Swimming Holes/Vintage/Odd

[Foofoogal]

Telling my honey this morning about my early swimming places.
Since we lived in the country as a child it was a very special day indeed to go into the local town to go to the real swimming pool.
Other times we made do with other swimming holes.
Did anyone else ever swim in these type of places or do you have favorite local swimming holes?

I learned how to swim in a rice canal believe it or not. It had pipes coming out that I thought as a child was a waterfall. lol
I also swam out in West Texas in huge water tanks that had algae about a foot deep in them but the clearest, cleanest water. Sort of like this one.
http://www.colorbond.com/images/SourceImage/SE-pioneer-export-def.jpg

I also swam in alot of local rivers and creeks. Am I alone?

 

[sixsexsix]

I grew up in a city with a secret swimming hole not too far from my house - I used to go all the time! It was so amazing - plan on going back in when I am there this weekend. Will try to take pics

 

[ADHD librarian]

not alone at all,
swimming holes, creeks, dams, rivers

Growing up in rural Australia that was the way to spend a hot summers day.
Often with a rope swing too.
much a better option than school.

 

[Mr_Misanthropy]

^^

Living in Missouri, I grew up around all kinds of creeks and rivers.

However...

I cannot swim. If I'm in water and my feet don't touch solid ground, I freak out and flail wildly! I think it's psychological. But a lot of local kids swam in lakes, rivers, creeks, etc. regularly.

 

[KenS]

Let me be the first one here to say that I learned to swim in the salt water. I was born on Whidbey Island in WA State where I still live. I was less than a few years old when my Mom and Dad took my brother and I to the beach to dig clams and catch Dungeness Crab. This is one of my earliest memories, and I remember it as being a warm sunny day. I started out walking in the water next to my Mom, changing to crawling around, and then I just sorta started swimming on my own. What a great memory, Thanks for reminding me!
Ken.

 

[dhermann1]

I grew up on Chautauqua Lake, which is about a mile and a half across, and twenty miles long. By the time I was 8 I could swim like a fish. We also used to have great beach picnics on Lake Erie, which is about 12 miles away.
However there are deep gorges cut by creeks that flow into Lake Erie, and we had frequent expeditions there, as well. About 500 feet down into the gorge, and perpetually freezing, crystal clear water in pools in the creek. There were waterfalls, too, that were just right for sliding down on your bottom. There were tiny little toads that scampered along the shale, and little minnows that nibbled your legs and feet when you stood in the water. Occasionally we would see a very small (no more that 7 inches, usually) rainbow trout. We would wander around deep cool forests surrounding the creek.
Fond memories. Thanks for starting this one, Ms Foo.

 

[TheDutchess]

No your not alone I learned out to swim in the lake and river. Those are the so much more fun to swim in than the local pool. We had so many people come to our local pool that you didn't have room to swim so you just had to sit there like your in the bathtub. lol

 

[MaryDeluxe]

Some of my best summer days were spent on my grandpa's & grandma's farm! Like every good farm should, it had a farm pond. Fishin', swimming, horseback riding, eating strawberries, feeding baby cows, collecting eggs, camping out.....they were the best summer days!

 

[freebird]

As kids we had a big stock tank just for us to swim in. We also went to the creek alot, although there wasn't enough water to swim in. The creek is ice cold in the summer and was only bearable (to us anyway) on extremely hot days. I can swim, learned in a pool,but it's been so long I probably couldn't swim the width without having to rest.

 

[KittyT]

Most of my swimming was done in swimming pools.

When I went to junior high and high school, though, the school I went to was outside of town on the Little Spokane River, and there was a big willow tree with a rope that we used to swing off of into the river.

Since then, the paranoid parents and school administration have made it so that the kids can no longer swim in the river. It's a real pity how overprotective parents have recently been able to take so much of the fun out of being young.

 

[Miss 1929]

The Tubs on Weber Creek

Oh, now you are making me so homesick...

About a mile from our house where I grew up (rural, northern CA in the Sierra Nevada foothills) was a swimming hole that had been used by a few generations of kids.

Down a steep hill into the canyon, and then you arrived at a small, deep pool, with a broad flat waterfall slide over the rocks into a large pool, deep at one end and shallow with a little beach at the other, and then that had a narrow sluiceway through the rock to pool number three, which was deep on the outer edges, and shallow in the middle!

Lots of willows, wonderful climbing rocks, lots of wildlife, including deer, raccoons, possums, rabbits, birds galore, rattlesnakes and I even saw a mountain lion once.

Sadly, the property was bought by someone who was so worried about lawsuits that they fenced it in - and WAXED all the rocks so no one could climb over them to the pools!

I miss the Tubs. Especially on a hot one like today!