My favorite thing about summer is swimming. I love the water, always have. The local Y has an indoor pool, so we can swim year round, but going from the door of the building to the car after swimming during winter (also known as the devil’s season) is a completely horrible experience. Summer swimming is the best.
This summer, the boys and I plan to swim in every type of body of water. Creek, river, lake, ocean, and pool. Last summer we never made it to a river or lake. This year we will aggressively seek to rectify that violation.
Creek- Thanks to swimmingholes.org, I’ve found a nearby creek with a great place to swim. As an added bonus, it has a rope swing. And it’s all perfectly safe, as long as you don’t hit a rock, or as long as the rope doesn’t break, or as long as the limb that the rope is tied to doesn’t break. Perfectly safe. We went to this spot last year and some hippie guy showed up, sat on a rock, and played the flute. Not only was it kind of weird, he refused to play Free Bird on request.
River- River swimming can be dicy with little guys. I am planning on combining the river experience with kayaking and life jackets. A float trip will do the family good.
This is my swimming face.
Lake- We have a local state park that includes a 1400 acre lake. A lot of people boat and fish there, but strangely, swimming is “not allowed”. This is strange to me. What do you mean by no swimming? The only time swimming is not allowed in a lake is when it’s too cold. That brings me to an observation. What is the point of all of those beautiful Canadian lakes. Seems like a waste of water if the only thing willing to get in is a grizzly bear. When I get to heaven I plan on walking right up to God and saying, “I have a few questions. First, why would you put perfectly swimmable bodies of water in cold climates? Second, what’s up with mosquitoes? Third, how many times did my guardian angel save my life. I’ve got the line set at 150, and I’m taking the over.” Anyway, we plan on getting around the no swimming rule by using the old, “I fell out of the kayak” trick.
Ocean- It looks like we’ll be swimming at the Jersey shore this year. When we aren’t in the water trying to guess what we just stepped on, we’ll be enjoying local activities like playing homemade Syringe Lawn Darts, and trying to find the most offensive t-shirt on the boardwalk.
Pool- Summer provides many pool swimming opportunities. My kids are always quick to jump at these. Unless it’s at the Y. My six year old is down with it, but his eleven year old brother is convinced that the pool there is dirty. “C’mon dad, the water’s not totally clear and I got someone else’s hair on me last time.” To which I reply, “I’ll grant you that it’s a little strange to get other peoples hair stuck on you, but I did find you biting your toenails the other night, so in the cleanliness department, you have bigger problems.”
Yes, we will complete the quintfecta of swimming this summer. And then when the leaves start to turn and everything in the supermarket is suddenly flavored with pumpkin spice, we will get sad, very sad.
Years ago, when my son was young, we visited Watkins Glen in upstate New York – lots of natural water but you had to swim in a swimming pool. I never did quite understand that.
Would love to make it to upstate New York sometime. I’ve never been. It’s the same at the park near us. 1400 acres of water, and one swimming pool.
that huge lake sounds awesome – we live in Las Vegas at the moment, so the only water close by are the fountains on the strip and pool in our community. Better than nothing, right? Blessings and have an awesome day!
I’ve only ever flown into Vegas and then driven to California, so I haven’t had the full experience. It does seem like a place in need of water. Thanks for reading.
I love a nice lake in the summer. It doesn’t get much better! Unfortunately, we don’t have many good swimming lakes around here but still take advantage of them as often as we can.
Lakes are fun. When I was a kid we spent some summers in Michigan and I remember a couple of great swimming lakes up there, complete with diving platforms.