Today the Longmont Recreation Center is a perfect place, full of light and moving water, refreshing, available to seniors at $3.50 a pop.
Special features: The shallow water and the baby slide, fountains and waterfalls, the high twisty slides, the lazy river.
A woman with her three year old daughter and a three-month were peacefully enjoying the break from the heat.
The black rubber inner tubes of my childhood have given way to light clear plastic, which makes one feel that the pool is not so crowded with ugly, awkward encumbrances. The excited yet uniformly polite children enhanced the experience. 
Abi likes the deep end where she can dive and tread water. For her, the key is vertical. Jesse and I enjoyed walking in the lazy river, the area where the artificial current keeps you moving in a winding path. Of course a soak in the hot tub and then a dip in the cold is invigorating.
One of these afternoons I'm going to climb the stairs and take the fast curvy water slide for a splash of delight.
