Oakview Neighborhood Park<\/h2>\n

Oakview Park is a city park next to Kathy Caraway Elementary School in northwest Austin, tucked in established neighborhoods. This 6.97-acre park has a 1\/3-mile gravel walking trail, a large playground, swings, a small picnic pavilion, and two tennis courts. The blacktop that runs along the park’s northern border borders Caraway Elementary School and is a popular spot for four-square matches and new cyclists who are still honing their skills. The park is well-used and well-loved by families, dog walkers, and joggers, but it never feels overcrowded or crowded.<\/p>\n

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I had taken the morning off of work to take my son to the allergist, and we had an hour or so to goof around so I took him to a park because he wanted to feed squirrels. The boy likes collecting acorns so off we went with a fist full of acorns in search of squirrels at the park. We never did find squirrels that morning, go figure, but my little one had a good time on the playground.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t find a parking lot so I just parked along the street near the gravel pathway to the playground. The park is not very big. It did have a gravel trail around the park where many people were jogging first thing in the morning. We walked the path up a short distance past a lot of native plants and rocks. The playground was surrounded on one side by the elementary school, two tennis courts, and a large covered picnic pavilion. The pavilion cannot be reserved.<\/p>\n

The park has standard issue playground equipment that I think would more fun for the younger kids. I can\u2019t imagine older kids having too much fun on the playscape because it is lower to the ground with not too much challenging play for them.<\/p>\n

I did not see any restrooms so plan ahead if you take kids out of diapers. Aside from the restrooms, Oakview Park would be a good spot for playgroups to meet if they are looking for a park that isn\u2019t overly crowded. The park is small enough that it would be easy to keep track of kids and keep them somewhat contained in one area. The park is also nicely shaded and a little bit hidden in the neighborhoods so it does not get nearly the amount of stay-at-home-kids foot traffic as some of the larger parks would. There are several picnic benches all around the playscape. The park has this somewhat unkempt feel about it that makes it feel more organic than the typical manicured park, but the downside of that is the grassy patches away from the park are rocky.<\/p>\n