Trying to escape the stifling heat, I recently took the grandson Reese to Murphy Park in Taylor which features a state of the art wading pool and spacious competition pool. Very nice.
The big draw at the walk-in pool is the giant mushroom waterfall that cascades on giddy kids—and adults—and provides a cooling respite.
Reese was a shriveled prune by the time he finally emerged from the water like the creature from the black lagoon.
Talked to a nice but frazzled lady who shared our covered picnic table and confided in me that she had seven granddaughters.
Yikes!
I told her that must be like herding chickens. She didn’t think that was so funny.
And being the advanced age that I am, I instantly went into old man “get out of my yard mode” and flashed back to the swimming holes of my youth.
Things have changed a little bit.
Now for sure, we spent loads of time at the city pool and out at the country club, but our go-to swimming hole was out at the strip mines out at Alcoa.
I’ve been told it was highly illegal to go out there—something about it being trespassing—but hey, we were 17 years old and it was the ‘70s.
We also spent a lot of time out at Sugarloaf Mountain, which apparently was against the law as well.
Power to the people!
Besides, most of the kids that were going out there had fathers that worked at Alcoa, so how much trouble could we really get into with that much backup.
Not sure if we were the first to go out there, but we of course, thought we were.
In discussions with several of the usual suspects that frequented the strip mines, I can estimate that it was about a 50-foot drop from the cliff to the water.
Or, a five story building if you’re looking for a visual.
I recall the first time I went off the strip mine cliff. I always wore tennis shoes because my feet were so narrow and flat. When I leapt out into the clear blue sky and went careening towards the water at warp speed, when I finally made contact with the water, the force of the impact ripped the soles of my Chuck Taylor’s right off my feet.
Others were more adventurous, doing half-gainer’s, tuck flips and backward somersaults in the pike position with a 5.0 degree of difficulty.
There were also a sunken barge in the murky water, which was ripe for exploring.
We also believed that the mine water had some mystical botanical qualities and we would often drive out there just to jump in and wash our hair with our Herbal Essence shampoo.
We didn’t have a waterfall mushroom, but we had fun nonetheless.
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