We did the Des Moines Outdoor Fun trek of parks this summer and I thought I would reflect on it a bit here, even though we fell a bit short of our goal of hitting up ten parks. The upside is that we explored a ton of new to us parks that we would have never visited!
Up first was Terra Park in Johnston, which we enjoyed during Johnston Green Days for breakfast and for rides afterwards. This is such a neat addition to the community and we go here often. Easy check off for us!
Another easy check off for us was Jester Park, of course. :) We visited it multiple time this summer, but Michael and I added a new to us activity of canoeing on the little pond. So fun and surprisingly peaceful.
A new to us park but also still close to our neighborhood was Walker Johnson park in Urbandale. It was a bit of a surprise visit as I got the movie times wrong and we headed here to entertain ourselves until the correct movie time. Michael loved it so much he requests visits anytime we are in the area (and we did revisit it another time just him and me).
On the 4th of July we visited the Forest Park museum in Perry. This was a real treasure, and a bonus that it was on the bike trail. It was a lovely day!
Kennybrook Park is also near and new to us. Again, we visited it twice because the kids loved it so much!
Pete Crivaro Park was an awesome stop, recommended by Michael as he went here for Hawk's Nest. We got lucky and visited on the very last day the wading pools in Des Moines were open for the season. We were pleasantly surprised, and it made for a nice evening of family time.
Our last park was after the deadline, but it made for a good day adventure anyway: Winterset City Park and Clark Tower. I had never even been to Winterset before and it was a lovely drive. We'll be back to explore again.
The honorable mention park goes to Brenton Arboretum which we visited in May before the challenge started. We also visited Stone State Park and Rathbun State Park this summer which are outside of the central Iowa area but I am still counting.
Overall, it was a summer full of memories, all free and easy just by visiting parks. I am happy the challenge gave me a push to get out of my park comfort zone and find some new parks that we revisited throughout the summer.
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