Note: for some reason or another, the road is closed in order to get to this place from time to time. I haven't seen any toad closure signs with exact times on them, so it's not clear why they're making it inaccessible, but always plan for a backup if Thinodo is where you're planned on heading to. However, when it is open, this park is great for tennis, riding bicycles, scooters, and going for an afternoon run. Unfortunately, this park is not so close to where we live now, in Fallbrook, but it's not too far coming back home in the afternoon from the Charter school my son attends in Oceanside.
Since we are already making the big commute every day, we usually put the bike rack on the car and bring our bikes (we also change it up and bring scooters or the hoverboard, sometimes we will look for a park that has tennis courts and bring the racquets or a basketball/football/soccer ball to get out of the house, so we are almost never at the same park twice in a row. In fact, we look for new parks that we have never been to before to get some new scenery in or just to check it out so we know which ones are good for certain activities and which ones we should probably avoid!
This makes reviewing each of them on Yelp! an easily referenced tool when looking to head out with specific items. It's usually quiet when we head out to most parks, but the ones in Carlsbad and San Marcos/Vista tend to be much larger than what we can find in Fallbrook and Oceanside, so after school park trips are usually spent either close to school or completely out of the way (since we've got to make the long drive home anyway, might as well get a little energy run off before heading home for dinner and homework!
If you live closer to the park yourself, or if you're not one to have upset kiddos when they've got to resort to any plan B options should that entrance road be blocked off, then this is a pretty great spot to have fun with your entire family. Next time, I'm thinking picnic... :) read more