Hans Christian Andersen Park

Hans Christian Andersen Park is a huge, beautiful park filled with pine trees. To enter, you drive through a castle! Then you come to the skate park which has cavernous half pipes that will challenge any skater! A small wooden playground is behind the skate park, which is handy if you have an older skater and a young child.
Continue driving through the park and you come to a playground with tall twisty slides in a grassy valley. The play structure has three levels and feels crazy high! Climb a ladder to the third level and then slide down the curved tunnel slide. It's a blast even for older kids! There's a music-making station with well-tuned chimes, and a rock-climbing wall. Plenty of trees and picnic tables are scattered throughout the park, including a child-sized picnic table at the playground. Because this playground has such wild, high slides, my kids slid and ran and laughed and climbed, more happy than they usually are at a playground and it's a happy memory.
This park is great in winter. In summer, come early in the day before the small valley where the playground is located heats to a blistering temperature.
On the way to this park, you will pass Bethania Lutheran Church on the corner of Atterdag Rd and Laurel Ave. It's the sweetest architectural accomplishment! Inside, it is themed around the seafaring Scandinavians and a ship hangs from the ceiling. Check it out!
Head over to Solvang for something to eat and to walk around the charming town. For an absolutely amazing medieval playground nearby, check out Sunnyfields Park.