It was chilly today when we visited Allan Saxe Park in Arlington, not your typical day in the park. However, we take what we can get, and a quick glance at the weather forecast told me that it was only going to get colder in the coming week. Plus, the kids really wanted to get out of the house!
Located in Southwest Arlington, the park offers plenty of entertainment options for the entire family.
My dragon loving 6-year-old was thrilled when he saw the park’s fun play structure!
Set among plenty of shade trees, the playground offers a modified see-saw, and 2 play structures, one for older and one for younger children.
My Mommy Tip: There are not any restrooms in the park, so make a stop before you get there.
Three picnic tables are spread out across the 12 acre park, one near the playground, one near the walking trail and another near the fishing pond. Each had a grill and concrete slab. I love cookouts in the park, and these are ideal. A handy tip for a brisk day is to save a few charcoal briquettes for after the hot dogs (or burgers, etc) are done, and warm up water in a camping coffeepot for hot chocolate, and maybe even smores!
A half mile paved trail encircles two open fields, which would be nice for playing soccer, tag or flying a kite. My kids choose tag, their favorite game!
The trail is wide and flat, offering a good place for younger children to ride bikes. It’s always hard to find a good place to ride with training wheels. I was surprised that my kids wanted to bring their scooters, and laughed at their “Scooter Race”, with a neck-and-neck finish!
A nice little pond sits to one side of the park. I noticed several wild ducks when we first arrived, but they were startled and flew off by a couple walking their dog. We had picked up some worms, and the kids wanted to try to catch a few perch just for fun while we were there.
Within minutes, my son landed this cute little bluegill in just a few feet of water, about 20 minutes before the sun went down. The pond doesn’t have a pier, but there is plenty of bank fishing available.
While we were there, we were startled to see a big carp in the small pond. My kids were excited and definitely want to come back and try to catch it! Carp are a fun fish to catch, especially for kids, and can put up a good fight. They love bread, a clean bait for kids (and parents) who don’t want the mess of worms. Another reason that these non-native fish are fun for kids is that similar to catfish, they don’t surface when caught, and a net is sometimes helpful. Have you ever met a child that didn’t love a dip net?
A few more tips for catching carp:
- Fish on the bottom, near to shore.
- You can “bait” your area by throwing out a few extra pieces of bread to attract the fish.
- They will put up a struggle, so prepare your child so they don’t loose their rod and reel to the lake!
- Texas requires adults to have a fishing license unless fishing in a state park, although children under the age of 17 never require a license.
- Practice catch and release, so others can enjoy catching your big fish, too!
Click HERE to visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife page on Carp fishing to learn more about these exciting fish, tournaments and more tips!
Things to do in Arlington
Whew, there’s a lot to do in Arlington, for a complete list, click HERE.
Keep Having Fun in the Texas Sun!!
Michelle
