Water fun memories

I follow a FB page called "Remember in Tempe."  This week a picture of Tempe Beach popped up.  That is exactly how it looked back in the days when I would spend hours there as did many of the kids living in Tempe.  Often my friend's mom would drop us off in the early afternoon and my mom would pick us up on her way home from her work also on Mill Avenue at Broadway.  I have so many good memories of this pool. The following blurb accompanied the picture.

Memorial Day weekend is the traditional start of swimming season in Arizona. The Tempe Beach swimming pool was the favorite place for kids to keep cool for decades. Built in 1923, the pool was remodeled dramatically in 1964 into the smaller version shown here. The pool closed around 1975, and the site was eventually remodeled into the entry of the current Tempe Beach Park. Today, families still gather here in the summer to cool off at the very popular splash pad.

Here is a picture I found of the original pool built in 1923.  There were also lots of old trees at Tempe Beach Park which is on the south bank of the Salt River which used to be a flowing river in 1923.

When I was in high school, Big Surf was built.  It was the biggest wave pool in the world at the time.  This was exciting stuff for land locked Arizonans.  Now we sort of had an ocean.

My old neighborhood is in the background.  It was tradition at Tempe High to have a Senior Ditch Day in the early spring.  My senior year, Ditch Day was planned to be at Big Surf.

 

My group of friends decided to ditch Ditch Day and went to the Salt River to tube instead.  The plan was to be the first group on tubes to float down the Salt that year.  It was really, really cold but we did earn bragging rights.  Isn't it fun how water flows through summertime memories?

Now I have grandchildren who come to Provo for a visit and walk just down the street to the Seven Peaks Water Park.  The water fun continues on.