Dr. Phillips Community Park is one of the best parks in Central Florida for families. The park features both a large playground and a splash pad – a wonderful way to beat the Florida heat! The playground has equipment for both young and school-age children. The ground is mostly covered in foam flooring to help with falls. There are picnic tables around the playground and some are covered to provide shade. The splash pad is available year-round, but is most widely used during the hottest months. During the summer, there is a $1 charge per person and is free during the winter months. Toddlers through middle-schoolers love running through the sprinklers. Even adults have fun getting soaked with their kids on a hot day. There are two different areas of water activities to keep the kids busy. In addition to these areas, there is a fenced-in dog park, a soccer field, a baseball field, a basketball court, and walking or running paths. Open pavilions with picnic tables, electrical outlets, and water are available for party rentals. The entire park sits next to Sand Lake, which gives a beautiful breeze and a beautiful view. Dr. Phillips Community Park also offers outdoor movies one evening a month and an after-school program. It is definitely worth packing up the kids and spending a few hours here! To find other great places, visit globalYP.net, a local online directory.

The Highline Athletic Club is a great place for people to work out. They have tons of ammenities that are available to you. It’s slightly pricy, but like my dad always says, “You get what you pay for”. They have a great indoor pool with different water exercise classes. Also, in the pool area is a hot tub, a dry sauna and a wet sauna. Personally, wet saunas are hard to breathe in and a dry sauna scorches my behind! When you walk in you can see a full board of names and pictures of the employees and what they do; that way you can pick the teacher you want for classes. They offer various amounts of classes such as cycling, water aerobics, and dancing. There’s a machine for every single muscle you can exercise, guaranteed! Beyond the machines you’ll find a gym with pickle ball courts and a basketball court. On the outer rim of the gym you’ll find a room for spinning, a room for kids and boxing, a room for tennis and many other things! Above that they have a track you can run around, a stretching room and some empty rooms in case you need some extra space to yourself. What I like about the gym is I was always curious about some classes, but never had the guts to ask. The way they built the gym, you can see into the lower rooms from the upper track. One day I walked around the track and looked at all the classes I wanted to take. I would recommend this gym – go join today! To find other great places, visit globalYP.net, a local online directory.

Taylorsville Recreation Center is a great place for families. It has multiple gyms, tennis courts, and even a huge rock climbing wall. The best part is that it’s affordable. You and your family can spend a day there for less than $20! If you’re looking for any type of program, Taylorsville Recreation is sure to have it. With a variety of dance, aerobic, basketball, soccer, and many other classes, there’s something for everyone. Whether you’re a beginner or at a more advanced level, Taylorsville Rec has a class for you. In the summer, the recreation center is conveniently located near the Taylorsville Outdoor Pool for easy access. It’s also within walking distance of the local library. No matter how you look at it, it’s a great deal. There are always a ton of kids and families hanging out around the center, and plenty of staff and teachers so safety isn’t an issue. There are even healthy snacks available after that hard workout. The rec center includes a full service weight room and an aerobics room with thousands of dollars worth of equipment. It is suggested that you get a monthly or annual pass, because when you come here once you won’t want to leave! To find other great places in your area, visit globalYP.net, a local online directory.

You don’t have to be Jewish to take advantages of the offerings at the Weinstein Jewish Community Center in Richmond, Virginia. Although a religious organization by nature, the JCC (as it is known in the community) tries to unite its core group of members by offering religious, cultural and educational programs, in addition to its traditional religious services on the Sabbath. However, many people don’t know that most of its programs and services are open to anyone, regardless of their religious affiliation. Located in the western part of the city, the Weinstein Jewish Community Center offers a myriad of classes and activities as part of its mission. From pre-school children and young adults, all the way up to senior citizens, there are dozens of choices available, such as ballet, basketball, music appreciation, travelogues, swimming, sign language, cooking demonstrations, and more. The Weinstein Jewish Community Center also has a very strong cultural arts program. In addition to producing their own shows and theatrical events, they will bring in national artists who will perform or lead discussions to the members and community. The events are top notch and ticket prices are always affordable, so even those on limited budgets can avail themselves of a great evening of entertainment. Perhaps one of the most enjoyable productions has been Fiddler on the Roof, which is always a crowd-pleaser. The Jewish Community Center is a respected member of the greater Richmond Community that helps to enrich the lives of everyone! Everyone can use globalYP.net, an online directory, to look for great places in their community.

Recently, I went to Hooperstown to help out a friend of mine. I had never been there since I always went to Frozen Ropes to train for baseball. This place is great. There are 3 sections to it, two basketball courts, one on each side, and then down the middle is a long stretch of turf. On this turf, there are two baseball batting cages with pitching machines and pitching mounds. There is also a small workout space with machines and weights. The place also has its own concession stand with pizza, fast food, and snacks. The place was jam packed as there was a baseball clinic going on in the middle, and then practices for basketball that later turned in to two real basketball games later. The staff was incredibly helpful and kept everything under control. The place itself is modern and just makes you not want to leave if you are a sports lover. It was always booming with business and parents cheering on their kids. Even if you don’t have a kid, you can go and watch some great games and have a good time. If you have a child or children, Hooperstown would be a great place to go for a birthday party or to participate in clinics. Find more great places to check out with globalYP.net, an easy to use online directory.

Wickham Park, located in Manchester, Connecticut is a very large park that’s popular with both locals and tourists. Sprawling on well over a hundred acres, Wickham Park has many amenities. Multiple volleyball courts, basketball courts, and tennis courts are located on the South side. To the North, there is a large sledding hill. This hill attracts the young and old from as far away as Glastonbury. Scattered throughout the park are picnic tables, pagodas, and grills. Larger pagodas make Wickham Park an ideal destination for corporate events, school reunions, and other events of that nature. Seasonally, Wickham Park is home to many trails and loops that act as hiking trails in the summer months and cross-country paths come winter. Trails wind in and out of the woods. Some of these trails are suitable for mountain bike riding, and trail maps can be printed out online. The park is also home to a variety of wildlife. Aside from the ubiquitous birds, one can spot beavers, squirrels, deer, chipmunks, hedgehogs, and other unusual wildlife. Reptilian animals reside in nearly all of the park’s numerous ponds. Science teachers often use the park as a hands-on introduction to the biodiversity of the Eastern United States. Come lunchtime, there are also many grass pastures and rocks with views that provide a perfect area for a picnic. This kind of activity is more popular for families and young couples and can be part of a great day spent bonding with special people. To find more places to spend time with people you care about visit globalYP.net, online yellow pages.

Would you consider taking your kids to a landfill for their vacation? Probably not, unless it was Mount Trashmore, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. This ingenious city park was created out of a solid waste landfill and has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in eastern Virginia, hosting more than one million visitors a year. The park covers more than 165 acres and has hills over 60 feet high and more than 800 feet long. Although the thought of spending your vacation at a place that used to be a dump isn’t very appealing, Mount Trashmore’s facelift has given it 15 picnic shelters, playground areas, basketball and volleyball areas, walking trails, and two lakes, where visitors may go fishing. The northeast corner of the park features the Mount Trashmore Skate Park, which has a professional and competition-sized ramps, bowls and dips, for the daredevils in your family. Another part of Mount Trashmore is the Kids’ Cove, which was built using ideas that children gave them. The handicapped accessible play area was constructed entirely by volunteers under the auspices of the Virginia Beach Junior Women’s Club. It is one of the most popular parts of the complex. Although Mount Trashmore is a place for family fun, you can also get lots of conservation tips during your visit, including how to create a beautiful garden with minimal water requirements. The park is open daily from 7:30 a.m. to sunset. Admission is free, which is always a plus!

What is there not to say about Indiana University athletics? As people say, “Bloomington is a drinking town, with a basketball problem.” Obviously, basketball is god at Indiana University. The rich basketball tradition makes me proud to be from the state and be a Hoosier. Assembly Hall is an amazing arena, and the five championship banners hanging from the rafters just makes you feel special watching the cream and crimson play. Going to games is a party itself. Then when they win, be prepared for a night out on the town. Assembly Hall hold roughly 17,456 people at capacity. The student section is always loud and ready for a great game. The town really supports the basketball program, even in rough times. This past season was one of the worst season ever for the Hoosiers, but fans still packed that house and cheered them on every single play. After the mess that Kelvin Sampson left behind, Tom Crean is getting the program back in the right direction, even if they are a couple years from being competitive in the conference. I could go on forever about IU basketball, but I’ll just stick to Assembly Hall. It’s a great place to watch a game and will have cheering for the Hoosiers!