City (Or Area, Rather) Spotlight: Uptown

Miles and I found ourselves running errands in Uptown the other day and ended up having a few hours to kill before the iPhone repair guys could fix a broken iPhone (score 100 for Groupon!!).  So we took a chance and headed over to one of our favorite parks — Cole Park.  I say we took a chance because, as you know, summer in TX usually means that it’s WAY to hot to brave a park in the middle of the afternoon.  And while it was pretty hot, I was actually pleasantly surprised!  We got there around 2:30 and a good majority of the play area was covered in shade from the gorgeous trees surrounding the park.  I was able to chase Miles up and down the slide about 7 thousand times (obviously his new favorite game) all in the shade, and without passing out because of sun stroke!  It was pretty impressive…

Once he ventured out in the sun I decided that it was time to bribe put him into the car and head on over to another awesomely-covered Uptown park — Riverchon Park.  I’d been there once, before I had Miles, but hadn’t thought to take him until a friend reminded me that it is huge, gorgeous, and covered!  I’m so glad she did because Miles loved it!!  First he saw some stairs leading up to a cute little pavilion and we took a stroll.  Then we headed over to the park where the shade was oh-so-perfect!  I cannot understand why EVERY single park in Texas doesn’t have something like this?

All that got me thinking – Uptown seems to be geared toward the single crowd, but we actually spend a lot of time there.  In fact, some good friends just moved up there with their 1 year old son!  There’s actually a lot of fun stuff for families to do in Uptown…  Here are a few of our favorites… (besides these two well shaded parks)

While you’re at Riverchon you can easily hop on to Katy Trail for a bike ride with your little ones!  Look out though — Katy Trail will take you all the way around White Rock Lake if you let it!

Or, if you’re looking for other park options — hopefully you’ve already read Lauren’s great review of the Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital Park and have taken your kids there to play.  It really is one of our favorite places to go.  I love that it’s fenced in and I don’t have to panic every time Miles ventures off more than 5 feet.  It also has so many different areas for him to play in… so he just doesn’t get bored!  And this kid usually gets bored with parks pretty quick!

Another one of our favorite family things to do is the Uptown Trolly Ride!  That could probably be a whole post on it’s own, because it’s just so exciting to be on the trolley for little ones!  All but one of the trolley’s are air-conditioned, so it’s even a fun summer adventure.  Sadly, the trolley does not take you near any of the parks, but there are plenty of other fun places it can take you.  Including – Grimaldi’s Pizza (a huge hit to this Italian family) and Paciugo’s Uptown (another fun treat)!  You can even ride the Trolley into Downtown Dallas… and we all know there’s plenty of kid friendly things to do there!

We also love to frequent the Chipotle patio in uptown, as well as the Chuy’s patio.  Both are family friendly with a fun atmosphere that seems to entertain the kids just enough so we can enjoy a meal.  Miles has love it since he was a teeny tiny thing…

So don’t let Uptown Dallas fool you —  you and your family can have a great time there!

Know of any other hidden family spots in Uptown that I missed?  I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!!