Let's Explore Fort Worth Parks

​About ten years ago, I took a two-week trip to Denmark and was amazed by the amount of green and blue spaces the residents had access to within such proximity to their homes. I was even more amazed at how the families and their children were always outside playing or even napping no matter the weather. I remember when I went, it was around 50 degrees Fahrenheit outside and windy and I found it to be the most unbearable thing. That is when I was first introduced to the saying, “There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.” And I must admit, the shoes and jacket I brought with me from the US were not proper attire as I did not know we would be walking and biking most of the trip, but I loved the saying and it stuck with me ever since. When I returned to the US, I remembered seeing articles about how Denmark had a great amount of green (nature) and blue (water) spaces for the people to enjoy and this was one of the reasons it was a great place to live.  I really loved Denmark, but I could not live there, so I knew that when I finally settled in a city, I wanted to make sure that I lived in one with a wealth of green and blue spaces and that I took the time to visit these areas with my family, no matter the weather.

Here are our 4 youngest children looking for aquatic insects in the Paluxy River at Dinosaur Valley State Park.

When I moved to Fort Worth in the summer of 2018, I was totally new to the area. Having only lived in Texas for 3 years before moving to Fort Worth, and in a town 1 hour and 15 minutes from Fort Worth, my visits to the city only consisted of finding items to purchase that I couldn’t find in my local stores or to see a show. In the small town of Glen Rose, where I started growing my Texas roots, I had gotten to know all the parks in one of the smallest counties in Texas and would visit them frequently with my family. Once we moved to Fort Worth, it was just a matter of time before we started getting out there again, to explore the green and blue spaces of the 15th largest city in the US. However, when I went to look for information on the parks on the city’s parks and recreation website, there was nothing to see. Just a spreadsheet listing the date the park was established, address, and acreage.

Letting them run and scream as much as they can on this long equestrian trail at Dinosaur Valley State Park,

Now I do understand that having an extensive website for all the 270+ city parks is a lot to do, but I thought there would at least be some sort of short guide. While living in Glen Rose, we set a family goal to visit all the parks in the county and made it a priority to visit state parks. So, since we were already avid park goers and supporters, our family decided to become Fort Worth Park Explorers and to visit all the parks in the city of Fort Worth and surrounding areas and to document our findings on this blog. Not only would it help us remember the parks and what we did and loved about them, but our blog could serve as a resource to others out there who may want to take on the same challenge or just want some more information on some local city parks and other natural spaces in the Fort Worth area.

The kids are ready to be park explorers with me, my camera is charged, and my keyboard is ready for me to get typing. If you have any parks in Fort Worth in within a 2 hour drive that you can recommend, we will try to visit them and put them on our list of first parks to visit. ​