The under-8 set will be delighted with this playground (rated one of the 10 best in the country by Child magazine), where well-known children's stories and rhymes have inspired the charming decor. It offers plenty of characters to slide down and climb on and generally get juvenile ya-yas out.

Kids and adults will enjoy the carousel, Ferris wheels, bumper cars, miniature trains, tilt-a-whirl, the lady-bug-shaped roller coaster, and other rides at the Carousel Gardens, also in City Park. Delighting local families since 1906, the carousel (or "da flying horses," as real locals call it) is one of only 100 all-wood merry-go-rounds in the country, and the only one in the state.