Sawyer Park

Sawyer Park is a small park in downtown Hartford.

There is a decent amount of green space and a very small playground.  The coolest part is probably the old-fashion tall slide.  My kiddos kept themselves entertained by creating an obstacle course around the playground pieces.

If we were near it and wanted to stretch our legs, Sawyer Park does the job.  I would not go out of my way to seek it out again, though.

Sawyer Park
111 Branch St ~ Hartford, WI

Preview Post: Devil's Lake State Park

Devil's Lake State Park is one of the state parks most visited by people I know.  It is most loved for its scenery, and there are many trails of varying difficulty throughout the park.  Devil's Lake also houses some Native American burial mounds.  The lake is clean, and many people camp here annually.

There's an unofficial travel guide website for the park at Devil's Lake Wisconsin


Devil's Lake State Park
S5975 Park Rd ~ Baraboo, WI ~ (608) 356-8301

Admission: State Park Vehicle Admission Sticker - $28/annual, $8/day

Preview Post: Aldo Leopold Center

The Aldo Leopold Center in Baraboo is a nature center.  It is mostly enjoyed for the outdoors, but there are also buildings that function as learning spaces and museums about Aldo Leopold, a diligent conservationist.  There are tours you can take, or you can explore on your own.

Aldo Leopold Center
E13701 Levee Road ~ Baraboo, WI ~ (608) 355-0279

Admission: I do not believe there is an admission fee to enjoy the land.  Tours do require fees.

Preview Post: Augusta Wildlife Area

The Augusta Wildlife Area is a state preserve.  It's 2100 acres, so there is plenty of opportunity for outdoor exploration.  There is not any sort of playground, but there are trails.

August State Wildlife Area
Wildlife Rd ~ Augusta, WI

Admission: I believe you need a state park admission sticker.  $28/annual, $8/day

Preview Post: Prentice Park

Prentice Park is Ashland's biggest park.  There is a natural spring well and a playground, as well as plenty of outdoors to explore.  Camping is also available.

Prentice Park
Turner Road ~ Ashland, WI

Preview Post: Central Railyard Park

Central Railyard Park in Ashland has a playground and a skate park.  They also have an ice skating rink in the winter.  It looks like a decent-sized park.  They also have bathrooms.

Central Railyard Park
6th Street & Vaughn Avenue ~ Ashland, WI

Preview Post: Kreher Park

Kreher Park is actually a city-owned RV campground, but it is also listed as a public beach, so I am assuming you can access the facilities without having a campsite there.  There is a playground and a beach...on Lake Superior.  Brr!  Most reviews I can find are from people who have camped there, and they have been positive.

Kreher Park
200 Prentice Avenue N ~ Ashland, WI

Preview Post: Maslowski Beach

Maslowski Beach in Ashland seems to be best known for its spring water.  It hosts a beach (obviously) but also has a playground.  There are also bathrooms, and it sounds like they are usually open based on reviews I've found in which people mention changing areas.  It is on Lake Superior, so pretty chilly, but by all accounts is usually a nice beach for playing.

Maslowski Beach
Highway 2 on the west side of Ashland, WI

Homestead Animal Farm

We visited Homestead Animal Farm in Merton to get our pumpkins this year.  It is an awfully cute farm!

The petting zoo, kiddie play area, and hay ride were each $2.  The corn maze was $6 (woah!).  We didn't do that one.  They do offer a bundle price if you are planning to do it all.  It saves you a buck.

The petting zoo area was a lot of fun.  We could get as close to the animals as we wanted, and they were all pretty tolerant of lots of hands.  We even got to hold a baby chick!  The kids got a pretty big kick out of the chickens running loose around the farm.

The kiddie area was pretty small, but they did pack a lot in there.

 Not much for large motor, traditional playground activities, but there were lots of fine motor building and ball games.  They had a nice variety for little tyke experiments.  One of my pet peeves is when places make adults pay to supervise, and I definitely felt like this was not worth my entrance fee.  But the kids had a good time.

 

Our favorite was definitely the hay ride.  It was a small, cozy wagon, and the man running it was great.  We even had to stop for deer on our trail - twice!  It does not take you out to the pumpkin patch like we have been used to, but it was a nice length and a pleasant ride.

 

It seemed to me like the pumpkins were a bit pricey ($9 for a large one?), but these are the only pumpkins we've purchased this year so maybe I'm just out of touch with the going rate.

I was glad we went right away in the morning.  We spent about 2 hours there, and by the time we left it was starting to get pretty crowded.  It is a spacious farm, but the activity areas had a limited amount of participation.  I think it would have been frustrating with a lot more people.

There were port-a-potties available.

Homestead Farm
 W320 N9127 Hwy. 83 ~ Hartland, WI ~ (262) 966-3840

The Little Farmer

The Little Farmer is a fall playland in Malone. 

There is goat-feeding.

And a whole play area with climbing structures (including some made of straw bales), tricycles, and all sorts of fun.  There were also inflatable bouncy horses, which were a lot of fun.

These pedal cars were a favorite for sure!

The kids also enjoyed the little garden, which had little hidden secrets.  They liked the natural tic-tac-toe a lot.

Most importantly, the Little Farmer has the best caramel apple bar!  You get to pick your perfect size apple and choose your favorite toppings.  You can even turn it into a caramel apple "sundae."

One thing I really appreciate about the Little Farmer is that you pay for what you do.  Anyone can wander around for free.  The food prices were not outrageous, and the play area was only $1 per person.  Adults had to pay, but I could deal with a dollar.

The maze and hayride were more expensive, around $4 each if I recall correctly.  They seemed a little bit pricey comparatively.  We decided to just go with the corn maze.  The maze includes a puzzle you try to solve as you work your way through, which was a pretty fun addition.

The Little Farmer
N9438 Hwy 151 ~ Malone, WI ~ (920) 921-4784
Price varies by activity

Lake View Acres Park

Lake View Acres Park is a small neighborhood park in Hartford.

There are a couple of swings and a few other small pieces of equipment.  There are no real climbers, but the kids had a blast on a standing spinner.

Bonus side note, it was pretty hysterical to watch them try to walk away after spinning!

The park technically has a shelter/shed structure.  My hope was that there may be some bathrooms, but everything was locked up when we were there.

Lake View Acres Park
95 S Teri Lane ~ Hartford, WI

Preview Post: Bayview Park

Dip your toes in Lake Superior with a visit to Bayview Park in Ashland.  Technically it's on Chequamegon Bay, so it has a LITTLE bit of a chance to get up to a swim-able temperature!  It looks to be a long and narrow park with quite a bit of lakefront.  There is a beach as well as a playground.

Bayview Park
1803 East Lake Shore Drive ~ Ashland, WI

Kingston Spring Lake Park

A friend introduced us to Kingston Spring Lake Park.  It is a a small park on the shore of Spring Lake in Green Lake County.

The lake is not big, but they have cleared a nice beach area with a decent amount of sand to play in.  The water in front of the sand is pretty nice too, though there were lots of weeds to either side.  Highlight of the day for my kiddos: we saw a snake swim from one side to the other:)

It was great with little kids because it is nice and shallow for quite a long way out, so they had lots of room to splash and play before we had to reel them back in.

There is a restroom building with pit toilets.  Those didn't seem very well maintained.  The door didn't close on the women's, and they were pretty gross.

Kingston Spring Lake Park
Spring Lake View Drive ~ Kingston, WI

Preview Post: Ashland Mural Walk

Ashland has a beautiful downtown, complete with murals painted on the buildings.  It is a point of pride for their city, and there is a whole map you can walk to see them all.  I think it would be worth seeing!

Ashland Mural Walk
Downtown Ashland, WI

Independence Park

Independence Park is Hartford's largest park.

There is a lot of wide open expanse, so this is a great park for outdoor games!  It also has quite a playground.  There are two separate climbers, swings, and a couple of other play items.

It has enough to entertain a crew of kids! 

There is also a very nice picnic shelter with bathrooms.  I don't know if the bathrooms are always open, but there seemed to be some kind of summer camp happening when we went, so they were at the time anyway.

Independence Park
900 South Wilson Avenue ~ Hartford, WI

Kanow Park

Kanow Park is a Jefferson County park. 

It is a nice big park right on the river.  It is mostly wooded, but there is a large covered picnic area.

 

There is also a playground.  It is older, but the kids still had fun.

Supposedly, there is some sketchy past to this park, but when we were there, there was not another soul to be seen.  It is definitely a nice quiet park, but it is a bit of a drive away from everything.

There are bathrooms.

Kanow Park
N8248 Rock River Road ~ Ixonia, WI

Candy Cane Park

Candy Cane Park is what the city of Hartford calls a "mini" park.  Accurate.  It is definitely tiny. 

There is a one-person climber, a couple of swings, and a sand box.  The kids were pretty unimpressed, but they did play for a bit in the sandbox.

Candy Cane Park
526 East Lincoln Ave ~ Hartford, WI

Ashippun Community Park

After finding the Fireman's Park to be a dud, we were pretty stoked to discover the Ashippun Community Park nearby.

The equipment was in great shape.  A lot of it looked almost new.  I may have even tried some of it out myself...

We enjoyed all of the different climbing activities.  I think the favorite, though, were the old-fashioned bouncing toys.

There are bathrooms, but they were locked when we were there.  I'm thinking they are probably only open for events.

Ashippun Community Park
W2520 Elm Street ~ Ashippun, WI

Ashippun Fireman's Park

When we visited the Ashippun Fireman's Park, we did not even get out of the car.  While it would have been a nice place to practice baseball or play kickball, but that's all there was.  We were disappointed that at a nice big park like that there was no playground.

Ashippun Fireman's Park
W2665 Oak Street ~ Ashippun, WI

Ixonia Fireman's Park

We visited the Ixonia Fireman's Park and enjoyed playing on the playground.  It's not huge, but plenty of fun.

The main playground felt a little bit old-fashioned, but it didn't seem to bother any of the kids that were there.

There is also a small handicapped-accessible addition.  This equipment looked fairly new, and my non-handicapped children enjoyed that too.  We were able to have a nice discussion about how other kids might be able to use the items at that playground too.

We lucked out and found the bookmobile there!  We got to listen to a guest reader at the park!  They set up under a very large covered picnic area.

All in all, we enjoyed the Ixonia Fireman's Park.

 Ixonia Fireman's Park
N8345 Park St ~ Ixonia, WI