Review: Thorpe Park (Flagstaff, Arizona)

For those of us unable to afford (or not wanting to spend the time driving to) a summer trip to San Diego, Flagstaff is the next best thing for Valley residents.  At an elevation of well over a mile, it's usually a good 25 to 30 degrees cooler than the Phoenix area, and it's only a 2-hour drive from central Phoenix.  At the intersection of Interstates 40 and 17, and as the gateway to the Grand Canyon (not to mention the old Route 66 running right through it), it also gets a fair amount of out-of-state travelers' traffic.


The best playground in town is Thorpe Park.  It's just west of downtown (which is about a 5-minute drive north of I-40) and has a wide variety of play structures for a wide variety of ages.  There's a sizeable older-kids bulbous play structure, with a smaller, slightly-less bulbous play structure for the younger kids a couple hundred feet away (both in sand or wood chips, I forget which).  There are also separate bouncy/springy metal animal sit-upons, as well as a much older metal jungle gym in the shape of a fire truck.  So it's got a fair amount of play structures, not to mention a decent amount of grassy area.


If there's any distinguishing feature of the park, it's a bank of about 10 swings that sits on the western edge of the play area.  The play area gently slopes down to the eastern edge where the play structures are, so that when you're swinging high, it gives you a bit of a feeling of swinging over downtown Flagstaff.  It's a great swing area.


It's been a couple years since we've gone to the playground, so I don't have any decent pictures, but you can view some pictures here.  In addition to the play structures and swings, it's surrounded by pines on the western side and there are some places to hike nearby if your family is looking for some more back-to-nature play.

This is a nice little park, and if your kids need some playground time, either because Phoenix is too darn hot or because they've been in the car for 6 hours, Thorpe Park will be a nice diversion.

Details

What: Thorpe Park Playground
Where: 191 N. Thorpe Rd. / Flagstaff, AZ (map)
Parking: Parking lot and street parking.  Not sure about public transportation.
Amenities: Restrooms, some shade from the pine trees, but not as shady as you might like from intense high-altitude sun.  Downtown Flagstaff is maybe a half-mile to a mile away.
Bottom Line: Best playground in Flagstaff.

Review: Kachina Park (Phoenix, AZ)

Kachina Park is a little neighborhood park in a part of Phoenix I like to call "Arkadia with a 'K'." That's because it's adjacent to but not formally part of the (comparatively) swanky Arcadia neighborhood, even though people -- and realtors -- who do live there describe themselves as living in Arcadia.  (I say that with affection because I used to live in a couple different parts of "Arkadia with a 'K'.")

The park itself has some room for running, a meandering path, and a fair number of reasonably mature trees.  It also has a playground, one that Miss Mary Mack remembered for something called "the wheel."

 

No, "the wheel" was not some sort of medieval torture device.  It was just that wheel thingy above, maybe 2 1/2 feet in diameter and about 6 feet off the ground.  If a kid leans off the adjacent platform, they can grab a hold and make almost one full rotation.  Miss Mary Mack had lots of fun on it... for maybe a couple minutes, then moved on.


Luckily, there were a couple other kids there on what proved to be a record-setting day heat-wise in Phoenix (111 degrees, woo!) so that Miss Mary Mack could play with (and show off to) other kids.  I suspect the park has more kids on days when the heat isn't quite so bad.  Also luckily, the main (big-kid) playground structure had a shade structure which somewhat helped.  (As a parent, I eventually excused myself to the shade of one of the trees lining the perimeter of the play area.)  There's nothing particular noteworthy about the play area itself -- it has the typical big-kid/small-kid play structure dichotomy with 2 toddler and 2 preschool swings.  There's sand, but part of the big-kid structure is wheelchair-accessible via that slightly springy surface stuff.  I wouldn't describe the park as having a surplus of shade and shaded-seating, but compared to a lot of other Phoenix-area parks, it does just fine.


There's no reason to visit this park if you're more than 15 minutes away because you almost certainly have a playground that provides a similar experience closer to you.  Still, it might be enough to make your kids smile.



Details

What: Kachina Park Playground
Where: 42nd St. & E. Campbell Ave. / Phoenix, AZ 85018 (?) (map)
Parking: Street parking (but not a problem).  Bus serves 44th St. and probably (occasionally) Campbell Ave. itself.
Amenities: No restrooms, some shade from the trees, ramadas. Ground zero for the LGO folks (La Grande Orange, Postino) is a quarter-mile away.  That's pretty close for a Phoenix parks amenity.

Bottom Line: Nice, but for locals only.  (And perhaps those waiting for a seat at the LGO places.)

Review: Royal Palm Park (Phoenix, AZ)

Royal Palm Park is sometimes known as Butler Park (its northern boundary is Butler Dr.).  But it turns out there's another Butler Park as well (though that one's in Glendale).  So perhaps it's just an attempt to avoid a wacky mistaken-identity movie. Or maybe not.

Well, assuming you can find your way here (southeast of 15th Avenue and Butler Dr.), Royal Palm Park is a decent little neighborhood playground.  Remodeled fairly recently (2008, maybe?), it features a fairly large L-shaped climbing structure for the big kids and a smaller separate structure for the preschoolers.  There are a couple swings apiece for the big kids and toddlers, plus a couple springy sit-upons, all of which are placed amongst a large expanse of sand with little to no shade.  If there wasn't a nice tree in the northeast corner of the play area, it'd be virtually devoid of shade -- unsurprisingly, it's that corner of the area that gets most of the sand play.

In fact, if I had to come up with one distinguishing characteristic it's that kids seem to do a little more imaginative play here.  There's a play "snack stand" and all the shade and sand under the play structures (and tree) seem to be filled with kids digging and pretending.  Which is a good thing.  The only other distinguishing characteristic I can think of is that the rest of the park is basically one big L-shaped patch of land that lends itself to dogs playing.  Not really sure why, but I see plenty of dogs here, at least more so than I do at other parks.  I've even seen dog training classes here.

So there's relatively little reason to visit this park if you're from out of town, or even a different Valley city.  But it's part of our regular rotation.

Details

What: Royal Palm Park
Where: 15th Avenue and Butler / Phoenix, AZ (map)
Parking: Parking lot of sufficient size.  I think it's served by bus.
Amenities: No bathroom, little shade, steps for sitting on. Also, in a neighborhood, so no services nearby.  Now that I write that, I'm wondering why we spend as much time here as we do.  Maybe because there are always kids here.
Bottom Line: Perfectly fine neighborhood park and playground.

Review: Granada Park (Phoenix, AZ)

There are few parks in this world that couldn't be improved by the presence of ducks.  Geese, I'm no so sure about, but ducks are guaranteed kid-pleaser.  It's the primary reason, I think, why we return to Granada Park in north-central(-ish) Phoenix.

Bring three or four slices of bread, and your children are amused for at least ten minutes. The ducks are well accustomed to the public feedings, and they start swimming to the shore of the lower pond long before you actually reach the shore of the pond.

But this isn't DuckMapped, it's PlayMapped, so eventually we make our way across the bridge separating the lower and upper pond up to the playground.  It is, like many playgrounds in the city of Phoenix, filled with playground equipment from Miracle Recreation Equipment.  Unlike playground equipment in other parts of the country, our equipment in the Valley of the Sun tends to feature drab colors -- they're going to fade anyway, so why do a rainbow of colors?  The playground got an overhaul in, what, 2008, maybe?  It features the standard big kids' set, small kids' set, swings (four toddler, four big kid) and a climbing wall.

I've always like these two playground features.  On the left, those tethered mushrooms require more balance and dexterity than you would otherwise expect -- I keep encouraging Little Boy Blue but he doesn't like them so much.  And I find the "rock climbing slide" pure genius.  Not that it stops kids from climbing up the other slides (or from sliding down this one), but at least it's a novel idea (or was at one point).  Also, there's sand.  The suburbs seem to prefer the bouncy play surfaces, but Phoenix, they like the sand.  (Even now, they rake it in the morning, like it's some massive sand trap.)

For parents, it's not a perfect park.  Insufficient shade and seating are the primary culprits, and even in winter when it's not so hot, that lack of shade and seating are an annoyance (many of prefer to just sit under the trees nearby the playground).  It's a neighborhood playground, but it is less than a mile drive off of a major freeway artery, so it's not a bad choice if you're passing through.  The park gets crowded on pretty Phoenix days, though.

But as playground parks go, it's a perfectly nice one.  Just remember to bring some bread.

Details

What: Granada Park

Where: 6505 N. 20th St. / Phoenix, AZ 85016 (map)

Parking: Parking lots adjacent to park, free; street parking along the park when lots are full (which they often get to be).  Served by bus.

Amenities: There's a bathroom, but it's of barely passable quality.  Also, in a neighborhood, so no services nearby.

Bottom Line: Relatively new playground equipment, so-so shade.  But did I mention the ducks?

Review: Rio Vista Community Park (Peoria, AZ)

Ah, the suburbs.  So very far away.  But also blessed with space and (at least in years past) sufficient tax revenue to meet the desires of their often family-focused residents for play areas.  So as we were planning to head out to Peoria for an unrelated reason recently, we decided to stop by Rio Vista Community Park.

The park is clearly one of Peoria's most important (if not the most important) parks.  It's got a community center, ball fields, a splash pad, ramadas aplenty, and a river running through it all.  Really.

But let's talk about the playground itself.  There's a lot of different types of play equipment, as you can see from the pictures here.  The big primary-colored (and age-segregated) play structures.  The (comparatively) odd Kompan structure next to it.  A small rock-climbing wall next to it.  Swings (four for the big kids, four for the small).  A couple big corkscrew slides.  Stonehenge.  Swinging steering wheels.  A metal rocketship (not pictured).

In other words, there are lots of different play structures.  None that were particularly new to me, but many that I hadn't seen all collected in one play area.

  

Seriously, who decides that they need Stonehenge (not quite 18 inches in height, but not 18 feet tall, either) right next to the purple balancing mushrooms?  Those spinning wheels would be kinda cool for older kids; the spiral slide was more spirally than most -- you could get multiple static electricity shocks coming down that one.

Now, we were there on an overcast day during the week after K-12 schools had started, so it was a lot less crowded (and perhaps more pleasant) than it would have been otherwise. One of the big drawbacks to the playground is that while the structures are (partially) shaded, there are few trees and places for the parents to sit.  The large number of ramadas would fill that purpose if it's empty, but on spring weekend afternoons, I bet the place is absolutely packed.

In the end, the playground is a really nice (if a bit oddball) collection of relatively new equipment, and if we lived nearby, I bet we'd visit quite a bit.  If you're passing through Phoenix (say, on your way to LA from Northern Arizona), it's definitely worth the stop if you need a playground break.  It's a suburban playground, and I mean that in the best sense of the word.

Details

What: Rio Vista Community Park

Where: 8866-A W. Thunderbird Rd / Peoria, AZ 85345 (map)

Parking: Parking lots adjacent to playgrounds, free.  Park and community center likely served by bus.

Amenities: Well, the community center looks nice from the outside.  And there's a bathroom.  But if you're thinking of, you know, food... bring your own.

Bottom Line: Lots of playground equipment, a fair amount of shade, and lots of picnic tables.  On an uncrowded day, it's fabulous.  Crowded day?  Hmm....