West Woods Park

We went out for a drive one day last Fall and wound up in Arvada, so West Woods Park is an Arvada park, but it was still fun. It's a nice community park, that has rolling hills, a tennis court, and just lots of running around playing, picnicing, throwing a ball around, and, as you can see, teaching your daughter how to decide which pedal to press- the gas or the brake. It was a dreary day so not many people were out and it got colder as we were out, but even if cold, I think parks are still fun to explore. A little bad weather shouldn't deter us from getting outside, right!

Matthews Winters Park

We only went here for a little bit and didn't travel along the trails as much as I would have liked, plus, it's a Jefferson County Park and not a Denver Park, but hey! it's a park. It's usually really crowded with cars so difficult to find parking. You have to park along the side of the road. It's on your way to Red Rocks, and you can get to this park from the Red Rocks Trail anyway, so either way, it's accessible.

Civic Center Park

We've been to Civic Center Park before. They have a lot of fairs here and events, so we'll probably be coming here many more times too. Last time we were here for the Cinco de Mayo celebration. This year we went to the People's Fair event. Madison wanted to see some of the bands play, so that was a lot of fun for her. We walked around the booths and saw some cool art. They have a lot of non-profit organization booths there too so we visited the Planned Parenthood and Gender Identity Center booths. We also found a booth about becoming vegan, which we probably won't ever be vegan, but it was nice to learn some recipes and tips about incorporating it. I'd definitely recommend going to some of the events here.

Lookout Mountain

I went to Lookout Mountain once already. The drive up to the top from Golden is a little daunting for me, but if you go up from I-70 it's definitely manageable for those who are afraid of heights and cliffs. I brought the kids with me this time and we had a picnic. The views were just as beautiful as the first time I went. Although I'm glad I've gone and I'm glad I took the kids, I probably wouldn't make this a regular thing to come up here. Not for anything in particular, but because of the drive.

Pinehurst Park

This was another park we went to because we were near Littleton, it's southwest of the Denver area. It's a great neighborhood park. You can walk around it, it has a couple of soccer fields, picnic table, and playground. We had a lot of fun here because Cainen was practicing going down the slide on his skateboard and we got the most hilarious picture ever!

Bow Mar Heights Park

Bow Mar Heights Park is a fairly big park, in a nice area, easy parking, and spacious. We went to it when we were near Littleton, so it's a ways out there for us, southwest of Denver. I remember thinking that it was a really pretty park, and would especially be nice in the Spring and Summer months, but I don't remember feeling like I had to come back again. It's a great park if you live in the neighborhood.

Creekside & Infinity Parks

Creekside Park is not a Denver park, but actually in Glendale. It's right off Colorado Blvd so it still feels like Denver. But we went anyway. It's a cute park. If you're shopping at that Target off Colorado Blvd and you want to visit a park nearby, go here. It's near the Cherry Creek Trail so if you're walking or biking here, there's a bridge that's nice to see.

Infinity Park is also a part f Glendale. It looks like it's a part of the Arapaho Open Space. There was a sign! Sometimes the lines of these parks, like the lines of Denver and the outlying cities, blur together and you don't know where you're at exactly. It's a nice couple of parks.

Mayfair Park

It's been so long since I posted I nearly forgot what these parks were like!

Mayfair Park is a decent park- has everything you'd want: playground, place to walk, connected trails it looks like, and a place to play sports or Frisbee. It has a rich history. The trail running through the park used to be for wagons. Native Americans lived in the area as well: Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche.

I would definitely recommend this park. Check out the signs, way better quality reading in person than in my photos. I think it's important to learn about our history here. So many parks mention Native people. We forget how we displaced so many people. Denver's history is a part of that time as well.

Montclair Park

I might give this park a 5/5, but Cainen wanted to give it a 3/5, so I compromised. I don't know why I liked this park so much but I got a really good vibe from it. It's in a nice, quiet neighborhood. It's a medium sized park with a tennis court, playground, grassy area, Civic Center building, and a lot of really nice trees. I liked the landscaping a lot. There's a really nice building there, which I found was the Montclair Civic Building and it looks like you can rent out the space for gatherings. It has a kitchen and a large space for events, which seems really cool to me. If you're in the neighborhood definitely check it out. It's not the fanciest park we've been to, but there's something about it that feels really inviting.

Creepy duck!

Bayaud Park

Bayaud Park looks like a tiny little park from the main street when you pass it but it's actually a really long strip of a park with a playground. It has one art sculpture but there's a sign that implies they will have more art put up. We would have given the park a 5/5 stars but Cainen pointed out that if you played with a ball it is a thinner strip of grass area so the ball could get kicked out into the street too easily. It does have a walking path around the entire park and the playground is pretty cool and has some unique equipment. It's near a library so we might actually come back here again.