Peter and Ruth Do Parks

With the warmer weather finally reaching us this week, it’s clear park-exploring season is upon us! This is your reminder that our website has a full list of all parks we’ve reviewed BY LOCATION! Instagram can be great if you want to scroll through our page and see what stands out visually to you, but it can be a little more difficult if say you live in Durham and want to see what parks we’ve reviewed in Durham. Or if you live in Durham, but want to explore Raleigh today. Or if you’re going on a road trip and want to see if we’ve reviewed any places outside of the Triangle. (Spoiler alert, we have. 😊) The full list is at , and then you can click on “Parks Index.” (Sorry, Ruth. I’m not changing the domain name. 🫣) The whole goal of our page is helping get out the info about our local parks in a way the community can use, so we hope this is helpful. Happy park exploring! 🏞️

Summertime at parks: the only time you’re happy to say, “This place is pretty shady.” 😂 I do have to say, though, it is sadly rare to find a fully shaded park or playground, but the ones listed here do a pretty good job. Their amenities are listed next to them. This list is non-exhaustive, but we had to stop somewhere. What are some of your favorite shady parks? Let us know in the comments! Apex - Apex Community Park - playground, trails (no photo) Cary - Annie Jones Park - playground - Hemlock Bluffs - nature play area, trails, indoor center - Urban Park - playground - Ritter Park - playground - Ed Yerha Park - playground, greenway (no photo) - Bond Park - playground, trails (no photo) - North Cary Park - playground, trails & greenway (no photo) Chapel Hill - Battle Park - trails, outdoor theatre - NC Botanical Garden - nature play space, trails, indoor center - Cedar Falls Park - playground, trails (no photo) Clayton - Clemmons Educational State Forest - educational trails Durham - Eno River State Park - trails, indoor center (no photo) - Merrick Moore - playground - Rockwood Park - playground Garner - Lake Benson - playground, trails Morrisville - Lake Crabtree - 2 playgrounds, trails Fuquay-Varina - Carroll Howard Johnson Park - trails Pittsboro - Rock Ridge Park - playground, trails Raleigh - Playwell Park - playground - Roanoke Park - playground & toys - Bluejay County Park - trails, indoor center, playground but not great shade - North Hills Park - playground, greenway, graveyard (no photo) - Strickland Road Park - playground, trails Wake Forest - Holding Park - inclusive playground with shade covers, water park (no photo) Further Out - Saxapahaw Island Park - playground, trails - Occoneechee Speedway - trails

🚨New playground alert!🚨 The playground area at Davis Drive Park in Cary has just reopened with a completely new playground set up. The playground that was here before was a bit old and has frequently had broken parts over the past few years, so this feels like a good move by the town. With so many playgrounds, it feels like they’re all just new iterations of past ones, but the main structure here has some cool features I’ve never seen before, like this climbing net you can see in the middle of the structure. The park is not huge by any stretch, but the kids had a great time. Some other things we like about the park: - Plenty of seating all around the playground area - A shelter nearby with bathrooms - Trees surrounding the playground so for at least part of the day you get good shade (morning hours are probably best) - Lots of parking - however, there are sports fields here, so it may be tougher to get a spot on weekends We are a bit sad, though, that they took out the old metal train climbing piece of equipment. It was off to the side and nothing replaced it except pine straw, so not entirely sure why it had to go. (See last photo where it used to be.) Finally, we just want to mention that this has been billed as an inclusive park. While there are some inclusive features, like new squishy group, a communication board, accessible swings, and low-to-the-ground play equipment, it doesn’t feel the most inclusive. There’s no way for inclusion on the main structure and I know many folks have criticized the park for not being fenced. @raleighfamilyadventure has a great reel about this, so I recommend checking that out for more thoughts and community feedback. Overall, though, we had a great experience. Have you been to the new Davis Drive Park? Let us know in the comments!

Big news: I joined a community garden! 🪴 For years in our park travels, we have seen various community gardens locked away behind fences and I’ve always thought, “Huh, I wonder how that works?” This year, @morrisvillecommunitygarden reached out to me asking if I would just share about their garden, which I was happy to do because part of their mission is donating produce locally to Dorcas Ministries’ Food Pantry. I also thought, maybe I should try this out. 🤔 While I’m sure every community garden has its own ins and outs, I figure they probably have at least some overlaps and I’ve never seen anyone share what this process has been like. So welcome to a year with me at Morrisville Community Garden! I will make a more in depth informational post soon, and then after that, the plan is to share an update once a month about what happened at the garden and with my bed in the previous month. I’m looking forward to sharing this journey with you! Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or things you are curious about that I can address in upcoming posts!

And the answer to yesterday’s mystery is: JC Raulston Arboretum! The first photo here is a throwback (Little Peter 🥹), but every other picture was taken just last week. All of this is blooming right now, and with spring here, @jcraulstonarboretum will only get better! We love this spot because it is a low-key place for kids to run around and discover the beauty of nature. Sometimes they even have a StoryWalk up (they did when I was there last week). Paved pathways in many areas of the arboretum make it accessible. There are bathrooms in the welcome center, the education center, and in the cute, funky building in the last picture at the back of the garden. The welcome center also has books and other resources. There are so many nooks to explore here that I think I always discover something new on every visit. One of the only downsides I would say is that the parking lot is not large - however, there is parking on the street just outside the arboretum. Just make sure to check the signs to confirm you’re in an okay spot. Overall, this is one of our must-visit spring spots. 🌸🌺🌷🌼🌹🌿🌱🪴🌵🎍🪻🪷🍄‍🟫🎋 Have you been to this arboretum before? Let us know in the comments!

Time for a guessing game! In what wonderful local outdoor spot is this cute and unique building located? Put your guesses in and tomorrow I’ll share this must-visit spring spot. 🤔❔❓❔

It took a little while, but we finally made it out to see all the trolls at @dixpark ! These trolls were created by @thomasdambo and 336 volunteers in the course of 3 weeks with reclaimed wood from places like barns, salvaged palates, and fences. We love what they represent and are truly magical to behold. There are 5 trolls total: Mother Strong, Dix, Dax, Dux, and Daddy Bird Eye. In the slides here, we’ve detailed a few suggested ways to get around the park and see these majestic friends, and included some Google Maps screenshots as well as some photos of the trolls. A few notes: - Only Daddy Bird Eye has bathrooms nearby at the Stone Houses and Gipson Play Plaza. - There’s some steep slopes on the hills by Daddy Bird Eye, so just keep that in mind. - Accessibility is low for these installations - these are generally steep or wooded areas that tough or not possible to get to with a wheelchair or stroller. Out of all the trolls, I would say that Dix by the Pine Loop in the field by where the sunflowers grow in the spring is probably the easiest to get to if you were going to try with a stroller. Finally, there is no scheduled end date to these installations. Make sure to respect the trolls. I saw a mom just let her kid try to wiggle a piece of wood off one of the trolls. Don’t be that person. The better we take care of them, the longer they’ll be with us! Have you been to the trolls yet? Let us know if you have and which was your favorite in the comments!

Happy Spring! With the outdoor season officially underway, let us influence you to get out this year and enjoy the many amazing parks we have here in the Triangle! One day, we were watching the Dance Mode episode of Bluey for the millionth time (IYKYK), and when I heard Bandit say the beginning part, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m doing this for my kids,” it just made me think of us, all the crazy experiences we’ve had getting outdoors for the page, and how our motivation the whole time, through ups and downs, is that we’re doing it for the kids. It’s worth it, I promise. Thanks for following along. 💚 And if you have any questions about where these videos were taken, let us know in the comments!

One of the coolest playgrounds in the Triangle just reopened after a 1.6 million dollar renovation: @poe_center ’s PlayWELL Park. The Poe Center is dedicated to improving the lives of NC families and children through health education, and this human-body themed park furthers that mission in a fun way. While we previously posted about PlayWELL in 2022, we were thrilled to have recently been invited out by the Poe Center to see what updates had been made to the park. Some of the updates we loved were: - Brand new equipment, including climbing structures modeled after cells and DNA, and a 41-ft zip line - Complete updates of old favorite structures, like the body playground you see in photo 1, and the tongue slide through the nose and glasses - Beautiful new interactive sidewalk murals by local artist @mmzartistry - A sensory garden with plants kids can actually feel like lamb’s ear We also loved that the park kept certain features, like: - Great covered picnic seating areas - Paved circle walkway through the park - Climbing wall - Accessible walkway onto the main body-themed playground - Free little libraries Our only knock on this park is that there is no bathroom at the playground - you would need to go into the Poe Center, which is right next to the playground. PlayWELL is open Mon-Fri from 8:30am-4:30pm, which does coincide with the Poe Center’s hours, so a bathroom is available, you just have to walk out of the park to get to it. (IMPORTANT: The park is NOT open on the weekends.) You can of course visit PlayWELL yourself, but the Poe Center is also offering camps this summer where you can get an opportunity to play there as well. There really is too much to update you guys about in just one post, so please make sure to also check out our stories, where I’ll have multiple videos with a lot more detailed information about the renovation. And finally, I feel like I would be remiss if I didn’t share that Historic Oak View Park is 5 minutes down the road from PlayWELL with its adorable goats and indoor farm education center, and these two parks make a perfect park combo. Have you been to PlayWELL Park in the past? Let us know in the comments!

✅ Bring what you can ✅ Take what you need ✅ And stay to play! Join us Saturday, March 21 (10-12) at Prairie Ridge Ecostation for a FREE Kids’ Outdoor Gear Swap and Playdate! Drop off outgrown shoes, rain coats, carriers, and more! Take home what your family can use. Less waste, more adventure. Bring unused travel-size toiletries too and @peterdoesparks will pass them along to @oakcitycares to support neighbors experiencing homelessness. Free. Fun. Good for the community. Register at longleaflearning.org/events

Have loved the, “This is who [insert task]” trend with little kid photos of the content creators and worker bees who put in the time and effort for what you see online. So this is my submission! 🙋‍♀️ We’re in a different season of life from when I started the page, so I’m not as active on here as I used to be, but I’m hoping to find time to still put out fun and informative content from our adventures this year as we move out of hibernation and into spring! I’m glad you’re here, I love getting to know all of you, and I love what we get to share together on this page. One of my favorite outdoor memories is that I grew up fishing with my dad in Florida and caught my first fish at age 3. Also fun, one day we were fishing out at a pier and one of my shoes fell off into the water. I went absolutely ballistic that my dad would not jump off the pier and get the shoe back for me. 😂 Drop a comment below with one of your favorite outdoor memories!

It’s going to be a warm Christmas, y’all, and whether you’re like us and don’t celebrate, or you do celebrate and just need a place where your kids can run off that candy cane energy, getting out to a park is a great option. As far as what’s open, it’s a lot more than you might think. Below are a few specific suggestions and then we’ll detail what’s generally open and what is closed so you can create your own adventure! (I’ll also list all the parks in the post’s photos in the comments.) Our picks: - Apex Community Park - paved lake walkway and playground - Shelley Lake (Raleigh) - paved lake walkway and playground - Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve (Cary) - easy, short trails with a nature play space - NC Museum of Art’s outdoor park (Raleigh) - some paved trails, big open spaces, swing installations - Carpenter Park (Cary/Morrisville) - small paved pond path and playground - Salem Pond Park (Apex) - small paved pond path and playground - Duke Park (Durham) - Rock Ridge Park (Pittsboro) - Find whatever park is closest to your home on Google maps and go! There’s something so special about that local park vibe and you may even make some new friends. Some places that surprised us that are great and open: - JC Raulston Arboretum (Raleigh) - Duke Gardens (Durham) - Triangle Land Conservancy nature preserves (multiple locations) - West Point on the Eno (Durham) Parks that are open and great, but are more popular, so there is a chance they might be packed: - Downtown Cary Park - Gipson Play Plaza and the new Trolls at Dix Park (Raleigh) - Pleasant Park (Apex) - Morrisville Community Park - Knightdale Station Park - Bond Park (Cary) Other than these suggestions, the vast majority of town-run parks are open, but with an important caveat: the community centers or accompanying buildings with these parks are closed AND sometimes even the bathroom facilities at those parks might be locked. (When we’ve been out on Christmas, it’s been hit or miss on bathrooms.) Continued in comments⬇️