Our Little P Pod: Hidden Treasure: RDU Airport Observation Park

Yesterday we discovered a hidden treasure in the Raleigh/Durham area. Since I've lived here my entire life and Matt has been here over 10 years and neither of us knew about it, I'm assuming there are a lot of "locals" that had no idea it was there- BUT we had a wonderful afternoon at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport's Observation Park. Not only is it awesome, because you get to see airplanes take off and land from a pretty close proximity, but it's also 100% FREE. Free parking and all. It's kind of tricky to get to, but the observation park is open from 7 a.m. until sunset every day.

The "park" area is very nice. There is a little landing strip course that kids can run around on, and there is also a sand pit with a small climbing gym. Next time, we will definitely bring some buckets and shovels. We also talked about bringing some paper to make paper airplanes to fly on the landing strip. There is a nice grassy area for picnics, and in case you don't like eating on the ground, there are also three covered picnic-style tables. There are bathrooms and little displays with information about the airplanes on them, and then, there is the actual observation deck. It's covered, so even on bright, sunny days, you can stay in the shade. This is where you get the best view of the planes taking off and landing. You can download flight tracker apps and see where the planes are coming from and heading to. Planes were landing or taking off every 5 minutes, so there was a lot of action while we were there.

I think this will be a new stopping spot if we are nearby. Little C was very impressed with the planes that went "up into the clouds" and I could've stayed there all day. There is something therapeutic about watching routine things (especially when I'm watching the plane and not INSIDE it. That is NOT therapeutic to me!)

Here are some shots of our fun!

Here is a pretty good shot of the landing strip and the grassy picnic area

Daddy and Little C pretending like they are airplanes and "flying"

My favorite little airplane

Having a blast!

Ready for take off

"The airplane goes into the clouds!"

Landing was a lot louder than taking off. Little C thought we were saying the planes were "landon." He has a cousin named "Landon." Now he thinks his cousin has the coolest name ever!