Overall it's a sprawly mess (like most of the rest of the area), but there are a few cool hidden gems, like Alum Rock park or the rose garden. Good museums for kids.
Oh, indeed. It's nothing incredible. Kids love it, but it's definitely small. It's still a converted velodrome, after all. Its proximity with the Botanical Garden and Planetarium are nice though, and those two I really like.
Seemed like the kind of place you have to drive around a lot, which you may or may not care about. Not super crowded == everything is spread out. The vegetation was lush and the public bike infrastructure was pretty legit downtown at least, so its got that going for it.
Frankly it has nothing to do with “being a kid”. There is a shit-ton for adults with a keen eye:
Impeccably landscaped grounds. Heavily themed environments (not even the trash cans are left unthemed). Care and thought put into the immersive experience, sight lines, smell, music, etc. Christ some of the live musicians (Dixieland, barbershop, the Dapper Dans, etc) are worth it on their own. Its a fantastic place to just walk around (assuming not hot and crowded) and devour the sensory experience.
Not for the cynical of course. You have to just give in and let it all in.
If you’re the type to just trounce through an area without taking in the details that sit before you, it’s not the place for you. If you’re the type to admire the street lamps, flowers, insanely well-maintained painted woodwork, etc it’s the place for you.
For me, the residential streets were even pretty cool. There was some great graffiti art, lots of Mexican food available, etc. I found a good comic bookstore to get something for my daughter. Overall, it's a pretty nice walk.
Great suggestion, thanks! This is different. I mostly have things like the tea garden and raptor center for consideration. It's all a bit touristy I guess, so was wondering what else.
The park here is pretty nice, it has a band shell, the city band and other groups use it lots during the nice weather. They also setup a portable stage in another area of the park and have some performances by the yacht club.
There's no space for a farmer's market in the park, but there is a dedicated space on main street.
It is a very nice park, and is quite large. In addition to the above, there are tennis courts, a relatively modern kids playground, a pavilion, accessible fishing piers, a basketball court, sand volleyball courts, a softball backstop, many picnic tables and grills and benches, a disc golf course, a few miles of multiuse trail, a public beach that is guarded during the summer, a boat launch, a decent marina and a sledding hill. There's also a historic lighthouse and small museum.
This is just a normal small town on Lake Michigan (the members of the Yacht Club have medium sized sail boats...). I guess the density matches up with lots of older suburbs, more dense than a lot of newer stuff, but not a lot of large apartment buildings either.
Resident here: this is a great list, except I would not bother with the Rose Garden this time of year (kind of boring outside of May-July when flowers aren't in bloom), and instead would hit up the Japanese Garden (just next door), or Chinese Gardens downtown.
Agreed, there are tons of hotels and restaurants and things to do in the area, just not necessarily in walking distance (which is easily ameliorated by taking a fraction of the money saved from cheaper hotels and renting a car).
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