Dennis The Menace
777 Pearl St., Monterey
646-3866, www.monterey.org
It’s 1980. You screech down the enormous wavy metal slide, scorching your thighs red to match the snow-cone stain on your Scooby Doo T-shirt, then make your way to the metal spinning tower, getting stuck halfway around the loop and having to negotiate a jumping dismount to the sand. You make a quick pit stop for one last train-climbing session before you go home. Flash forward to 2013. Sure, you can’t climb the train anymore, and the stone lion-head fountain has been replaced with a smaller, more kid-friendly resin version. The scorching metal slide has been replaced with a more modern and less painful version. A rock-climbing wall now stands where the spinning tower once was, and the addition of several smaller playground structures, including one with a pirate ship theme, make for a full afternoon of adventure for any little monkey. But don’t worry, you can still get a snow cone at the snack bar on your way out.