Louisville Lakes

Other towns had swimming pools, but the one we lived in when I was a kid didn’t. Instead we would pile into the car and drive the ten miles to Louisville. I’m not sure whether Louisville had a city pool, but what it does have is “Louisville State Recreation Area,” known to the locals as Louisville Lakes.

All that you need to get in is a park entry permit, either a day pass (which today will cost you five dollars) or an annual pass (at $26). These will get you into any state park or recreation area in Nebraska. After the pass is obtained, it goes in the bottom corner the windshield on the passenger’s side. The day passes can be peeled off easily, but an annual pass will stay on a car’s windshield until the ending of the world. Many of my father’s vehicles had the added character of three or four passes lined up in a row, still on the windshield from previous years.

There isn’t anything glitzy about Louisville Lakes. In fact, I know some people in the area who would rather take their kids to one of the nearby State Parks and pay extra to use the fancy pool there. While there is a pretty sweet waterslide at Mahoney State Park, I still prefer Louisville Lakes. There is only one beach there that allows swimmers, so every time we went it would be packed with people.

My mother hates the water for what I am sure is an irrational reason, but my brothers and I would frolic into the water with my father, going back and forth from deep to shallow, tossing a ball around, playing “alligator,” or taking turns to be tossed into the air by my father. Those were some awesome times, and now that my brothers and I are older, we like to go to the Lakes as a family for a swim and a picnic, usually around Father’s Day.

Today, I can glance out my front door at the swimming pool at our apartment complex, knowing that anytime I want to I can toss on my suit and go play in the water or sit in the hot tub. My two year old daughter gets very excited when we get ready to go swim, and squeals and giggles when we splash together in the pool.

The pool is practically outside our front door. It definitely doesn’t have the drawback of having to sit on a wet towel in the car on the way home while trying to flick sand off of your toes. It also doesn’t have the same excitement and anticipation, jumping into your swimsuit and grabbing a towel, rushing down to the car to bounce up and down in the seat, urging Mom to hurry up.

And anyway, pools are expensive and a pain to maintain. If I had a choice, I’d rather go to Louisville Lakes.