Prairie Dog Park - Alvin

In southern Texas, near the Gulf coast, is the little town of Alvin, which sits halfway between Houston and Galveston, as a busy, but unassuming bedroom community of 25,500 people. The town with the statute of a baseball pitcher in windup position at city hall is the home of baseball great Nolan Ryan and the occasional target of even fiercer knuckleballs that come in the form of Gulf Coast hurricanes that choose to batter Texas now and again. 

In this little city in this great, big state (second only to Alaska, even if it is by a large margin) is the 1.1-acre Prairie Dog Park, which seems designed for humans, as it features picnic tables swings, hiking and bicycling trails and a fully-outfitted playground. For your dog, meanwhile, there is a pleasant lawn and some paths to hike to get that circulation going and provide some entertaining sniffing along the way. 

While the Prairie Dog Park is small, however, there are 13 other parks owned and operated by the City of Alvin that offer a variety of options, including dog walking. Those options range from the 2.65-acre Marina Park that is considered a neighborhood park with a pavilion and picnic tables and the 8-acre National Oak Park that has hiking and bicycle trails, picnic tables, drinking fountains, a playground and a variety of playgrounds. It has one large pavilion. 

The online description also notes that the park includes “National Oak Tree,” but whether that's the national oak tree or one of the national oak trees is hard to discern. Maybe you should visit to find out. Some of the parks are more sports oriented than others, while some are destinations for families or couples who want to have some quiet, quality time together and stretch their legs a little bit. If you like tennis, baseball, or multi-use athletic fields head for Pearson Park.