, seeing new things, exploring nature. Plus they have their own version of letterboxing too. At the end April the waterplay opens and runs through the fall. AND Butterflies LIVE! lands on May 22nd and also runs through the fall. The childrens educators at the Garden work really hard to set up engaging activities for the kids too. And there are some super cool plants like the one that shrinks when you touch it and then comes back after a while (and all the plants in the kids area are touchable).
My kids also love the park on the other side of the Nickel Bridge at Westover Hills United Methodist Church. It is super shady so really nice for a hot day and well fenced so those little ones won’t get away.
Our other favorite, of course, is Pony Pasture!
While it isn’t in Richmond, it is close enough for us east enders: Osbourne Boat Landing has a new playground with a sand and water feature, great covered picnic areas, trails (good for walking and biking) and it is right next to the river! We like to walk along the shore and skip rocks. Once, we saw the monstrous, oceanliner freighter on the river there. It was a spectacle.
We are also fond of Three Lakes, Cheswick, Dogwood Dell and Humphrey Caulder.
It’s not a park, but CMOR is awesome — especially on rainy winter days. Our eight-year-old son and our 14-month-old daughter find plenty of fleeting activities and playmates to suit them. It is worth the annual membership — especially since they got rid of the huge rubber intestinal tract that left NOTHING to the imagination
Had to come back to report that we explored Pump House Park today, and so long as you’re prepared to hold kids back from the edges of rickety old bridges and steep-sided canal locks, it’s awesome. Wonderful ruins, lovely paths through the woods, and great glimpses of the train bridge and river.
Picnics are simply fun. It is definitely wise to save for the rainy days, considering the current economy. Picnics are a great way to do this. The best part about picnics is that it really does help bond a family together through spending time together outside! Dont for get to bring your picnic baskets and enjoy.