Park #2 - White Oak Park

Located at 1514 N Cottage Ave, White Oak Park is just around the corner from O'Neil Park (Park # 1 from last week). This park appeared to be very new...possibly built just in the last year or so. It had a very nice picnic area with a nice grill and a view of the lake (according to the Bloomington site it is a fishing lake). Eventually there will even be some nice shade in the grassy areas around the playground. Right now the trees are too new/little for shade. The benches around the playground were made with that platsic coated metal (no splinters!). The restroom was literally steps away from the play ground area and was very clean. Actually the whole area (ground, play area, parking lot) was exceptionally clean. There was enough to do for several age groups. I liked how they seperated a play area for the smaller kids. There were 4 baby swings and 4 regular swings. The slides were easily accessible via a ramp or stair steps of "rocks" (no steep stairs to climb!). I liked that there were not a lot of open spots where little kids (like my fearless 2 year old) could jump out and brake numerous body parts. The kids would also probably enjoy the 1 mile walk trail around the lake. We saw some ducks and geese out there. It seemed like a peaceful place to go even with kids! Due to it's "newness" and location, there were just a few people there which is a plus when you are trying to keep an eye on a swift toddler. On the way home you could grab some "Little Ceasars" pizza (new in town!!) and a movie from Family Video which is just down the road from the park. Overall, we give this park 5 stars and will definitely be returning!

Again, I welcome your feedback, comments, suggestions, etc. A couple of things to note...I have made the address of the park a link to mapquest. Also, we have realized there are so many parks in Bloomington Normal that there is probably no way we could visit them all in just one summer. So, there might be weeks that we visit two (of course there might be weeks we can't visit at all)...and who knows...maybe we will continue on our adventure next year. Right now, we'll just take one year at a time.





That building in the back is the restroom and meeting room


This is the smaller play area...

Picnic tables, grill, lake (off in the back)

Look out! Future Nascar driver...