Rediscover Longview Park in Rock Island
Written by: Meghan Cooley
We headed to Rock Island's Longview Park this weekend - a favorite of ours going back to when my husband and I had our first date together playing disc golf - and confirmed, yet again, why this is one of our very favorite Quad Cities parks. If you have babies or toddlers, you MUST go and check out the Expression Swings!
What is an expression swing you ask? My husband explained it as the swing we get to use while watching our little one. That's exactly what we got to do. I'll just say it - THIS is AMAZING!! I've never used one of these with any of our sons before and I am in LOVE. You and your little ones will be, too. In fact, this might be the only playground we will go on now that we've tried it out.
Longview Park expression swing - check out their expressions!
Swinging isn't the only great thing about Longview Park: from Whitewater Junction Aquatic Center to the flower beds to playgrounds to disc golf, people of all ages can enjoy the beauty, peace and fun of Longview Park. The greenhouse, flower gardens, and artwork make for a lovely stroll with plenty of benches placed periodically to rest your feet.
With our four boys, we gravitate more to the active fun and the past few years have found some impressive changes for families. Besides, a refreshing and fun filled pool adventure at Whitewater Junction. The old playground was torn down and replaced with a plastic forest with climbing, slides, tree houses, and a rope bridge. Our boys love crawling and climbing and playing. We often pack a picnic lunch to eat under the pavilion or on the grass before running off some energy on the three playgrounds including one with sand to dig in rather than mulch.
The playgrounds are on top of the hill near the entrance off 18th Ave.
The 100+ year old park hosts one other tradition our boys love to see: the date garden. Each day, some dedicated keeper, changes the dates in the lovely greenery at Longview Park on the “5 way corner” of 18th Ave./17th St./20th St. As we like to say in our family, it's a great park for a date, or to check the date.