Chris Larsen Park Playground

If you haven’t taken the kids down to Chris Larsen Park yet, you’re missing one of Sioux City’s better-kept secrets along the riverfront. The playground is genuinely big — the kind where you can lose track of a six-year-old for a solid ten minutes — and the merry-go-round is legitimately fast, which the kids absolutely love and the parents tolerate. Those dinosaur sculptures scattered around are a nice touch, something you don’t see at your average city park. The Cottonwood trees give you real shade, not the sad decorative kind, and parking is free with plenty of it. Grab a bench near the water and let the littles run — it’s a solid afternoon.