Although I've lived in the area since I was only a few months old, I recently realized just how many local treasures we have that I've missed out on. It's funny how the places I go as an adult are the same I went to as a child. So I figured it was time to pack the kids up and explore this year. Over the next few months, whenever we visit a new local park or play area, we're going to share our favorites with you. Maybe you'll find something new to explore for yourself or with the kids - who knows?
In the past few weeks, we've decided that Arnold Park is a definite favorite. As a Conklin resident, I don't get to Vestal Center very often - and of course, much less as being socially responsible has come to mean keeping your distance. I was incredibly surprised to see just how extensive the play equipment was - and even more excited to find the hiking trails!
| My boys and I absolutely love the Arnold Park playground. To many of you, this won't be surprising - it is amazing! But to those of you that haven't been there before - the park is really well thought out to give you great visibility of the kids, no matter where they're playing. They even have a great sandbox with digging 'machines' that the kids don't have to fight over - because there's several. Also, we loved that it was covered so we didn't have to worry about sunburn or even hot sand. |  |
When I saw how extensive the park was, we decided to walk around the perimeter where we were beyond pleased to find the walking trails. We made a fun game of it, every new turn, one of us would play the "gate-keeper" and have to quiz the others to let them through to the next part of the trail. It was fun and kept our minds occupied and our bodies moving, and I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there were very few people on the trails, and everyone was very careful on the trails to keep their distance.
At the end of our trail we hit the little kid jackpot (ok, I was excited too!) and found a TON of forts! The kids were beyond excited, and quickly got to cleaning up the few sticks remaining on the forest floor to add to the majestic forts before them. We've found over several visits that we could easily spend 3 or more hours with just this activity!
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One thing to note about these visits is that we made sure to go off hours, as we're very careful about social distancing. We also wear our masks for the duration of our visits - but be aware that many families at local parks are not currently wearing masks, so that is something to consider when taking deciding what is right for your family.
If you're looking for somewhere fun to bring the kids where they can run and play, or looking to stretch your legs on a local trail, I cannot recommend Arnold Park Highly enough. Which park should we visit next?
