Lake Wheeler Park is located at 6404 Lake Wheeler Rd in southwest Raleigh. Upon entering the park, you’ll notice the 650 acre lake to the south. As you meander through the park on the main road, there are several spots along the way to stop and fish or shelters for picnicking. Continuing on you’ll pass large open fields with larger shelter areas and finally arrive at the large parking lot near the boat house.
We parked in the main parking lot and headed down to explore the boats and docks at the lake. This particular day was extremely windy so the water was pretty void of any boaters. We still managed to walk on the docks and talk about the different boats we saw (presumably for rent) – paddle boats, sunfish sailboats, kayaks, jon boats, etc. For a complete list of boats for rent or launch visit the Lake Wheeler rental website. You can also learn more about the depths of the lake (which get to 25ft in some spots) by visiting the information boards near the boat house. Follow these guidelines for fishing in and on the bank of the lake. Across from the boat ramps is the park’s very impressive boat storage area. In addition to renting various boats and fishing, you can also take several boating classes offered at Lake Wheeler, which start back up in the spring.
After visiting the boat house, we explored the nearby t-shaped dock, which offered some great photo ops. It has several fish cleaning spots and is completely fenced in, making it a fun place to explore for toddlers (provided no one else is around trying to fish).
Next we headed back to the playground, where we spent most of our morning. This is a great place for playing and then having a picnic, as there are several picnic tables and even a small shelter and charcoal grill in the vicinity. The playground offers a few areas for early walkers to play on, but is mostly geared towards the more steady walkers. There aren’t too many openings in the playground, making it easier for nervous moms to let toddlers run free in the playground. The playground has big-kid swings and low swings for toddlers who can hold onto the chains, but no bucket tot swings. It has a wood chip base and has several slides, tunnels, and ladders at different levels making it a fun and interesting place to play.
Finally, we made our way over to the large open field to “throw” our frisbee. Being that we visited the park on the hottest day of the summer we didn’t last too much longer, but enjoyed a fun morning with lots to look at, talk about and explore! I can’t wait to visit again and do some boating.
For more info about this park including boating, fishing and rental opportunities visit the City of Raleigh website.
Thumbs up: variety of boating activities, playground area, vicinity of picnic tables near playground, views from the boat house
Thumbs down: signage throughout the park
A few months ago we headed north with a friend and her daughter to Creedmoor to visit 
One of the biggest hits of the day was the mud kitchen. Having a two year old means they are just starting to play pretend and I felt like this was a great introduction to mimicking what mommy and daddy do in the kitchen. The mud kitchen area has stoves, fridges, baking supplies, counters, sinks, and a large bath tub of dirt for the kids to mix with water. They enjoyed stirring mud batter, making mud pies and cooking them in the oven. Parents, not to worry – there is a water supply nearby for cleaning up. After the mud kitchen, we headed over to the picnic area for a yummy lunch. Food is not available for purchase at the park, so be sure to bring lots of water, snacks and a lunch. The picnic area is nicely shaded with plenty of tables and nearby bathrooms that were in great condition. The sling shot area is also close to the picnic spot, but we didn’t venture over there knowing the girls would be a bit too young for it.
