Sara and I love to travel and experience new things, even if those new things seem trivial to others. However, we do like to take advantage of where we live. Not that we’ve done so on purpose, but in the ten year we’ve been married, we’ve lived in four differnt cities in three differnt states (more if you count our six month stint in Georgia). So the thing we’ve learned is that we have to take advantage of seeing everything there is around us while we’re there. Otherwise, we may regreat never having seen ________ or not having visited ________. Personally, I’d be real happy to stay put for now. I love what I’m doing at Gateway and we love where we live. Plus, there are enough things to do around her to keep us buys for a decade.
So, in addition to our BBQ challenge, we’re taking on the Swimming Hole Challenge as well.
One thing we noticed since living in central Texas is that people around here love their swimming holes. More than any other place I’ve ever seen, these people love their rivers, lakes and stream. I guess it’s making up for the fact that Texas doesn’t have the best beaches. I was first exposed to this when we moved here and we saw Barton Creek in Zilker Park. Just south of downtown is a HUGE, beautiful spring fed swimming hole that people swim in year round (the temperature of the water is 68 degrees year round). Then we started to hear about all the people who tube down the Guadalupe or swim in the Frio. Then last summer Texas Monthy, the same magazine that ran the BBQ competition, had an article about the best spots to swim in Texas. Most of these swimming holes are close to where we live, so Sara and I (Titus too) are going to plunge in to all that we can.
Below is the list from Texas Monthy:
- Barton Springs – Austin.
- Blue Hole – Wimberly
- Brinks Crossing – Cedar Point
- Balmorhea State Park – Toyhavale
- Hamilton Pool – Travis County
- Garner State Park – Uvalde County
- Schlitterbahn West – New Braunfels
- Deep Eddy Pool – Austin
- Medina River – Near Bandera
- Fort Clark Springs – Bracketville
- Krause Springs – Spicewood
- Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area – Ratcliff
- City Tube Chute – New Braunfels
- Lake Raven – Huntsville
- Utopia City Park – Utopia
- Burger’s Lake – Fort Worth
- The Quince – Camp Wood
- The Slab – Kingsland
- Cypress Bend Park – New Braunfels
- Lake Fryer at Wolf Creek Park – Perryton
- Rio Vista Park – San Marcos
- Hunt Crossing – Hunt
- Village Creek State Park – Lumberton
- Blanco State Park – Blanco
- Hancock Springs Pool – Lampasas
In addition to this list, I found another list of top swimming spots. I won’t include repeats from the previous list:
- Lake Whitney
- Pedernales Falls
- Mustang Island State Park
- Guadalupe River State Park
- Colorado Bend State Park
There you have it. That’s 30 swimming holes. There are a few that may be a little futher out of our way and aren’t as high of a priority. However, we’re going to hit as many of these as we can. We’ve already been to Hamilton Pool and we anticipate going there again soon. Between our busy schedules and all, I assume that this will take us 2-3 years to complete. So, if you’re in the area, you like to swim and are up for a bit of adventure – let us know and we’ll put it on the schedule!
June 22, 2009 at 9:49 am
This list is fantastic! I wish The Williams Hole could make the list. =)
June 22, 2009 at 11:17 am
This pains me to read…
June 22, 2009 at 9:13 pm
I feel quite certain none of those places are anywhere near Lubbock or West Texas in general…but be sure to come visit if you get anywhere close!
June 28, 2009 at 10:52 pm
A friend sent me this link today:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/travel/thisweek/stories/DN-swimholes_0628tra.ART.State.Edition1.1f3278f.html