Ah, Turtle Playground. I love and hate you.
There’s actually a lot about Turtle Park that makes me feel indifferent. I should preface this whole post with a disclaimer: Turtle Park is one of my kids’ favorite places, but it’s not really one of my favorite places. The things I don’t love about it have totally and completely to do with its location. It is smack next to Interstate 64, so the noise and sight of so much traffic kind of ruins it for me. And because of all the concrete surrounding the area, it can get very hot, so we only visit early in the morning or on a cooler, overcast day to prevent certain baking. But those are really the only two complaints, so it’s well worth a visit if you’ve never been. 
The kids love to climb on top of the giant turtles and slide (carefully) down the long sloping shells. They love to climb inside of big snapping turtle mouths and pretend they are being eaten. They love pretending that the giant turtles are their pets, massive gentle creatures who will carry them far away. 
There is a sweet little path that has some shade where smaller turtles hide amidst the trees. The path leads to a sitting area with baby sea turtles hatching from eggs (Emil insists on kissing each one). Snaking around the eggs and up the hill is a large creature that resembles an ancient sea monster.
And if you follow it up and onto the bridge, you can wave to (or yell at) the cars passing below. I will tell you that we have crossed this bridge a hundred times over the past five years and every single time I have the conversation about how very very important it is to never ever throw anything off an overpass. Every time. 
And just for reference, Turtle Park is just across from the South entrance to the St. Louis Zoo. A tip: if you park (for free) over near Turtle Park, you can skip the whole mess of zoo parking and just walk across the bridge to gain access to the zoo. Which, by the way, has some pretty beautiful blooms right now:
… and, of course, plenty of friendly creatures.
Did you see the new polar bear exhibit? It’s amazing!
Maggie, it does look amazing, but we have yet to get there when it’s not crazy crowded. One of these days…
Winter or a rainy day scares everyone away. My friend Rose told me the best story about a patient’s son who kidnapped a penguin….you must hear it!
I have a Turtle Park story – I got engaged there!
When I was a grad student, I lived in that U-shaped apt. building just across from the park, the one next to Pat’s. I was a little concerned about the traffic noise when I was looking at the apt, but the courtyard helped buffer it some. I loved that apartment so much. The park is loud though!
When I lived there is when I truly fell in love with Forest Park – I never used to run, but I would walk the perimeter daily, and it was my go to park when both my girls were little. Now (15 years later) I work near the opposite corner of the park, off of Kingshighway, so I’m used to entering on that side. I run the park now, instead of walking, and I always smile at the turtles from across the highway when I run past the zoo.
You are right about hot parks though – when the girls were really little I felt like I knew the perfect park for any kind of weather – hot, cold, windy, rainy. I love the zoo (and the garden) in the winter and on rainy days because I don’t do crowds either. The playground I think is one of the hottest is the newer one in Forest Park – I know people like that one, but I always feel like I’m roasting in there. It catches no breezes.
Oh my gosh! This park look amazing. I want to be a kid and go to there <3