Pinpoint public playgrounds along your road trip route

Mike found a great resource for road trip fun:

Cool new website called Waymarking.com, which pinpoints the location of all sorts of attractions such as historical markers, covered bridges, etc.  One of my favorite categories is public playgrounds.  It doesn’t list that many playgrounds yet, but I thought others might want to try it out.  To find playgrounds near an area:

1. Go to Public Playgrounds.
2. Enter a zip code under “Address Search” (upper right) to find some nearby playgrounds
3. When you click on an item, it gives you the GPS coordinates so you can map it in Google Maps, or you can drive directly to it if you have a GPS device!

Bonus Hack: Use the waymarking site to find other places of interest to visit on your next family trip.  It includes museums, libraries, “Ginormous Everyday Objects”, “odd-shaped buildings”, and many other fun categories.  To do this, just go to the main page, enter a zip code, then click go and scroll down through the results.  I plan to set up a little Scavenger Hunt for us on my next trip back to my home town.

The number of results in each category will get better and better as more people add to the site.  The site has only existed for about a year, and already has a lot of places registered.  We can all add our own waymarks, too.

Related: Check out audiobooks from the library before your road trip

And: Truck stops make for fun breaks while road-tripping

More: Hacks for road trips

Comments

[David B.]

Great tip!

[andrea from the fishbowl]

Wow... what a great resource. I will have to check that out.

Planning happy family roadtrips has been on my mind recently, especially as it pertains to the portable DVD player. More here: http://www.quietfish.com/notebook/?p=979

There are so many things parents & kids can do together. This is super!

[DaveTheWave]

The related to links all point to the same page.

[Parent Hacks Editor]

Thanks, DaveTheWave. Fixed.

[Alex]

Waymarking.com has a (much older) sister site at http://www.geocaching.com where you can learn about geocaching, which can be great a great activity for kids, too. It's like treasure hunting with a GPS and we've found that it's a great family activity with minimal cost (only the price of the GPS and gas to get you around, although many geocaches make good hikes).

[Rachel]

I second the Geocaching.com website. Our family has been "caching" for years now, my oldest loves it and it's a great family activity that also allows us to exercise.

[inconsequentia]

yeah, we have been geocachers for a long time too, and have done a few benchmarks as well. geocaching really rocks.

[Amy Lee]

Geocaching looks like a really great hobby and I love that Waymarking playgrounds were important to mark. KaBOOM has a lot more playgrounds in their search (www.kaboom.org/playspacefinder), but no geocaching. Parentography.com has a different take on locating playgrounds focusing on excursions with your kids.

[scrapmuch]

Okay, for the life of me I cannot find the "search" box for entering a zip code. In the upper right, whether I'm logged in or not, I get a map but no other way to search. . . . any advice?

[Mike]

To answer the question from 'scrapmuch', they have slightly modified the layout of the site. Near the top left, click the '+' to expand the blue "Filter: All Waymarks" box. In the expanded box, click near the top where it says "change location". Enter your zip code. Now the filter label should say "Filter: within 100 mile(s) of (your zip code)".

[Christopher]

Don't forget Roadside America, "Your Guide to Uniquely Odd Tourist Attractions."

http://www.roadsideamerica.com

We used it recently to discover the world's largest Roadrunner statue and a reproduction of Stonehenge on our way back from a recent road trip.

http://flickr.com/photos/stegasaurus/497495639/

http://flickr.com/photos/stomptokyo/498990498/

[Stu Mark]

Hey Asha (and Mike!), This hack has been nominated for a Hot Stuff Of The Week - over at our site GNMParents - http://www.gnmparents.com - Good luck to Mike!

[Ginny]

What a great resource, I'm always on the look out for parks!

[Irringify]

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