It’s just plain hot. Way too hot for my liking. I’m an autumn girl. Cool breeze, sun shining, crisp smells, sweater weather, UofL football. I digress. I’ll just be plain blunt: summer is my least favorite season. Call me cuckoo, I know you will. Because I love winter and fall! But I have two kids at home with me all summer long, I live in a subdivision without a neighborhood pool, and I’m cheap. We have to cool off somehow. Here are my top 5 picks for free or very cheap ways to cool off this summer with your family.
#1 - Spraygrounds, splash parks, splash pads. What do you call them? Places where the parks have invested some money into an open area where water sprays freely and cools you off. There are tons of them in Louisville. This is a very nice, concise list of them with reviews of several. Check them out! It’s completely free, so that’s why it gets the #1 spot.
#2 – Louisville Metro Parks outdoor public pools. Admission is $2 for children under age 17; $3 for adults 18 and over. Click here for more information about hours and when they close for maintenance.
#3 – Indoor pools such as Mary T Meagher and All About Kids. They have fairly inexpensive daily rates to go swimming inside, which is a plus when you want to stay away from the outdoor sun.
#4 – Plainview Swim Club in Jeffersontown. For $6-8 child/adult day admission you can enjoy this pool for the entire day. They have four pools, including a baby wading pool and a diving only pool. You can also buy 5-day passes and of course they have an option for summer long memberships that is pricier.
#5 – Day Trips from Louisville. If you’re in the mood for adventure and would like to head out of the city for the day or an overnight stay, you can check out several waterpark places around the region. Atlantis Water Park in Clarksville is very convenient. Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari are very well known for the family-friendliness. Out in Prospect there is a public park with an aquatic center; it’s Wendell Moore Park. Click here for a review.
Happy summer splashing! (I think I’ll go count how many days there are until fall!)
Photo by Erin Nevitt
