Playground

If you’re heading out to the Thomson Causeway Recreation Area anyway, the playground makes it easy to keep the kids busy while everyone else sets up at the picnic shelter. It sits right along the Mississippi River corridor with trails and tree cover nearby, so the whole spot has that genuine outdoor feel rather than a random patch of equipment in a parking lot. There’s parking on-site, which matters more than people admit when you’re hauling a cooler and a stroller. Families with kids of pretty much any age tend to make a day of it here — it’s the kind of place where a “quick stop” turns into a few hours without anyone complaining.