For Thanksgiving this year, we made the decision to travel and visit family in south-central Florida. With three kiddos in tow, this meant two days on the road, and I planned out a few stops along the way there and back to help get out the wiggles. For our first break going south, we stopped in Lumberton, NC at Luther Britt Park located at 671 Branch Street. Why here? I have a good friend in Wilmington, NC, and she and her husband drove to Lumberton to meet us for a picnic and catch up.
Once we’d parked, the kids took off to check out the playground. The playground was pretty basic, but the kids needed to move and run. Pebble was thrilled with the abundance of pine needles on the ground, and happily threw those in drifts at the bottom of the slide to then slide through. There was a large climbing dome that both Rainbow and Stormy were on non-stop. We did convince the kiddos to stop playing for a few to eat some lunch, but primarily we just let them burn energy while the adults got to chat.
After lunch, we loaded the cooler back into the car, and set off on a walk along the water to see if we could locate the second lake mentioned on the website. It wasn’t too hard to find, and we also found the clubhouse and swimming beach, although the beach was entirely fenced off since the season was over. Just past the swimming beach, we spotted a long pedestrian bridge leading over to a island carpeted in pine needles. The girls had a blast running across the bridge, and then tossing pine needles into the lake, along with any sticks, pinecones, and rocks they could gather. It was a pretty spot to linger, but we had to get back on the road. After saying our heartfelt goodbyes to my friend, we drove back to I-95 and continued southward. Would we come back to this park? Ehh, maybe… It was perfect for what it was, a rest stop, and close to the highway, but it wasn’t a park I’d rave about and demand to go to again. Happy trails!
