Boise, ID

My kids are parks experts. One of their favorite things to do in the summer, spring, fall, or anytime it isn’t raining, snowing, or 110 degrees is to take a family trip to a park—one with swings and slides of course. When we don’t want to drive far, the park of choice is Caldwell Memorial Park. There are several features about this park that make it unique, and a fun place to hang out for free.

Although the playground is small, it sports a fun climbing apparatus—wood, not plastic. At the top of the climb is a “curly-q” slide. For kids not quite brave enough for these heights, there is a shorter climb and straight slide combo.

As for swings, the choices are baby swings, regular swings, and the ever popular, old-fashioned tire swing. Since spinning is my thing, I actually like to get on with one of the kids and make it really go. Most of the time, however, if there aren’t kids waiting for the regular swings I enjoy indulging the child in me and getting my exercise by pumping away while my kids play.

The playground area in this particular park is sand, which in itself is a fun feature. Bring a little water and some sand toys and you can almost pretend you’re at the beach and not in land-locked Idaho (I said almost!) Another thing we really like about the natural elements here are the many huge trees that provide a lot of shade. The entire park is 15 acres, including the Municipal Pool and some sports fields. A lot of this area is grass and trees with picnic tables sprinkled throughout—a nice little oasis in the middle of town. It is an extremely popular place for outdoor birthday parties in the summer, but with so much space it usually doesn’t feel crowded outside of the playground area.

In addition to basic picnic tables, this park also has a covered picnic area and bandshell available for rent. Caldwell Parks and Rec Office, located in the park, handles those requests. And if you are into history, there is a historical section that contains an old cabin, train engine, and various other pioneer artifacts, subjects for another post. Restrooms and drinking fountain are available, and a sidewalk and benches border the playground area. On summer days, especially weekends, you are likely to see the ice-cream man circling the park, although I can’t tell you from any personal experience the actual type or quality of his goods, being the cheapskate, I mean frugal mom, that I am.

So, if you ever happen to be in Caldwell and need a shady place to recreate, head down Kimball and check out Memorial Park (you can’t miss it). If it happens to be a sunny weekend, you just might run into us there.