A great park to be seen year round. This park is an amazing project and partnership alike…read more Stop and feed the ducks, join in on local education or Park & Rec events, or stop to take pictures and learn about pollinators & plants. This is a great spot to see it all! For family events, dates, or just something to do.

What a beautiful park!…read more During a quick trip to Iowa we kept our activities limited to outdoor activities and carry out eats. I pulled up the Yelp app to find a park to explore and voila, there was Vander Veer Botanical Park. It was a toasty 93 degree day so we were quickly drawn to the plentiful shaded spaces found throughout this large park. In addition to a botanical garden (which we didn't visit specifically), they also have a rose garden, small pond with a fountain, long shaded promenade, and plentiful paved paths for walking. We strolled through the rose garden and then were naturally drawn to the long shaded walkway that leads up to a large and entertaining fountain at the end. This park has so many lovely uses for varying audiences and interests. Highly recommend giving it a visit if you find yourself in the Quad Cities!

A beautiful 200 acre park located on the north side of Clinton on the bluffs overlooking the…read moreMississippi River. You can picnic,hike or cross country ski in this treasured asset of Clinton. There is a historic lodge which we did not visit and a castle turret open for stair climbs and fantastic views of the Mississippi . Lots of play areas, restrooms, pavilions and trails makes this park a fun way to spend a day.

Nice park, love climbing the old tower and the great views. A lot of play areas, restrooms,…read morepavilions, and trails. Needs a little better maintenance and some tree trimming to improve the views.

This review is for the kids area at veterans memorial park…read more The play area is well laid out and maintained. The ground doesn't have mulch, but a nice padded floor. There are 6 swings, multiple slides and 3 benches for parents to sit and watch over their children.

This is a great park for a variety of ages. There are two areas 1}Toddlers 2}Kindergarten and Up…read more I am reviewing the toddler section since I have twin 1.5 year old girls. The toddler section was very nice and safe. The canopy on a portion of it to shield from the sun. The slides seemed appropriate as far as safety. I liked the squishy type ground for this play area. Its a welcomed change from rocks or wood chips. The fencing around the playground is also nice. And more then one park bench inside the fence was appreciated.

Was great until the DNR came asking a million unnecessary questions. What brings you here? What…read moretime did you get here? You don't have any lakes in Blk Hawk County? Makes out of towners feel pretty unwelcome!

This is a fun (and free!) activity to do while you're visiting downtown Davenport. It's a neat way…read moreto look around at what's nearby through the glass walls. Also a nice way to get some exercise in! One side is connected to a parking garage and will lead to the grassy park that sits right by the river, so if you already have your car parked, it's worth it to hop up on this small bridge to get some nice views in on your way to where you're going!

Review Visit: November 17th, 2014…read more The Davenport Skybridge is a nifty pedestrian bridge that lets you take in the views of the city and see things from a 'high up' perspective. Right outside where Rhythm City Casino used to be, this bridge is easily accessible and free to use. You can take an elevator or stairs to the top and once up there, you can walk from end to end. There are glass inserts in the ground that lets you see traffic whizz by underneath you. The walls are mostly glass that lets you get a great view of the city. The only disappointing thing about the bridge is that at one of the ends, you are just overlooking a bunch of buildings, so the view is kind of lame. But to each their own. Overall, it's a great view and if you are in the area, just park at the casino and check it out.

Great park and historical site in Rock Island that's an important part of Native American culture…read more If you want to know more, come here and check out the museum about it. Black Hawk State Historic Site is located on the former location of an amusement park, that's no lie. Lodge has a museum about the famous warrior and the village that was here. The rest of the park has other feature such as trails. Black Hawk was a famous chief. In the 1800s the Sauk tribe was living here. They were later forced to move west. Soon this area became an amusement park. The railroad was used to bring people here, and when cars got popular, the park didn't have as many visitors. It soon closed. Then the Civilian Conservation Corps build the lodge and made the area a park. All this can be learned by visiting the museum. This is located in the lodge, and you can watch a video about the history of all this. Also there's trails for hiking. One overlooks the Rock River. Elsewhere in the park is the site of an 1886 coal mine. There's also a pioneer cemetery with a few old tombstones. Also there's lots of deer. The last time here we came across a bunch in the woods just standing around and eating leaves. Cool place as far as this area goes. It's got a lot of history to it. The museum in the lodge is helpful for learning about whatever.

I spent three days in Moline for a business function at the iWireless center. I needed a break so I…read morefound this park on Yelp. Moline is rather compact so this is a about 15 minutes from the downtown area. The park is named for Black Hawk, the leader of the Sauk people who built a rather sophisticated culture in the Mississippi basin area. The draws are the native peoples museum and the surrounding park with hiking trails. I visited the museum and walked down to the banks of the Rock RIver. The musuem has about five or six dioramas which give you a pretty good idea of everyday life for the Sauk people of the area. As I walked the path straddling the river I couldn't help thinking that this path was in everyday use hundreds of years ago.. From my visit I learned: * the native peoples in the area had a rich culture * it wasn't exactly a picnic living in the path of Europeans as they moved westward (google Black Hawk War) * my knees aren't what they were as I made it down the steep path to the river. Here is the lowdown from the website: Pause a moment and picture a forest in the middle of the city -- an urban paradise... Hiking trails that wind deep into the woods, up rugged hills and along the banks of a gentle river, remote spots where nature wraps around you...the songs of birds...scampering squirrels...oaks that were here when the first pioneers came... Picnic shelters with stone fireplaces, a museum of Native American life, a nature center where children can learn the values of the natural world, playgrounds, a rustic lodge that a duke would envy...

It took a couple years to realize how extensive this park is…read more When you drive up you'll see the skate park (not a play structure designed to keep kids busy long) keep driving! ~~~Turn left~~~~ *quarry (trails around too) dock. * great sledding hills *dog park *paved trail *creek access ~~~Turn Right~~~ *Sport fields (trail access) *playgrounds *creek access

Great place near central Bettendorf (along Devils Glen Road) to take a leisurely scenic walk. Very…read morespacious, great for kite flying. Nice wide, paved trails as well that surround a former rock quarry. Diverse activities include a cool skate park, several baseball diamonds, very popular floor hockey, swings & slides for the youngsters, and a couple fenced dog parks to run both large and small dogs. Nice picnic area as well! Bettendorf parks are monitored by volunteer Park Ambassadors who help maintain a secure and enjoyable experience.

Great place to kayak especially in the morning or evening. Trails have varying difficulty with none…read moreof them being too difficult. Camping area is nice as well.

While a smaller camp site, it is still pretty nice. We stayed in the Pines, which as the name…read moreindicates, was covered in beautiful pine trees which made you feel like you were walking through a Roman colonnade. Now, I'm not very "hardcore" when it comes to camping, and this trip marked my first real tent camping trip since I was in third grade (roughly 19 years ago!), so this review is more written from the point of view of "that chick" who screams and panics at the site of any and all insects. Yes, I'm not proud to admit it, but I have to be real. For my fellow entomophobics, let's have a heart to heart. Okay, so there are bugs. Come on! It's camping. BUT, it wasn't nearly as scary or terrible as I had expected. Can I get an "amen!" I even posted some photos of the ever scary bathroom situation, just so you can see it is not like walking into a spider's web. Really...overall, it wasn't too "buggy." Now, here are some other notes about the site that will help you decide if this place is for you: Site 1 = Camp Host; This is where you pay for your camp site, which as I recall was pretty reasonably priced at about $10. Big bummer! The concession stand is closed until further notice, so give up your dreams of canoeing and ping pong. This change happened the week of our reservation, and it was very disappointing. So, if getting on that pretty lake is important to you, definitely check out their website to verify if the concession stand has been re-opened or not. Since we were tent camping, I can't speak to whether or not there were water hook-ups for RVs. If not, there is a fill station as you enter, so you should be fine. Off the beaten path, there is a historic red barn which you can tour (1st, 3rd and 5th Saturdays, May - Oct, 1-4), a nearby water park, and a playground for kids. Overall, we had a very pleasant trip, and we would definitely consider going back. Until next time, sleep tight, and don't let the weird-insects-that-appear-at-night bite!

This is a beautiful park with super interesting geological formations (especially striking at the…read morelower level picnic area and the Punchbowl Trail). For a quick visit the Punchbowl Trail is a good short hike (a couple of miles to and back?) but there are some steep stairs if you end up on certain paths. To avoid the stairs park at the lower level and hike on the (mostly) level path to and back... The Boundary Trail is also awesome and usually very peaceful, but it takes quite a bit longer and there will be a few steep hills... The Pine Creek Grist Mill is a picturesque historic site in the park, with its own spacious parking lot, a cool bridge across the creek, and an old schoolhouse and cabin...the mill is open limited hours during part of the year...it was interesting to see the mill machinery and learn about the historic flour-making processes (but it's very hot in the building during the summer months)... Nice shelters and campsites, too, some with fireplaces and fire pits...there's probably not a spot in the park that is not scenic!

Visited for the first hike of the spring. It is my first time here. We drove from Iowa City and it…read morewas about 50mins of views of empty corn field (well it is just Iowa). The park is not very big. We went on an hiking trail near the parking lot. It would have been nice to have some sort of map or marking/signs in the park but we failed to find any. As an result I think we made a wrong turn and had too short of a hike as the result. No running water available in the bathroom so be prepared to bring hand sanitizer. But otherwise the visit was enjoyable, my friends' bunny enjoyed hopping around on the grass near the picnic area (pretty clean).

Wonderful educational experience! It is lovely here and the kids loved it! The staff was extremely…read moreknowledgeable about EVERYTHING!