Act young, feel young!

Become a child again — and give your body a workout, to boot. Over on the west side of the 4275-acre beach paradise known as Mission Bay Park, there’s a playground with a lot more than the expected swings and slides. Kid stuff? Think again. The expansive (half an acre) and expensive ($3.4 million) Maruta Gardner Playground, built during Covid and officially opened in November 2020, offers plenty of fitness challenges for adults besides chasing after your kids or running to your car to refill a crying toddler’s sippy cup. The new park, which replaced an aging playground on the southeast corner of Mission Boulevard and West Mission Bay Drive (across from the Giant Dipper roller-coaster), has a lengthy rope course — designed to resemble said roller-coaster, right down to the pink-and-blue colors — that’s a great spot for a competitive race between you and your little ones, while the teeter-totters give you the opportunity to do your squats while Junior squeals in delight.

And if you can catch a break, the playground is just a few feet from a glorious concrete walkway that encircles Bonita Cove and Mariners Basin and then crosses Mission Boulevard just north of the jetty to meet up with the famed Mission Beach boardwalk, which stretches another three miles north past Crystal Pier to Palisades Park in Pacific Beach. It’s a popular spot for walking, jogging or biking (there are plenty of bike rental shots nearby, including Hamel’s, in the iconic castle building at the foot of Ventura Place, maybe a quarter of a mile from the playground). And with the clear blue bay on one side and grassy knolls studded with palm trees on the other, you couldn’t ask for a more idyllic setting, particularly just before sunset.

The Maruta Gardner Playground is named after a longtime local and activist who was hit and killed by a drunk driver in 2016 while cleaning up graffiti near the jetty. The multi-million-dollar rebuild saw the construction of new rest rooms, a new shade structure, enhanced security lighting, and curb ramps to make the playground compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It’s not the only next-generation playground conducive to adults as well as kids. Another is Tecolote Shores North, which reopened in November 2022 after a 16-month, $3.8 million upgrade. Located on the south end of East Mission Bay, this playground has rope ladders, swings and slides, swivel seats, obstacle areas and various sensory toys. Tecolote Shores North stands out because it has a specific section set aside for adults to get their workouts while their kids play. Equipment includes outdoor elliptical machines, pull-up bars, monkey bars, parallel bars and a rope climb.

Also in East Mission Bay, city leaders celebrated the reopening of Tecolote Shores South last December with a gala ribbon-cutting ceremony, at which they hailed the park as the first “all-inclusive” playground in the city of San Diego. After a $4.1 million rebuild, the new playground has plenty of equipment for young and old, although its “signature” aspect, according to design firm the Schmidt Design Group, is a raised play mound with multiple ADA-approved pathways leading to ropes, swings, slides, rockers and merry-go-rounds, including accessible equipment for kids with disabilities.

I hate to use a cliché, but these aren’t your grandmothers’ playgrounds.