Cherokee Regional Park playground

Tucked into one of Saint Paul’s more underrated parks, this spot has a sandbox that keeps younger kids occupied long enough for parents to actually sit down and breathe for a minute. Cherokee Regional Park itself is genuinely pretty — the kind of place where you don’t mind sticking around after the kids are done playing. It’s not loaded with equipment, so if your crew needs monkey bars and climbing walls, keep looking. But for a low-key afternoon with toddlers who want to dig, it does the job well.