The pool at the City Park was a very symmetrical hard concrete hole in the ground. It usually received a new paint job each summer before opening to the enthusiastic locals. I know that because I lived just a few hundred yards from the concrete monster. It was sort of a scary place for me. I wasn’t a good swimmer then and it got deep really quick. “The ROPE”, was the place of drown or move. You could never ever hold onto the “ROPE”. The rope was those huge faded buoys that separated the shallow from the deep. The City Park pool had one amazing thing....A high board. Back then it seemed really high and scary. Only the most daredevil at heart or the those really young water bugs seemed to enjoy it. I would make myself jump once a visit. Since I didn’t go much as I wasn’t allowed to go alone. “Whatever”. It scared the shit out of me.
High boards are gone now. I can’t remember the last time I saw one anywhere. Lawsuits, litigation, and carelessness have doomed them. Just like most of the things we grew up with. So, I was feeling the need to blow some bubbles and when you live in Terlingua Texas ....bubbles usually a long way away except for Balmorhea State Park. Built in the 1930’s by those awesome civilian conservation corp dudes. It’s a big natural spring and now is a pool of sorts. And yes....no lifeguard and a high board. Seemed like it was higher in the old days but a high board no doubt. So, just know if you ever get the chance or the need to get that wedgy enema , there is still one out there.
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