Credit: Eric Allix Rogers

OK, it’s not technically a peninsula, but it sure feels like it. The 199-acre park is tucked just south of where the Calumet River flows into Lake Michigan, behind a proud old residential part of the East Side neighborhood. Trails weave through its fields and woods, around playgrounds and tennis courts, and on a midafternoon jaunt the city seems far away—even though you can see the downtown skyline from spots along the lake, and the Horseshoe Casino and steel mills along the shore to the southeast. In fact, an ambitious and nutty swimmer could paddle to Indiana, since the state line is right offshore. But the options for traveling by foot or cycle are better: trails connect the park with Wolf Lake Recreational Area to the south as well as to bike lanes that lead all the way up the lakefront. Of course, others prefer to take things at a different pace, like the couple I saw recently passing a cigar next to the water, or the guy nearby who was sitting with—and talking to—his dog.