Guest Post: Playgrounds and More for City Folk
This is a guest post from Sheila Sayah, a mother of 3 who lives in Springfield, NJ and regularly blogs about playgrounds on her site, www.njplaygrounds.com.
When asked where one can go to big open spacious playgrounds in NJ without a car, there aren’t many options way out in the suburbs. However there are a few which are close to train stations. Here is a “railroad friendly” place you can explore if you feel like taking the train to a new place.
Summit, NJ
Love, love love Summit, the train station will drop you off right into downtown, with some really great restaurants, some of my favorites include:
* Taka Sushi- 95 Summit Avenue- Favorite sushi in the area.
* Summit Diner-classic diner here for over 75 years, come here for the nostalgia of a real Jersey diner. Buttery pancakes, hefty servings of bacon and always packed but extremely tiny, not stroller friendly.
* Summit Brick Oven Pizza- good for me, but Hoboken has awesome pizza so hard to compete.
* Natale’s Summit Bakery 185 Broad Street- Best bakery in the area, great stuff! Closed on Mondays.
Playground, anyone?
Mabie playground is right there within walking distance. Bring your bocce set, and a basketball, the playground is fun for the kids and it usually is pretty active. There’s a pretty good deli right across the street and a hot dog vendor. For wide open spaces, ballfields and tennis court visit Memorial Field which is about a mile away from the train station.
If you have younger kids, you may want to stop at “The Connection for Women and Families” They have Drop In and Play $6/kid every day (except Thursdays) from 12PM-1PM, just a huge gym, with plushy obstacle courses including some of those pedal cars to maneuver. They also have little fenced playgrounds that are free to use.
Farmer’s Market on Sundays!
From June 7- November 1, Summit Farmers’ Market is held on Sundays from 8:30am til 1:30PM on the corner of Maple St. and DeForest Avenue. “We have organic and regular produce, cave-aged cheeses, fresh fish from the Jersey shore, baked goods, field flowers, herbal soaps, vegan breads, pickles of all varieties, sausages, hard pretzels, estate farm coffee, sauces, dips & spreads, plus much more!”
If you decide to take a car instead to venture out further….
* Short Hills Mall is just minutes away for your designer shopping needs, also has kid friendly places, Johnny Rockets, and California Pizza Kitchen, and then Pottery Barn for Kids has toys out for the kids to play with and Gymboree has the tv setup. New toy store is there too, haven’t checked that out.
* The closest amusement park is not too far away, Bowcraft in Scotch Plains, NJ. A little compact but lots of fun for the kids including a train, roller coasters, carousel and much more. I had a summer pass and the kids loved it.
So come join us in suburbia, and we look forward to seeing you!
Sheila is not joking when she says that Natale’s has the best pastries! If you are looking for more playgrounds to go to outside of Hoboken, check out her website at www.njplaygrounds.com.