The Practical Guide To Entertaining The Cigarillo #4

Iowa City Public Library Downtown
(Proving that even when it comes to playgrounds, sequels are never as good as the original)

Pros:  Location, location, location!  Can't say that enough about this stuff- you're a short stroller ride from the Farmer's Market, from froyo and other fun foods not to mention that weird-ass excuse of a fountain (Weatherdance, I think it's called.  God, I miss Three Women Peeing.)  The rubber bouncy crap they use on playgrounds these days is especially bouncy downtown and as a bonus, there will always be kids around for your kiddo to play with.

Cons:  The height makes me kind of nervous as do the crowds sometimes.  The Cigarillo can move fast when he wants too so the first time we took him here I was making like a linebacker jumping off of the play equipment swinging down ladders to catch up with him.  Now I just go down the slides with him-  thankfully he seems to have a pretty good sense of the heights with the stuff so he hasn't made like he's going to attempt a ladder or anything that's way too high for him- at least not yet.

Bonus Rant: This playground is the reason I hate the rounded corners plastic shit that seems to be endemic on playgrounds these days.  When they put this stuff in and took the old stuff out they destroyed a huge chunk of my childhood not to mention the most awesome playground in the entire county.  The old stuff (and townies that grew up here can testify to this) was awesome.  There was everything you could possibly want in a playground- climbing blocks, ladders, gigantic metal slides and a secret compartment that when you were big enough to get down to it was a right of passage for many a child of The I.C.  I only wish I had a picture of the old stuff to prove to everyone how awesome it really was.

Verdict:  Not as good as the original and it never will be but it's still a nice addition to downtown- and it's the perfect something for the kids to do if you're out and about downtown.


Shimek Elementary
(There may not be windows, but there are tons of skylights, we swear!)

Pros:  What better way to close out the playground season than with the best kept secret in Iowa City!  One of the friends of the Missus, Nurse Ratchet had kept insisting that Shimek had the best playground anywhere in Iowa City and after going here, I'm willing to go along with that.   Shimek kicks it old school- their playground is sprawling, complex and wooden. It's almost nostalgic to see a wooden playground with mulch again and as a double bonus, Shimek has a lot of climbing, a lot of hidden compartments and nooks and crannies for kiddos to explore and there are no death-defying drops for The Cigarillo to potentially tumble off of.  He had a lot of fun here- especially with the bouncy bridge and the clattering wooden bridge.

Cons:  Metal slides.   I forgot how hot they can get--  I ended up having to put The Cigarillo on my lap to go down the slide just to make sure his little legs didn't get singed- I think he had more fun with Daddy anyway.  And then there's the school itself... it's white, but not that pristine, cheerful white you'd want in a school- it's more of an off-white, almost a hospital white and there's not a window visible which makes the whole place feel like a mental hospital almost- or a prison.  Nurse Ratchet, herself a graduate of Shimek hastened to assure both the Missus and I that there were, in fact, plenty of skylights inside to make up for this.  I'll take her word for it.

Verdict:  Whip out the GPS, load the kids in the car one weekend and track this place down.  Your kids will thank you for it.