Things To Do In The Coop

BY: SAVANNAH KEYSER

Often times I find myself extremely bored with nothing to do, if you’ve found yourself in that situation, here are some places to go in Cooper City and the surrounding area.

In no specific order:

1. Pembroke Lakes Mall

Everyone loves a good convenient place to shop. Pembroke Lakes seems to be the standard for Cooper kids, and for good reason. The mall has a wide range of stores with something to appeal to just about everyone including Forever 21, The Vans Store, Cotton On, H&M, and so much more. This mall is a great place to meet up with your friends and spend a few hours.

     2. CB Smith Park

We all know CB Smith as the water park we played at when we were little but it’s actually more than that. Of course the water park will always be a good memory to hold onto, but we’ve probably all grown out of it. If you didn’t already know, CB Smith has a mini golf course which is always a fun thing to do with friends or family. In addition to that, they have playgrounds, basketball and tennis courts, fishing and much more.

     3. Tree Tops Park

Tree Tops is a great place to get out and do some outdoorsy-type activities. If you’re lucky enough to have a horse of your own, you can bring it and ride on the equestrian trails. There are also picnic tables and grills if you want to get out there with your friends and have a barbecue. Another great thing Tree Tops offers are paddle boats. Of course there are also the typical park adventures, like nature trails and fishing.

     4. Pines Ice Arena

The best place in town to escape the heat. Pines Ice Arena is self explanatory. It’s an ice skating rink. Not to say that it’s not a fun time, it really is, but there’s not much to say. We all know what an ice skating rink is.

     5. Sparez

Bowling seems like an underrated activity to me. For some reason it’s got this weird reputation that it’s a boring things dads do on a tuesday night, but it’s actually really fun to go out and bowl a few games with some friends.

     6. MuviCo 24

If you’re a reall Cooper kid you know it’s actually called MuviCo and not Cinemark. Anyway, the movies are always a great place to kill a few hours if you’re bored. As long as you’re smart about it and sneak in snacks because let’s be real here, those concession prices are through the roof. Other than that, the movies are a blast.

     7. Cooper City Antique Mall

This one might sound a bit out of the ordinary but that’s because it totally is. This place is honestly one of the coolest places our little town has to offer. It’s filled with antiques from all throughout the world. I could spend hours just walking around this place, browsing through everything, and I have. If you’re looking for a good place to find old records, this is the place to go. They’ve got a crazy amount of them.

     8. Beyond Billiards Pool Hall

So the pool hall is actually an awesome place to hangout with some buds. It’s such a fun game and even though it is based on skill, you can also just be lucky and sink some balls. Pool is one of those games that’s just an easy way to spend the afternoon with some friends and not get bored.

     9. Everglades Holiday Park

So this one might not be for everyone, considering it’s a little bit farther than all the rest, and you’ll be surrounded by alligators. If you’re okay with those two little issues, then this is actually quite a fun place to spend the day. Airboat rides are super interesting, being inches away from those monsters is a pretty cool feeling, and there are so many other cool animals in the everglades that you get to see too. It’s also pretty great to see the alligator “wrestling.” And if you’re lucky you’ll get to meet some of the people from the show Gator Boys, which I think is pretty sweet. Oh and if you’re into this kinda thing, you can totally eat some alligator meat too. It’s actually pretty good.

     10. Pembroke Gardens

Pembroke Gardens is a lot like the mall in the sense that it’s got all of the essential stores, but it’s also a really nice place to walk around. And not to mention all of the spectacular restaurants it has. Pembroke Gardens is a really nice place to go when the weather is nice and it’s not crowded. If you choose a time that it’s going to be crowded, then you might be in for a different experience.