Happy Adventuring: Creekside Park

Time for another park review! Since I am basically a homebody, and also a severe creature of habit, I seriously need to be convinced with promises of wonderlands in order to convince me to leave my comfortable circle of park favorites. So when a friend sent me the address of a park we'd never visited before, I put on my big girl pants, packed some snacks, and hauled my kids to the unknown. Here's what we thought about Creekside Park.

What we liked:

• A great paved path all around the park for wheeled things
• Lots of grass for running
• Really nice equipment in excellent shape. That being said, we couldn't figure out what most of it was supposed to be for.
• Picnic tables and benches and water fountains and garbage cans!
• Although it wasn't turned on while we were there (I'm talking about you, middle of January), there are water features that look very cool!
• Basketball hoops
• The park is situated in a nice and quiet residential neighborhood
• I'm assuming that there is a creek that runs through the dry bed next to the park. :) That will be very cool in the summer!
• One of those giant flat swings that can hold multiple littles.
• We met a new friend!

Side Note
Here are my top tips for making mom friends:

Compliment her kid.
Find something you're genuinely impressed with,
and open the conversation with something positive:
"He's got great hair!"
"She is such a jumper!"
"I love those boots!"
Something of the sort.

Ask questions.
Obvious inquiries include age (of the kid, obvs) and name,
but feel free to ask about other topics that
might lead to more interesting conversation:
"How did you choose his name?"
"Do you guys play here often?"
"Have you seen every episode of Octonauts?
Because I have. Twice."

What we didn't so much like:

• Not much shade. Here's how we solved that problem: go on a shady day. Not too hard in Oregon.
• While wandering around near the creek bed, we ran across a sign warning about poison oak (Maybe it was ivy? What's the difference anyway?) At any rate, it was something itchy. Ick.
• Not necessarily a negative, but just something to think about: the play equipment was super cool, but my preschooler and his buddy didn't really know what to do with it. It was all a bit too big for them to manage. But I bet bigger kids would be super thrilled to check it out! That being said, we played happily in the sand (yay...) and the grass for 90 minutes - so there is plenty to entertain everyone.

So while we were playing at this park, there was only one other family there. Granted, it was sort of a grey morning, but that leads me to think that there are so many parks in Lane County that either:

1. All the people are spread out at all the parks so none of them are crowded (I've seen this proven false plenty of times) OR...
2. There are a ton of parks that many people simply don't know about (definitely the case for me) OR...
3. No one leaves their house on grey mornings (hello stir crazy!)

The Essentials
Parking: Plenty on the street, but no lot. Get your parallel parking skills ready!
Food: BYOS (Bring Your Own Snacks) :)
Resting/nursing spots: Several benches and picnic tables.
Cost: Free is a very good price!
Time frame: Bring a book, settle in and let your littles run!

Address:
Creekside Park
Sterling Woods Dr. and Crimson Ave
click here for map

I am super excited to keep trying parks that we've never visited before. Please comment below with the name of your secret hidden gem of a park!

Happy Adventuring!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Megan Defferding is the mom to two super fun boys who love to find great stuff to do all around Lane County! Check out her blog series, Happy Adventuring, weekly on GoMomGo.