Dutton Park
- April 7, 2005
- Rated 4 of 5 by
NoPlaceLikeHome from Pilot Mountain, North Carolina
This is a very nice park near the Jennison, Grandville area. It is a very popular spot, and attacks lots of kids. There is an expansive play area built to look like a wooden pirate ship. It has foru ot five bridges, three or four tunnels, a couple swinging bridges, and a few hiding areas, all designed around the ship's theme, in other words, they are part of the ship. The ground around and inside the ship is all sand. Inside the ship there are also swings and teeter toters, monkey bars, and other assortment of playground equipment. Surrounding the outside of the ship there are benches for the parents to plant themselves and watch the older kids play. If you have younger kids, and you don't keep up with them inside the ship, you will loose them. Once they go in a tunnel and come out the other end on a different part of the ship you'll be separated. The kids even loose each other! For the very little kids, there is a small children's play area too. This has smaller swings and teeter totters and such. It's really more for toddlers that don't know enough to want to be in the ship area!
Off to the side, outside the ship and across the bridge, there is an extraordinarily large, to scale, walk-on map of the United States made in a big grassy area. Each state is a different color. It is a very educational experience if you can get your kids off the pirate ship! You can ask your kids how many steps is it to walk from Michigan to Florida to help them get an understanding of distance. You could have a couple people standing in California waving to the people standing on the other side of the county map in New York!
There are also picnic areas at the park, with grills, but they are not near the ship, you have to walk a little bit. Bathrooms are not near the ship either, they are a little bit of a walk too, because they are near the picnic area.
From journal Grand Rapids, Michigan