I have visited Hyland Park in Bloomington many times with the kids many times over the years but only so they could play at Chutes and Ladders. One of the best playgrounds in the area in my opinion. How is it we have never explored more of the park until now? The playground is just the tip of the ice berg of what this park offers.

This park has a little bit of everything, skiing, a lake, a nature center, playgrounds, trails, prairie and even one bison (scroll down to see it..hint its not real).

We started our adventure by parking in the Richardson Nature Center. Being that there is a pandemic going on nothing was open except for the trails. But there were port-a-potties in the parking lots so that helped.

There are maps located next to the biffs. We took a photo of it in case we got lost. I was surprised by how many trails there were and how many other trails they connected to within our city. Yup, I’m a beginner. My biking friends are laughing at me right now. They’ve known these little secrets for a long time.

You can see from our adventure that we didn’t go super far. We spent most of this day trying to find a parking spot. Normally I would think parking would not be an issue but with the Stay-At-Home restrictions in place I think everyone in MN was outside looking for an adventure this day.

So here’s one to add to your list of places within a few miles of MPLS to explore for the first time or maybe again for the 100th time.

Very nice paved trails.

Beautiful prairie views.

Where the buffalo roam.

Not quite beach weather yet when we were there but I’m guessing it would be great to cool off in on a warm summer day.

This is my amazing Thule swing away bike rack. I am not sponsored I just love sharing what works for our family. I found ours on Craigslist after doing lots of research. We LOVE it. 

My son LOVES his Haro bike. It’s super lightweight, very sturdy frame and has disc breaks. We got ours from Eric The Bike Man almost 2 years ago. His dad liked it so much he ended up getting one too!

Me next to my hardworking Odyssey 2.0. I can put all these bikes on the car by myself and have driven all the way to South Dakota with them in tow.