Thursday, July 10, 2008

Five Senses Garden, Capital Area Greenbelt

I can't believe I have lived here most of my life and have never been here!! Writing this blog has given me more motivation to seek out places to take the kids and share the results with my friends. I felt like I hit the jackpot today after our morning outing. The Capital Area Greenbelt is a 100 year old system of paths and parks that are all connected and circle the Harrisburg area. They continue on for 20 miles around the city and offer so many things for families to do. Riverfront Park, Italian Lake and Wildwood Lake are all connected to the Greenbelt. Five Senses Garden is an area that has a parking lot just across the street and was close to our end goal of the free movies at Great Escapes Theater today so we decided to check it out on our way there this morning. This beautiful park has a labyrinth, paths, a butterfly bench, a creek to explore and walk in and lots of flowers and plants. The CAG Association maintains the parks and is an all volunteer organization. Al, one of the volunteers, showed the kids a plant that when the leaves are torn smells of oranges. They loved this! Max kept asking about the playground but when he realized there was so much to explore here he didn't want to leave. To get to Five Senses Garden, get off the Paxton Street aka Harrisburg Mall exit from 83 N, at Paxton Street make a right, go to 28th Street and make a left, continue about 1/2 a mile to the parking area on the right. There is a CAG sign marking the entrance. Once you park, walk to the left (if 28th St. is at your back) on the path, cross the street into the garden. The 20 miles of paths are mostly paved and would make a great bike outing with your kids. Check out their website http://www.caga.org/ or email me and I'll send you a brochure with maps of the area and information on where to go to park. I hope you will check it out! Call me, maybe we'll



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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

THE KIDS ARE GETTING SOOOOO BIG! STOP THEM FROM GROWING PLEASE!!!!!

Picnic area at Little Buffalo

Picnic area at Little Buffalo
Look closely, you can see the lake from our shady picnic spot.

Mayfred Lane playground

Mayfred Lane playground
Few people know about this park

Fort Hunter

Fort Hunter
This is the playground on the east side of Front Street.

Lake Tobias

Lake Tobias
Max loved feeding the goats. Emilia poses with some guinea pigs.

New Cumberland Park

New Cumberland Park
The kids love the size of this structure and I like the safety.

Gazebo

Gazebo

West Fairview boat ramp

West Fairview boat ramp
The kids have never fed ducks before today!

Carousel horse merry-go-round

Carousel horse merry-go-round
This was their favorite part of the playground.

Baby swings

Baby swings
Max let me push him really high in this swing. I think he felt safe b/c the back is so high.

Wormleysburg Memorial Park Playground

Wormleysburg Memorial Park Playground
It's made of real wood so it must be older but was in great shape.