Crowder Park

What it is: People kept telling me that Crowder Park was one of their favorite parks in the whole Triangle area, so even though this one was a little further afield than our usual park experiences, we had to check it out.  Crowder Park is located in Cary near the Crossroads shopping center, so it took us about half an hour from Durham to drive there, not too bad.

When we arrived at Crowder Park we drove around a little just to get our bearings.  We saw one large playground area and two smaller playground areas with picnic tables connected by trails.  So, we stopped at the larger playground to get out of the car and explore further.  The large playground was great.  They had one very large play structure which could be accessed by a sidewalk as well as stairs, which was nice as well as a smaller play structure for the little ones. Our little kiddos found plenty to occupy themselves for at least an hour at the playground.

After we were done at the playground, we overheard another family saying that they were going to go visit the turtles, so we were intrigued.  We took the trail at the back of the playground and turned left as we had seen others do.  This took us down to a small pond with a long bridge over it.  We walked out onto the bridge and into the water.  In no time, we spotted a turtle swimming toward us, and as we watched they just kept coming and coming.  At one point I bet there had to be about 15 turtles swimming in the water just below our feet including some little babies.  Of course, the kids absolutely loved it.  Turns out that bridge leads across the pond to one of the other picnic shelters with one of the smaller play areas.

What we liked:  While the playground was great, we loved the trails and the turtles.  It was also nice how the trails led between playgrounds so you could walk between playgrounds with the kiddos.  Plus, the lap around the pond was only .3 miles so you could easily walk around the entire turtle-filled pond with your little ones.

What we would change:  The only real drawback of this playground was its distance from Durham.  However, we had a great time and would say it is well worth the trip.  We combined the park with a lunch stop at the Crossroads shopping center in Cary to make a great morning.

Website and other important information:

Website: http://www.wakegov.com/parks/crowder/default.htm

Address: 4709 Ten-Ten Road, Apex NC

Photos: 

(A view of the large play structure)

(the smaller structure)

(The turtle pond)

(the turtle pond trail)

(one of the other picnic shelters with small playground)