This is a nice place to take a break and relax. One wish is for dog owners to pick up after their…read moredogs. It would make for a much more pleasant experience on and off the bike/walk path. There is a botanical garden along the river front. We'll have to check it out next time.

Awesome spot for toddlers. My 1yo loved it! The slide was super easy for him to navigate and I was…read moreable to stay in a comfortable spot while being within arms reach.

The Forest Preserve Headquarters of Winnebago County is by far my favorite underrated park in the…read moreRockford area! Lots to explore and so many different, unique areas within the park. I love the view over the quarry in all seasons but it's especially beautiful in fall/winter. The walk through the woods and around the ponds and river on the other side of the forest preserve are gorgeous in spring with frogs and other small animals to find and lots of mossy pathways. It feels like a fairytale! (Photos by Figment Photography)

Great place to hangout and have a few beers and go on nature walks…read more I've never camped here, but I heard that its cool. There are a lot of nice shelters and a respectable playground. You can pick morel mushrooms here during the early-mid spring. There's a fair amount of wildlife (deer, turkey, woodpeckers, toads, etc.) as well. The conservation sheriff cruises through every once in a while to make sure no one's doing anything retarded. Its a popular hangout for delinquent kids during the day, so check your grills before you cook. There was piss on one of them once.

Is dirty dirty dirty , way too crowded , dirty carpet , too many exits and entrance on the toddler…read moreside , restroom too close to playground.

A decent hamsterwheel for children. Want a place to tire them out? You could do worse…read more A few things I can say, is whenever you take children out in public, certain things happen in public. Most of the lower reviews I've seen are realistic, and legitimate gripes, but that's the 21st century for you (with this kind of population). When it gets down to it, there needs to be more places like this for children to have fun. Its not a bad place to take the kids or have a birthday party. The layout and equipment is pretty clever to where the possiblity of injury is low. As for me, I'm just going to sit around and drink a soda for an hour, in the hopes the kid is wiped out at the end.

Can't believe I'm the first one to review this place! Beloit, you guys are slacking!…read more This is a pretty neat playground to take the kids to with an awesome view of the river. Not exactly sure what river it is, Illinois i think? The playground is well maintained, my 10 year old loved it. Not your traditional playground with swings and seesaws, but plenty of stuff to climb. There's also a walking trail along the river but I was sad that I couldn't go because we didn't take the baby stroller! We had our infant in the car seat and she was too heavy to lug that thing around in. Parent fail! Would love to come back and bring my walking shoes to get my steps in!

This is a park directly across the river from central Galena. You can get there via bridge over the…read moreriver - or there's parking on the east side of the river. There's a hill from the main entrance on the east side of the river to get to the top - with great views of central Galena. This is such a nice park. There are paved walkways that take you through the park There are a number of benches with various views. There's a gazebo, a statue of Grant, historic cannons/howitzers, a water fountain, a playground for small kids, and a basketball court. Can be a good place to just relax or to stroll. To stroll the whole thing - while reading the signs - took 45 minutes.

This is a good-sized park that wears many hats. It has a gazebo, where I'm sure many a ceremonial…read moreevent has been held. There are basketball courts, so people of all ages can play. There's a playlot for little ones and their carers. A fountain is part of the landscaping and probably provides some meditative white noise for people just here to relax and be. There are also several historical monuments; after all, named after favorite son Ulysses Grant, you'd expect as much. I was a bit surprised that there are two cannons here... not what I was expecting! Probably not loaded, though. There is access to Main Street on the east side of the river by using the pedestrian bridge. The lettering on the side of the park with its name was destroyed a few years back, and a Boy Scout troop repaired it. That's really cool that the local troop worked with the community in this way.

This is a very nicely kept park. Although owned by the park district, it really is a…read moreNeighborhood park due to no parking available. They have two sets of swings (one for younger kids and one for older), a small playground area, and a small shelter area with two picnic tables. Surrounding the park is a large green space that many of the local kids play sports on. This park does back up to houses and does not have any large shade trees.

Such a fun and small park! There is a great covered area with seating, and benches surrounding the…read moreplayground but far enough away that you're not in the action. The equipment on the playground is well maintained by the park district, and both my 2 and 4 year old can play fairly independently on most of it.

I say this about a lot of parks but, this is definitely one of the best parks I have ever been to…read more There are 6 areas for different sports, including: basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, volleyball, and ping pong. In addition to the sports, there is a very nice playground, pavilion (with electricity and a grill), and a walking trail.

The garden in the name is a bit confusing as it's more about trees. Like 98% trees, 2% flowers…read more Keep in mind I visited in the 3rd week of may...there should be some more flowers. There was a bit of a flower arrangement by where they apparently hold weddings so that was something. But otherwise trees...trees and more trees. The paths are freshly paved and there are many more natural paths that branch off of the main paved paths. We walked around the perimeter of the garden staying on the paved paths. There wasn't much to view but I did see one wild turkey so I added a star for that. We also took one short dirt path just to see...but it was just a short dirt path through the trees. If this place was free...I'd of liked it more I think. But at $12 per person it seemed like paying to hike through a nicely maintained park. I ended up here because Anderson Japanese Gardens were overflowing with attendees. So I went here where there were like 4 cars worth total on same exact day. Anderson btw charges about the same price so...maybe it's an entertainment value for the dollar deal? I think so. If you are a manager here...everything was very well maintained...you just need to give people more color to see on the main paved paths.

Certainly it's not anything comparable to the big popular arboretums and botanical gardens those…read moremay think of, but for Rockford it's good. It's not a humongous one, but there's plenty of ground to cover and nature to see. Klehm Arboretum has a respectable collection of flowers, plants, and trees. A lot of family activities. There's often some kind of special event going on for children and family things. A lot of the gardens are specific toward one plant species or a family. It of course has better viewing in the spring and summer, but any time of the year has something to check out. The visitor's center is the first place most people come to. Get a map. You can find out where all the gardens are and which paths to go on. It has a pretty cool pond garden in front you should stop at. There's a Prehistoric Garden featuring a T-Rex. Also children will enjoy the Fountain Garden. This is a way to cool off in summer. Even though the programs say there's an admission charge, you can still usually get in free. It's not like there's anyone at the gate. This is best in the summer, but there's also later year activities like hay mazes and whatever.

For a community park, this beats every other park I've been to thus far. We frequent this park…read moreoften during the week. Not in the winter, but in the summer we may be here 3 to 4 times a week. Some times we rode our bikes, 5 miles away from our home, to the park traveling on the ice age hiking trail and what a glorious trail that is. Once summer arrives, we eagerly await the opening of the wading pool. The closest thing we have to a beach really. The park is very well kept. The grasses are well maintained and trimmed. Restrooms are clean. There's also the travel center on the grounds, that also acts as the welcome station for Janesville. If you go there and tell them you are newly arrived they will give you a packet which includes several saving coupons that can be used at various stores and eateries. Parking is abundant and can be found at different locations through out the park. There are many picnic tables with fixed grills ready to be used. I bring a grill top just to be safe and clean when using these grills. You can fly kites, have large parties as people often do, and there are even short hikes with trail heads close by. The main attraction is the play ground itself. Designed like a large forest camp with many places to climb, run, explore it truly is heaven for kids as they run around expending energy. There are slides any one can go down. These have rollers so no matter how you are you will go down, and fast too. You really have to watch yourself coming down these type of slides. I have seen many adults land smack flat on their buttock, and I laugh every time watching them remembering my first time too. There's also rings for kids to strengthen their grip and rocking platforms to help control their balance. When the wading pool is open it gets crowded but several life guards are always present to make sure there is no misbehaving by kids as well as adults. The spouting whale slides and umbrella water rain falls are excellent attractions for the kids to take pictures on. The surrounding area also offers kids to begin their exploration of nature. There is lots to see in plants as well as bugs. Many have vibrant colors and are so strange looking that makes them very interesting. We loved coming here. It's a great way to spend family time while your kid unleashes that bottled up energy and get a good work out building his physical abilities with coordination. Many fond memories and pictures are here. Wish there was one close to us now.

Amazing! We live in Illinois, not Wisconsin, but we're met with kindness and openness here. The…read morewading pool is a little dated, but serves a great purpose on a hot august day when you don't have access to any other outdoor pools. But it's fun for my son. He is 5 years old and made friends right away while splashing around. The breaks aren't too bad. We showed up during a break and there was an event going on (I think a lot of events go on at Palmer park) where they learned about seeds and growing their own seeds and vegetables and even got to try some colorful vegetables while being read to. Afterwards, the kids planted their own seeds in a cup and got to pick out a book. So sweet. Then-break was over and back to splashing. The bathrooms are....well public pool bathrooms which are always gross. There's vending and shelters. Also, my sons favorite part is the gigantic playground. There's a Little kids section, a toddler section and a bigger kids section. He likes them all. There's also a mechanical swing for someone wheelchair bound to go in-wheelchair and all...and swing!! The floor is bouncy, so less injuries. Plenty of slides, places for parents to sit. Wooden maze under structure. The merry go round(?) needs help. It's stuck on something so that's no fun. There's a mini house and plenty of fun for hours and hours. On days that I want to surprise my son after school I pick him up and bring him there- 30 minutes away. Just a great place to be. I'd love to keep it to ourselves, but it's too good to be hidden. Also, a GREAT little Pokémon Go spot :)