Stuff We Like #25 - Swimming!

It's Wednesday! Here with our weekly Stuff We Like post is Angel Martinez - who has summer activities on her mind.

OK - it's no secret that I despise the heat. It's partly a neurological thing, but I just hate everything about it. The sweating, the tiredness, the way it makes everything hurt. However, the hotter weather does allow you to do one really wonderful thing - swim!

I learned to swim early and spent most of my childhood summers in the pool - swim team, various lessons, (yes, I took synchronized swimming, shut up) games of Marco Polo and Shark, and just messing around in the water. Swimming is natural for me and now that my body is no longer happy on land, I'm actually more comfortable in the water. More competent and agile. Wherever I travel, I try to find time to visit the pool or the ocean.

Some of my favorite swimming spots over the years? Hmm, there have been some cool ones...

Long ago, I used to travel a lot for work and when it was for a small, independent bank, they would put us up in the best places. One of the more elaborate hotels I got to visit was The Buttes resort in Tempe. Their pool is amazing, both in structure and placement in the landscape. With waterfalls and quirky little features, it was a great place to recover from the Arizona sun. But the best part was the view out over the desert. I spent an evening floating there, watching in awe as an anvil shaped thunderstorm rolled in, far out in the desert, forked lightning slicing through the air and painting the clouds in purples and reds.

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Pools are nice - a good beach is better. I'm not a big fan of our beaches here at home. The Delaware and Jersey beaches are too crowded, the water too churned, the undertow often too rough. It was fun when we were younger, but now it's just an exercise in dodging people and trying not to get battered.

I love the Mayaguez beaches in Puerto Rico. Mayaguez is on the western coast. It's smaller than San Juan, and not as crazy tourist wise. And the beaches? This picture doesn't do it justice. You can set up under the shade of palms and wade out into the sea on lovely clean shelves of sand. The waves are quiet here and the water oh-so-blue. It's so peaceful and restful and lovely.

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Hapuna Beach in Hawai'i, the inside/outside pool at the Hard Rock in Albuquerque, the adults-only pool at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando - so many great places for swimming memories! What's your favorite cool place to swim?