Lots of areas for kids to play good atmosphere, big park enough space for everyone rec to comeread more

Here's a Blast-From-The Past "Outreach BBQ Potluck Time; Annually! :)…read moreWhen: October 15, 2022 (it's now the year 2024) @Smyrna Park is located in Ceres, California. Paid reservation required by Host: NAMI Stanislaus of California I volunteer @NAMI Stanislaus and have for over 5 straight years now helping to provide amenities and access to resources. Annually, we host our BBQ in the Park & invite people who are on our non-obligation monthly "What's Happening, Electronic Newsletter!" & it is also open to the public. The essential element in gaining access is to RSVP to Dar by the deadline for doing so. If interested you can email Dar; the President-Elect of the Board of Directors @ Dar@NAMIStanislaus.org or phone @ (209) 558-4555. PRICE: ALWAYS Free!!! but it is a POTLUCK which works out beautifully each time. :) Yipee! :-) WE have GAMES too that are always a hit! BINGO especially and LOTS OF PRIZES for participation. Which, is optional as always :) No matter what, the turn-out is fantastic each year bringing ol'Faithfuls and Newbies to the forefront; we so appreciate this support and opportunity to help the masses. We want to thank @McDonalds, (more than one location locally), for their always generous acts of @kindness & their hopefulness. It's surely felt by every one of us standing up to Stigma and breaking the hold it has on others. Also, A HUGE Thank You to Grocery Outlet in Turlock, California for your generous annual donation. You all seem ready for us as we head into your store ourselves and file our request for your donation. People love your gifts & offerings and so do we! :) #Safeplace is what we offer. At this event, the park was primarily ours except for what appeared to be several "gang members" floating and sitting close enough to hear us speak. Gangs are never, ever invited to our gatherings. Just making that crystalline clear. We are a peaceful lot yet perfectly capable of representing @peace not war. This past year of 2023 we made the difficult decision to 'cancel' this same annual BBQ due unfortunately to a lack of interest from the public. I'm sorry to anyone who looks-forward to this event; we too were very disappointed. Maybe 2024 will shine like the bright light it is. In closing, I'd NOT visit this park in the late afternoon &/or night because the undesirable GANG members seem to lurk. I Love NAMI Stanislaus so much as they helped me when I was freshly diagnosed with Bipolar Type 1 back in 2018 by my psychiatrist, Dr. Zainab Al-Dhaher & my professional and consistent Psychotherapist Kristin Cote. Reviews are written for both professionals, in my Review section of my Yelp page; online here. I sincerely hope the reviews help; that's my intent. Since improving #MENTALHEALTH & quality of life is our Mission here at NAMI Stanislaus, including all the information I have in this journal is relevant. The park was clean and the restrooms were refreshed and ready to operate. They were close to the area we rented which was super nice and well utilized. Please remember, we all have mental health. You now have access to at least one legitimate and helpful mental health resource in us; NAMI Stanislaus. Here's Our Contact Information (English Only at this time): NAMI STANISLAUS: 800 Scenic Dr Bldg. F-7, Modesto, CA 95350, Telephone: (209) 558-4555. The phone line is staffed 24/7 by a working answering machine so please leave a message should you reach it and not immediately receive a person. We are GREAT at returning telephone calls & emails. And, last but not least, we are always hiring for Speakers for our outreach and other opportunities. We have received many Grants due to COVID-19 and now have some funds to actually "pay" legitimate helpers in spreading the clean word about our offerings including weekly confidential and open to the public Support Groups for those living with mental health condition(s) (like myself) & a different group at the same time Monday's for the supporters of those living with mental health concerns and conditions. I've placed the link here for our website. You can sign up for FREE for our WEEKLY EMAILED REMINDERs for our support groups. We are growing due to the resources and light shone by COVID 19 & the emergence of legitimate Mental Health resources & grants. So we can afford to PAY for Volunteers at this time and Employees alike. Just call or message us and let's see if we would be a good fit for you. Thank you for your time, everyone. :) WE are an honest transparent company and only work with those who legitimately do the same. https://namistanislaus.org/ Thank you for reading, ~ Jana Leigh Thomas, Yelper

Very nice, clean. You can tell it is a nice place... surrounded by solid. single family well-kept…read morehomes. Restrooms are better than at an average park.

This park is okay. My daughter broke her arm at this park and no one cared! They took down the…read moreswings after we complained! It's not very clean and they don't update stuff. There used to be two slides next to the monkey bars and now it's just wood and a kid could break that wood at any time and fall down! The water is gross and so are the bathrooms. Please update, clean, and make it more accessible for children! And please don't let bikes be here. My bike got stolen. And please get rid of the rocks! My son fell down into the rocks and broke his leg and dislocated his elbow and fractured his wrist! He also got a concussion and had to go to the ER! Get rid of the rocks!

Highly recommend, what a surprise. Small but well kept and looking forward to returning again.read more

We came with a group to check out the Hughson Arboretum & Gardens. Our personal assignment for…read moreourselves was to take photos of every color in the rainbow. I tried my best to capture every color in nature. However there were only a few blooming trees when we went. I thought maybe if we came at a different time of the year, we might see more blooms. I'm not sure. To be honest, it was a little underwhelming, and one of my friends expressed their disappointment. It looks larger online, and we were restricted from seeing all of the plants and trees, due to the fenced-in area. However, I enjoyed the short walk in nature, and tried to capture as many beautiful photos as I could.

This is the biggest general park in Ripon. It is a pretty large scale park with an upper and a…read morelower area. The upper area has 4 horseshoe pits and bocce ball courts. There is a small kids playground by these courts. Another part of the upper area consists of a large lawn area, which is plenty big for several different sports. There are two baseball diamonds and a medium size playground. The bathrooms are located by the baseball diamonds. Near this area is also a butterfly garden. When you walk to the lower area, there is a large gazebo which is nice for parties. There are two volleyball courts that consist of sand. The remaining area is fairly large and consist of lawn. The park parallels the Stanislaus river and there are several access points to enjoy the water. This park can get fairly busy on the weekends.

We love this park, easy tree shrouded trails to the river where you can swim or just sit in the…read moreriver. When the water is low it only comes up to your knees in most places and deep areas up to your waist. This part of the river is mostly sandy instead of rocky. The city keeps the park well maintained and there appears to a community center along with public restrooms, a butterfly garden, a large gazebo area and a volleyball area. Went on Labor Day and was surprised there were no crowds, especially since there is no entrance fee. You can either park in the park and walk to the river or you can park in a city parking area with paved trails leading towards the river. No BBQ grills or tables near the river but they do have lots of garbage bins so bring your dog, camp chairs and a picnic basket and soak in the natural beauty.

I went here on a weekday, and when I arrived in the parking lot, I was shocked by how much was…read moregoing on. It definitely did not feel like a safe place to leave a car or to walk alone. There appeared to be drug activity, and there were people living in their cars. It felt more like a place for people to hang out and purchase drugs than a normal parking lot. I observed this as I drove through, which was very concerning. This was a bummer, especially since the trail itself looked beautiful. I'm surprised that law enforcement hasn't been called by the neighborhood, but then again, I understand that people can sometimes become used to these conditions.

We always love hiking here. It's easy to hike with kids, even though it can get a little rocky and…read morea little muddy. The cave is always beautiful, especially when the water is flowing. Today, there are still descent of people hiking, and we came around 12:30 Easy Hike!Gonna come back again soon. P. S please leave no trace

Event Info: "LOVE…read moreCERES" @ The Whitmore Park located in Ceres, California on April 29, 2023 is where this meet n' greet for Mental Health occurred. Super Fun!! I was greeted warmly and our NAMI Stanislaus reservation area was nice and clean and set in the lawn versus concrete which I especially appreciated and still do. I was asked to appear in a "volunteer capacity" I believe it was, on this day alone with NAMI's garb and literature and I felt safe for a change, with the plentiful law-enforcement that was present and helpful in directing me & others to where we needed to be. It was a clean, fun, SAFE, and entertaining public event. I stayed for the majority of the event and was able to answer honestly, some great questions from people. People helped themselves to our NAMI Stanislaus garb and the kids seemed to enjoy me explaining the many ways NAMI Stanislaus is available to assist them with mental health information and information on a whole. I was welcomed so many times I really did feel at peace on this day and I felt our non-profit local Modesto business was welcomed. Great Event for Helping kids and the masses! JUST A NOTE: NAMI The National Alliance on Mental Illness has relocated our brick-and-mortar office, which keeps regular weekly hours of operation, where you can be assisted by a real mental health expert, with lived experience not a locked door all the time. Our NEW in-person address is: 800 Scenic Drive, Office Number: F-7, Modesto, California 95350. MAILING ADDRESS: PO Box 4120. Modesto, CA 95352-4120 Our (Same) Telephone Number is: (209) 558-4555 & also serves as a "crisis line" which is not 24/7 365 just yet. We are working on implementing an upgrade for the public. Please stay tuned and feel free to phone us as well to check on the status of what we are up to. We're an open-book of honesty. FREE is what we have; all of it. We attend schools by invitation, of all ages even colleges, and do in-person and REMOTE Speaking Events which share our personal & professional experiences with Mental Health and the struggles with living with one or more mental illnesses just like I currently do. It has been described as cathartic... We are here for you so feel free to give us a call and/or stop by our Scenic Drive office location. We educate the masses on mental health conditions, and assistance with living with them; you name it, if it's mental health related we can HELP you; with ZERO cost and ZERO strings attached. SUPPORT GROUPS: WEEKLY: We have two of them. Monday's from 6:30 PM to 8PM (for people like me living with mental health conditions) & the Family and Loved Ones Support group on the same day with the same hours of 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM. No reservation is needed and you can receive a weekly reminder email with the ZOOM link ready to go for you. These are REMOTE ONLY at this time; no need to RSVP. Hope to see you soon! ~Jana Leigh Thomas, Yelper with a decade or more of mental health experience. I successfully live with BiPolar Type 1 for starters, and I am here to assist you.. :)

A lovely park with a lot to offer!…read more The Dry Creek Trail runs through many parks along the Dry Creek in Modesto. There are miles of trails, both paved and unpaved, where you can stroll, run, and bike. It is very dog friendly too! There are some very nice fenced-in tennis courts, playgrounds, and picnic tables which make for fun for the whole family. If you are into disc golf, there is a huge course throughout the park. Some of the baskets are placed right on the creek's edge, so you have to make sure you have good aim! There are some pretty bridges that overlook the creek and make for gorgeous photos when the leaves turn in fall. At the trailhead at East La Loma Park, there is a large parking lot with parking along the leading road. Even though there is plenty of light along the trail, I would avoid coming by after dark because the area can attract some homeless people. Regardless, this is a great park and community asset!

It's a fairly longe trail. Set along a golf course and a creek, so you see some transients. Mostly…read morepaved trail. I personally enjoy more of the nature trails but it's nice for a good walk, jog, bike ride.Theres also a playground for the kiddos.

Awesome park with a big play structure and lots to do. There is a splash pad and swimming pool, as…read morewell as lots of picnic tables and tennis courts. However, there is a serious deviant problem going on. It is frequented by homeless and unsavory individuals. I was there on Thursday and witnessed a prostitute situation go down.

Great pickle ball experience and it is a very lovely park just a little bit of a pain to drive here…read morewith the traffic

Really nice park! Quiet, clean and safe! Definitely a nice place to enjoy lunch in the car! Lots of…read moregreenery! Highly recommended!

This is a medium sized park in the area, and the space can be used for many different thing. First,…read moreif you are driving or walking by, you'll notice that trees ring the park. This is really nice because it provides shaded areas to hangout in without obstructing the open are. In this tree lined area there is a pick nick table area that is easily accessible from the street, and there has to be almost 10 tables. So, plenty to go around. There are also 2 BBQ pits on opposite sides of the table area. The playground is also within or by the shaded ring area. So, parents bring your kids and let them play while you chill in the shade. There is also a basketball court, and a beach volleyball court. I think you have to get a hold of the Parks and Recreation division of the City of Modesto because there is a lock on the gate for the volleyball court. One of the best parts of this park is the very large open space that they have. I have driven by this park on the weekend and have seen multiple kids soccer games going on at the same time. Also, ultimate frizz bee and football are excellent uses of this open space. I was there this morning and a guy was chucking a ball for his dog. This space is large enough for a multitude of different activities to go on at the same time. There are also bus stops that run along this park, so if you want to use public transport to get here, that is an option. I give this park 5 stars because a park is what you make of it, and there is a lot of potential here. So, come here and have a good time and make use of this park.

Sooo many ticks n spiders everywhere. It definitely needs a huge clean up. And a like shave down bc…read moreof all the wood

Great park to come visit. The ducks were the highlight for me but they have restrooms not the most…read morecomfortable but if you need to use the restroom there is one. Tables to bring a picnic which is awesome and a park for the kids to play at. All in all a great park