July 2012
My goal this summer is to slow down and really enjoy summer; to consciously look at it from the perspective of my children and try to do fun and different things we’ve never done before. And while it’s such an obvious activity and something I grew up doing – we had never gone swimming at an outdoor pool.
So, after a long, hot sweaty day of day camp in the morning and friends running and playing in the backyard all afternoon, I thought the perfect ending to the day would be a refreshing swim at the South Calgary Outdoor Pool.
The first thing I would recommend, is going in the evening. It was fantastic. The crowds were at a minimum and we honestly felt like we had the pool to ourselves. Upon arriving, immediately my son’s eyes darted to the slide and I instantly knew where we would be headed. After a half a dozen slip and slides down into the water, we turned our attention to simply being a kid. We floated with our pool noodles and had races from wall to rope. We had underwater tea parties and took turns doing our tricks. We jumped from the edge of the pool, perfecting different entries and we just generally loved being in the water.
The pool welcomes the public with lane swimming from 12:00 – 1 and then public swim for the remainder of the day, declaring 6:00 – 8:00 as family swim.
The pool is a regular length pool with diving tank and has one slide, situated in the shallower section (which makes up a significant portion of the pool – perfect if swimming with younger kids). They provide many toys and accessories and we took advantage of the noodles, flutter boards and small inflatable beach balls (which they offered to us to take home at the end of our swim).
Scattered along the sides of the pool are little picnic tables complete with umbrellas that are perfect for little ones to sit and have a snack (you can either bring your own or purchase from their concession of ice cream treats, chips, pop, etc) or have drink and simply take a rest. Even better for wee little ones are two play structures set away from the pool on the large grassy area and there are many trees just outside the pool to provide some nice shade. Unfortunately, there is no wading pool or toddler area at this facility.
Again, going in the evening was the perfect way to cool down, unwind and refresh from a busy and hot summer’s day. We look forward to exploring other outdoor pools throughout this great city.
South Calgary Outdoor Pool Contact Info:
Address:3130 16 Street S.W. Calgary, Alberta
Phone: 403-221-3513
Website: http://www.calgaryoutdoorpools.ca/southcalgary.html
Visit our Calgary Outdoor Swimming Pools page for a complete list of outdoor pools in Calgary.
