Woodbridge Park

Saturday, August 18, 2012

My Cost: FREE!

11240 Moorpark Street

Studio City, CA 91602
www.laparks.org/dos/parks/facility/woodbridgepk.htm

Today daddy left for a few days, so we spent the morning home with him getting packed. After dropping him off at the airport, (I love that the Burbank Airport is so convenient to us!), we kept it low-key and just went to another of the beautiful locations maintained by the City of Los Angeles' Parks and Recreation Department. Everyone in this city is so fortunate to have so many beautiful parks, and in my humble opinion we should all be using them more often!

Our original destination was the North Weddington Recreation Center. It is one of my favorite playgrounds because there is so much shade in the afternoon, and it is a good distance away from any traffic, being situated at the end of a residential street and in the corner of a freeway intersection. However, it was pretty crowded. There were basketball games going on in the gym, and someone was having a birthday party at the playground.  So we picked another park - there are so many in close proximity to each other!

The park we went to instead was Woodbridge Park. It was a mere one mile away. Quite honestly, I think this might be my new favorite park in the Valley! Just check out the beautiful landscaping around one of the signs!

There are 2 playgrounds here, like at many of the other parks, for toddlers and for older children. I must say, though, that the amount of activities in each area blows other playgrounds away! There were swings, slides, climbers, spring riders, monkey bars, a teeter totter, a straight track ride, a stand-up spinner, and my favorites were 1.) the multiple bridges including one made out of a wide rubbery sheet (durable like a tire) that was really wobbly to walk on, and 2.) the log roll toy! My kids are too small to try to run on a spinning "log," but I would have totally tried it if I hadn't been holding a baby! Plus, the surface of the bigger playground is sand, and one mother was smart enough to bring toys along for playing in the sand.

The pictures paint a better picture:

The toddler play area is starting to get a lot of shade.

The big kids' playground - see how shady!

That bridge on the right is the wobbly rubbery one.

The swings, plus notice all those benches!

One of several spring riders with an adorable rider!

Some shady seats in between the toddler and older kids' play areas.

Besides all the wonderful playground equipment, there were lots - and I'm talkin' LOTS - of benches and picnic tables. Another nice feature is that past the toddler playground is a stretch of park that goes back into a corner like an "L". It's walled in by trees on all sides and feels nice and secluded. A good place to go read a book! (Except during school hours, because it is adjacent to Oakwood Elementary School so I assume it gets noisy.)

Last, but not least, at the north end of the park close to Moorpark Street is some fitness equipment. A lovely setting for working out! And it's not the well-worn type of fitness equipment I'm used to seeing, this stuff looks brand new:

Incline benches for crunches, and a couple Gazelle-style low-impact trainers. 

Some upper-body presses and pull-downs, and pull-up bars, etc.