My girls had a blast here. The splash pad facility is so impressive. There are two huge play areas…read morewith tons of sprinklers, buckets and water tables. One area is a little bit better for smaller kids so it's nice that they have two different options. The best part about the splash pad is the reservation system. You must make a reservation online, and you have a 1.5 hour time slot. Splash pads can get packed on a hot day, so this was a great way to control the crowd. Once your time is up there's an enormous playground right next door. There is so much to see and do that you could easily spend hours here without getting bored. Overall this is a fantastic township recreation area. It's clean and well-maintained, and there are endless play options for kids.

This is one of the cleanest parks I have walked through in Monmouth County. There are trash bins…read moreeverywhere and 2.3 miles of paved trails for you and your family to enjoy. The trails are perfect for walking your furry dogs, in-line skating, cycling, easy walking and pushing strollers. There is also a repair station with a tire pump and tools found near the basketball courts. The Challenger Place has finally finished and is a designed playground for kids who are blind or visually impaired. Their sport courts include tennis and basketball courts, as well as an in-line skating rink. The athletic field is available for rental and may be used for baseball games but not for practices. I have heard they have swimming pools but I personally did not see it. Instead, I saw a spray ground (water-enhanced playground) which was to open in mid-May but given our current situation with the COVID-19 outbreak, this is doubtful for mid-May 2020 due to the pandemic restrictions. Normally, it would open mid-May through early September. I would imagine the busiest time to be there with kids is during the height of summer because summer camps are held there by the Monmouth County Park System and Challenged Youth Sports from Middletown.

Love this park and it's hiking trails. One of the trails has fitness stations which provide a great…read moreworkout. Plenty of bbq areas with grills and benches. If you want to have a gathering, they have a spot that you can reserve. Bathrooms are very clean and orderly. Playground has been updated with newer equipment.

This is my favorite park in the area, I absolutely love it. There are legitimate hiking trails, an…read moreexercise trail, several playgrounds, tennis courts, clean bathrooms and best of all, farm animals :). You can catch some wildlife as well. When I discovered it I was shocked I didn't find this gem sooner.

A lovely park next to the library…read more Well maintained and a gorgeous view of the water!! Public bathrooms here. (Pay homage to two local people who passed away on 9/11. A beautiful tribute. ) Several murals to enjoy. In the center of town. Really lovely and thoughtful town.

RED BANK: a fun place for your pup to run around with great views is Riverside Gardens Park, off of…read moreWest Front Street! Walk along the sidewalk path or take your dog off-leash and play fetch in the great lawn. Follow the path down to the waterfront for close-up views of the Navesink River! So pretty and peaceful! This is the same location for Movies in the Park where dogs are also allowed! Bring a blanket or chair! Movie begins at dusk and food donations are accepted for a food drive

Poricy Park has two separate entrances. The main one is located on Oak Hill Rd. where you will find…read morevarious trails from easy to challenging. Check the map.This area also has an historic farmhouse, that can be viewed inside. Bird watching is observed too. I had to be silent. The second entrance is located on Middletown-Lincroft Road, where the fossil beds are. I am told that these fossil beds are well known to fossil collectors in the Northeast. There are certain rules when you are digging in this area. Check online if you are " fossiling ". Pretty cool seeing people with high fishing boots in a bog. Another interesting Monmouth County Park.

Fun at any age! Exploring the park today, it was a wonderful adventure in nature. The children and…read moremy husband had a fantastic time!

Oceanport: when we meet people out and about with Brie, so many of you have told us to visit Wolf…read moreHill Recreation Area and we finally made it! Part of a bigger recreation area with softball fields, a disc golf course, and a sledding hill, the off-leash dog park offers two areas: One for pups 35 pounds or less One for 36 pounds and over There are picnic tables and doggie waste bags and the property is well maintained by Monmouth County Park System. "Please note that the Wolf Hill Recreation Area Off-Leash Dog Areas are closed until 9 a.m. on Wednesdays, April through November, to allow for facility maintenance."

A dog park, disc golfing, softball fields and Cross Country meets in the Fall season beget this…read morebeautifully open-spaced park in Oceanport, NJ. Check it out

My FAVORITE hidden spot! The sand isn't the greatest and the water is rough but if you want a…read morepeaceful spot to reflect and listen to the waves, this is it. The trail is long and paved and quite scenic. It gets busy with other joggers/walkers and bike riders but it's an easy trail with a good stretch. It's got lots of places to sit in between if you get tired. There's enough parking but it can get full.

I don't know what possessed us to go biking when it was roughly 95 degrees in the shade (I came…read morehome afterwards to chug Evian bottles next to the air conditioning in a catatonic state for several hours), but given the conditions involved it was pretty remarkable that this was overall a positive experience. The Millennial Chum suggested a Juneteenth bike ride from Keyport to Atlantic Highlands for lunch, and then back. I'm basing a lot of the estimated mileage on her Apple Watch, which claimed we did a little under 20 miles roundtrip. If there are readers more familiar with the area that think that's an exaggeration, they could be correct. I'm more Team Fitbit. Anyway. The overall trail is pretty long - it's actually featured in my rail trail book and boasts well over 20 miles, including a big chunk in the interior of Monmouth County on the other side of the GSP. We accessed it in Keyport at Atlantic Street, then followed it east and mostly parallel with Route 36 through Union Beach, Keansburg and a section of Middletown Twp, before finally arriving at Atlantic Highlands and biking onto Avenue D/Center Ave into the downtown area. The worst part by far (and I don't see a way to fix or avoid it) is that the portion through Middletown is RIGHT next to 36. You're contending with traffic noises and quite a few times actually biking across busy streets intersecting 36. Definitely can get on the chaotic side, though most of the notorious Shore drivers were well behaved from my perspective. Since this was a former railroad track, the path itself is very flat. I can tell you though that the bike I borrowed had a pretty uncomfortable seat (which the Millennial Chum nobly tried to improve by purchasing an edgy gel seat cover thing in Atlantic Highlands, but the damage had been done) so any little bumps in the path were noticeable to me especially on the return trip. And full disclosure - I am sitting on a soft pillow as I type this. There were some very slight inclines/declines at various points but they were honestly so negligible that it seems barely worth mentioning - the most significant was probably right after we got off the official bike trail in Atlantic Highlands on Avenue D; we were hot and tired and yowled for most of our time on there because our legs were feeling those few blocks. Grain of salt depending on weather and your hindpaw conditioning (it's been literally years since I've been on a bike; I'm much more of a hiker). Because you're never far from civilization you have easy access to businesses should the need present itself. The Keansburg area literally featured a bar/restaurant within probably 50 feet of the trail (it had a bear statue I insisted on taking a picture with; we all have our kinks), and I saw a 7-11 as well. On a hot day, those both could have been pretty clutch if we hadn't responsibly packed some cold liquids with us. There were also a few port-a-potties scattered along our route, but thankfully that wasn't needed - I don't think anyone loves using a port-a-potty but boy do I not want to go in one when it's above 90 degrees. The optics are also pretty pleasant with the obvious exception of Route 36. There are long stretches where you're in a woodsy/shady situation, as well as some marshy/boardwalk sections that require riding across small wooden bridges. The wildlife situation was plentiful; I saw a deer literally running through a creek, which I honestly haven't seen outside of a Bambi viewing. There were also tons of obligatory squirrels/chipmunks, as well as some solid, colorful waterfowl. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this on a similarly sweltering day, but this is overall a very decent trail and I'd certainly opt for this over Route 36 any day.

Just got back from my daughter's softball tournament held in Wolcott Park in Eatontown and figured…read moreI'd let the world know how nice a park this is. Now I'm not from the area, but if this is what all the parks are like down in South Jersey then they're just plain lucky. Finding the place was easy (thank you to the navigation in the new vehicle) and parking was great-nice big lots, large spaces, and easy ingress and egress. The place has three ballfields (one is actually for baseball but doesn't have a raised mound) that accommodated our tourney quite well and they also have a great covered pavilion, grills, four tennis courts, basketball courts, places for bocce and shuffleboard, and an absolutely awesome kids playground (that looked brand new). The grass was a little long, but it's early in the season and it just rained so maybe hey didn't have a chance to mow. Anyway, other than our team not playing very well today, we had a great time using the park. Fields were in great shape, kids were there playing in the other areas of the park that we weren't monopolizing, and everyone seemed friendly. Big thanks to Eatontown for having the sense to have a nice park for the residents and outsiders like us!

Red bank is a great town. It has just about everything great shopping excellent restaurants and a…read morenice walkway along the Shrewsbury river.

A fantastic location for the 4th of July fireworks over the water!!…read moreIt was recommended by my hotel, Molly P. Lots of benches and space to see the fantastic view!! Clean and open! Very beautiful to see the boats passing by ! I loved my time here!!