are there any fun pools and lakes to go swim in the area?

23 responses total.

My favorite place to swim in the area is at my parents house. But there
are lots of good public places too. 

There are a lots of good public places to swim around there though.

Pickerel Lake in Pinckney State Recreation Area is a really nice one. It
is clean and there are no motor boats allowed so you can swim in the
whole lake. There is a very small beach area. No bathrooms though and no
place to change. Also no lifeguard and you either have to have an annual
parking pass or you have to get a day pass from the main gate at Silver
Lake. 

Silver Lake, also in Pinckney State Recreation Area, has a pretty decent
beach, swimming in a roped off area with lifeguards, a food stand,
bathrooms with changing rooms and showers. 

Independence Lake is a county park that has a decent beach area, a roped
off swimming area with lifeguards. They also have a food stand I think.
They have a weird water play area too. No changing rooms or showers but
they have bathrooms. 

Rolling Hills is a county park that has a wave pool. I havent been there
in years but I think they have slides and one of those fake rivers for
tubing. 

Ann Arbor has some pools. There is one at Vets Park and one at Fuller
park. I think the one at Vets has some slides. 

Ypsilanti has a pool but it is nothing fancy. Just a pool. It is in
Recreation Park. 

I used to go to Silver Lake all the time though now I don't recall 
exactly where its located-since its been so many years that I lived 
away.  I haven't been to any of the other above mentioned lakes, 
though. The other evening, I did drive through the grounds at Rolling 
Hills to see what was there [since I live just a few miles away]. FRom 
what I could tell, the water park wasn't really big but it would be 
adequate for some summer fun, especially for kids.  I read online that 
you can't bring coolers and such into that area but there IS a 
concession stand available.

I remember, years and years ago, going to Camp Dearborn with a group 
and having spent a lot of time on the beach there. I checked out a 
website about this place and see its in Milford but am not sure exactly 
where/how to get there [since my computer connection isn't allowing me 
to access certain areas...].

I've been to Fuller pool, though now I'll need to check out that pool 
in Ypsi [as my old apt complex had a pool, I don't have access to one 
here where I currently reside].

When I was a kid, we would often spend a week at Camp Dearborn. It was
really cool. We had all kinds of fun. 

I've done a fair amount of camping over the years and have really enjoyed it.
I've camped in the mountains, at the ocean, at a state park on a river in TN,
and some girl scout camping [in this area as well as a 10 day[?] camping trip
down in Kentucky.  Except for some of the GS camping where we slept indoors
in the lodge, all the rest was tent camping.  I love the fresh air and all
but I've pretty much gotten to the point where I don't want to sleep on the
ground or even on those camping cots any more.  So my next bet would be to
find places that rent cabins.

re 2: there are slides at Fuller Pool.  There is also a very cool play
structure next to it.  The play structure was designed to allow kids in
wheelchairs access to get to the top of what is usually an inaccessible
climbing structure.

My brother mentioned that my niece is attending a week-long day camp at
the Buhr Park  pool.  Though I recall being at Buhr Park years ago for
the annual 4th  of July fireworks, I  don't recall their pool at all.

I've been to Independence Lake a couple times in early June; it was fun
and I need to get  back there sometime soon. I miss being able to
swim...

(IIRC, the pool at Mack School is city-operated and so open to the public.)

Yes, it's the only public pool that is open year-round.

What about the County Rec Center on Washtenaw Road?  
I was under the illusion they had an indoor pool.

I recently joined the County Rec Center; finally, someplace to go swimming
on a regular basis! :-)  I also started playing around a bit on a couple of
the cardio machines, too.  

This looks like it'll be a cool place to work out--there's all kinds of people
that come here to exercise--kids programs all the way up to a number of senior
citizens, many who have to use walkers and such to get to the machines or pool
but once they start working out, they're able to do well. And this place is
nice in the sense that you don't have to already be an athlete to see and be
seen. People of a wide [or not] range of sizes, shapes, ages, color, political
views, eye color, hair length, and activity levels have been known to frequent
this place.

I like to swim at the Y downtown. Mostly because it is two blocks from
my work and because my employer pays for my membership :) But if I didnt
have a membership there, the county rec sounds delightful. 

We're pretty lucky here to have quite a few nice workout facilities to 
choose from.  I've purchased day passes at the Country Rec facility and 
like their track a whole lot.  What a nice view!  Up until recently I've 
had a Y membership, and it is nice too with loads of treadmills and ellipticals
but at times it's swamped with kids so it can get noisy and  crowded, and
parking is a drag.  I've recently taken a tour of the WCC  Rec center and was
blown away:  no kids allowed,  easy parking, nice amenities including a coffee
bar and free wifi, a pool with lap lanes  that are always open as all water
classes are held in a second pool,  loads of equipment, no charge for classes
and all classes are on a drop- in basis.  Wow.  Really like that last one.

I'm not up on the fees enough to compare 'em but I suspect, at least for 
me, that it would be worth it to pay a little more for someplace both 
appealing and an easy nearby.  What's going to seduce me to leave home 
on a cold February morning?  Coffee! ;-)  Me so bad.

I saw pictures of the new WCC facility when they first opened. They sent
me a brochure. It looked nice but kind of expensive. 

I have been kind of wondering how the Y is in the evenings. When I go at
lunchtime, there arent very many kids and the entire pool is open for
lane swimming. There are just enough kids though to remind me of why I
dont want to go into the family pool ;) 

Does the WCC rec center have a hot tub? That is one thing that is
missing from the Y. They have a sauna and that is cool but a hot tub
would have been nice. 

As part time WCC staff I could get a membership for $40/month and they
waived the $100 application fee.  It is $160/semester (15 wks) for
students, plus the one time $100 application fee.  The county rec center
is $200 for the first year and $185 for annual renewal.  I decided
against the WCC facility.  Yes it has nice extras, but I very much doubt
that I would use it enough to be worth it.

When I was a student at Eastern, one could use their facilities for free
but I have to admit that I hardly ever went over there. Mostly just
because of the hours they were open. Still, alumni pay something like
$285/year so it isnt too bad. I think the general public can buy a
membership for $375/year. I think retirees can use the facilities for
free. 

I looked into getting a membership at the rec center at WCC [check out their
info on the wcc website; it's got just about all of the info. Except the
cost].  I'd love to be able to join there but I just can't afford it. I
emailed them, asking for price info and was told that I'd have to pay a $150
application fee and then $60/month.  If it was even remotely possible, I
would be working out there.  But the County rec center is the next best thing.
They have a discounted rate for seniors and for those of us on disability [a
doctor's note is needed], so that made it less painful to join. The one thing
that I don't like, though, is that we have to pay extra for any of the classes
[either pay as you go for a class on a specific day/time as space allows or
for an 8 week session]. And if you want to participate in the class activity
on several days during the week, you'd need to sign up for several sessions,
as each paid session is for just one day/time per week.  Otherwise, I still
like the place. I need my friend to come back from her trip--to get me going
more often, though.

Why pay for a place to workout?

Because we can?

Are you speaking for denise?

I dont actually pay for a place to work out, my employer does. But the
reason I especially like it is that I like to swim and unlike walking
(which I also like), one cant just step outside one's downtown office
and go swimming unless one pays for privilege. But there are other
facilities at the Y that I like. There is a walking track that a
co-worker and I are going to use in the winter when the weather is bad.
Right now we walk around downtown but in the winter it is no fun. A nice
heated track with windows might be worth the money my employer pays for
us :) 

Regarding resp:19 I am to the extent she pays for a membership somewhere.

County rec, yea.  I saw she couldn't afford the WCC rec and assumed it stopped
at that.  Maybe Grex could work out a discount group rate with the county rec
dept..

I did pay for a membership at the county rec. department--and was able 
to use the discount for being on disability [even that was a bit of a 
stretch for me; some birthday money and a bit of my stimulus check 
helped a lot, though].

I wanted to spend some of my workout time in a pool; there's a number of
 things to do along with the traditional lap swimming.  And in the
summer  and the winter when the weather makes it difficult to do stuff
outdoors,  all of the indoor stuff at the rec center makes working out
during those  months so much easier.  

In the recent past, I've  been working on the treadmill instead of the 
indoor track. I like being able to set the speed and the incline [as 
well as seeing how many calories that I burn, and can adjust the 
workload if my heart rate is too high or low]. Granted, I can do that 
while walking on my own [monitoring my heart rate] but when I do a 
regular walk [vs on the treadmill], it's harder for me to vary my speed 
up or down on my own [my mind wanders to much to keep track, thus, the 
treadmill can do that part for me].  Granted, once I'm in better shape, 
I'm really going to enjoy the longer walks outdoors in the cooler 
weather...  I just MIGHT be able to return to the Grex walks again some 
day.

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