West Hillsdale Park

Location:West Hillsdale Park is C4 on the parks map. It is NOT easy to find! The park is set back from the road down a little path, so it is not visible from the street.
If you aren't careful, you'll drive right by the sign which is nestled between two suburban houses. The path is on 31st Ave and just a few blocks behind the Hillsdale Mall on the right hand side of the road. If you reach Hillsdale High school, you've gone too far. We had to turn around and come back to it.

Parking:
Only street parking here, but the neighborhood streets were pretty empty so we had no trouble finding a spot.

Surface:

The surface under the play structure is wood chips but there is LOTS of lawn in this park! E loved the wide expanse of open grass, even though it was pretty marshy.
Playground:There is one play structure, which is a strange combination of rubber coated metal, with two slides. There is not much imagination to this structure, just bars and steps. The little slide is double wide, which is nice if friends are going down at the same time. But, it has a pretty high drop off at the end so I would suggest having someone at the bottom to catch a little one.

The big kids section of the structure has climbing bars and a twisty slide. It also has a pair of "slide bars" (those big green poles) for kids to hang onto and slide down.
There is a set of four swings behind the structure, two toddler, and two regular.

There are two spring toys that were looking a little worse for the wear.Behind the spring toys is a tiny sand box to dig around in. I'm pretty sure I saw dog poo in this little box though, so I steered E back to the slides. BLECH!
Coverage: Huge trees line the park so there is shade around the edges. The play area and lawn are exposed.

Bonus Feature:There is a basketball court right next to the playground. It might be a nice place for a group of friends to meet after work or on some lazy Saturday for a picnic.

Animals: Although there was a sign out front requesting dogs to be leashed we were met by a friendly, unleashed, chihuahua sitting on the steps to the slide. The owner and her grandson made a hasty retreat when they saw that E and I planned to stay.

Crowds: Other then the dog owner who seemed upset that we were interrupting her peaceful playtime, we saw (and heard) NO ONE!

What we liked: I like that this park is so far removed from the street. Nothing but trees and houses line it. It's a quiet place to feel like you're alone in the world (at least on a random Wednesday morning). E liked the wide-open lawn and swings.

What we didn't like: The whole park had a neglected feel to it. The structure was not much fun, the spring toys were peeling and rusty, and a careless dog owner had let his pet use the sandbox as a bathroom. We will not be making this park one of our regular visits. Of all the parks we've been to so far, we spent the least amount of time here. E was bored and I was bored. What's our overall opinion? MEH!

Mariners Island Park

Location:Mariners Island Park is F3 on the parks map. It's nestled in the middle of a neighborhood that sits on the edge of one of San Mateo's many estuaries. There is a baseball field next door, and LOTS of trees, flowering bushes, and grassy areas.

Parking:
There is no lot, but the street ends in a round-a-bout right in front of the park. There are plenty of places to leave the car.

Surface:
The play area surface is wood chips. There is also a sand box and a long asphalt pathway near by.

Little Playground: The structure was created to look like a ship. There are two slides (both tunnels, which made E a little wary about going down them.)
There is a separate "bow" of the ship that is not attached to the structure but has fun things to climb on and little "port holes" to look out of.
There is one set of stairs into the main "ship" structure.

It leads to both of the tunnel slides on one end,
with a play wheel, and climbing bars on the other. This is definitely not a structure that I would let E play in alone. Because of the openings on either side for the climbing bars, there was too big of a risk of tumbling out. Luckily we had Daddy with us on this day so he stayed in the structure while I coaxed E down the "spooky" tunnel slides.
There are two toddler swings,
and sea horse and dolphin spring toys (did you know that small spring toys, like these, cost about $500!! WOW!).
In front of the swings, there is a sand box
complete with a digging toy. I used to LOVE these toys when I was little, strangely no one was really interested in this one. We tried to convince E to play on it, but he's still too little to work it properly.
There is also a mini playhouse.

Big Playground: I couldn't get all of this area into the picture, there is so much to do! Not only is there a climbing wall and a giant play structure, there are four swings. Daddy and I took turns climbing up and taking E down the twisty tube slide! He loved it!!

Coverage: The areas directly above the structures and swings were uncovered, however the entire park is surrounded by trees. The benches/picnic tables are fully shaded. I would still put E in a hat and sunblock, but if things got too hot, it's nice to have a bit of shade close by to retreat to.Bonus Feature: The waterway next to the park not only created a beautiful view,it also brought along all kinds of water fowl to listen to and look at. E spent most of his time staring at, talking to, running from, pointing at, and laughing about the ducks. They were by FAR his favorite part of this park (as a side note, the city discourages feeding the birds in order to keep the playgrounds clean. That being said, it's always difficult for E to NOT leave a trail of Cheerios everywhere he goes.)

Animals: There was a sign at the entrance requesting all dogs to be leashed. We only saw one dog, and he was playing catch with his owner in the baseball field. There was a flock of canadian geese grazing on the lawn near the sand box. When they saw the ducks snacking on E's Cheerios they did not aggressively come forward and ask for more.

Crowds: There were quite a few people at the park on this day, but not many cars. I think this is a favorite local park. E made friends with an older toddler who held his hand and helped him play in the little house by the sand box and I met two very friendly moms. This is the place to come when you're feeling the need to be social.

What we liked: The grounds are beautiful!! There is so much nature in this park! E loved the ducks and toddling up and down the asphalt pathways. I liked the many different things to do. E moved from the play structure, to the swings, to the sand, to birdwatching...he was so entertained he didn't want to leave. I also liked the small town feel of this park. Even though it's close to major roads and a business park, I didn't feel like we were "in the city".

What we didn't like: As creative as the "ship" play structure was E was put off by the tunnel slides, and I didn't feel like he could be in there alone. He is REALLY craving independence lately and my constant hovering around this area made him want to leave it ASAP.