Swimming at Murray Park Aquatics Center

Summertime is nearly over, but there's still time to pack in a few more bucket list items and summer outings before school starts!  The heat is also still lingering, so why not try out a different swimming pool with the kids before they return to the school grind?  Have you ever visited Murray Park?  And did you know there's an outdoor swimming pool there?  It's pretty great.

First of all, Murray Park is a gem in and of itself.  It houses the Park Center (Murray's recreation center, complete with indoor swimming pool, basketball courts, pickleball courts, fitness equipment, and other awesome amenities), several playgrounds, pavilions, an amphitheater, an arboretum, and a bunch of play fields for soccer, softball, etc.  It's a HUGE park in the middle of Murray.  On Fridays and Saturdays during the summer (from July - October), the Farmers Market takes place from 9 am - 2 pm in the parking lot east of the Park Center.  I've taken the kids a few times to the Farmers Market recently, and we love it.

Besides all of these fantastic amenities, Murray Park boasts the Aquatics Center.  I took my kids last week for the first time, and we all fell in love with it.  First of all, when you drive there, don't park at the Park Center, like we did.  The Aquatics Center is located down the road from the Park Center.  When you drive through Murray Park from the State Street entrance, you have to drive over the first bridge​, and the Aquatics Center will be on your right.  Since I parked at the Park Center, my kids and I took a nice little stroll through the park to get to the Aquatics Center.  

Upon arriving at the Aquatics Center, I paid for myself ($4 admission) and my children ($1 for my one-year-old and $3 for each of my other children ages 3-7).  We walked through the locker room and into the pool area, dropping our stuff off on the grass underneath some shade canopies.  There's plenty of space for spreading out swimming towels on the grass and unloading your pool gear so that you can take the kids for a dip in the pool.  I was impressed with how clean everything was, from the pool area to the locker rooms.  The employees obviously take good care of the facilities.  

My kids and I enjoyed our afternoon in the hot sun and cool water of the pool.  My little ones and I especially loved the zero-entry pool area, which is huge and accommodates lots of people.  My older kids also loved getting drenched underneath the "mushroom" (their word describing the mushroom-looking thing that dumps water continuously).

Since my kids are younger and less daring, none of them tried out the twisty water slide (four-stories tall!), which looked like fun for older kids.  The pool also has deeper areas for swimming, and 3-meter diving boards. 

During our swimming session (and all operating hours at the pool), the lifeguards kicked everyone out of the pool for ten minutes every hour, for cleaning purposes. It's actually really great when this happens, because it's a forced break for everyone to warm up, take a potty break, eat snacks, etc.  But just so you know, this happens every hour.

Overall, we had a lovely time (minus the wicked sunburn that I received on my back, due to the fact that I left the sunscreen duties wholly to my seven-year-old, who missed a few spots when she was rubbing in sunscreen on my back. Mom fail.)  I would totally return for a future swim, and my kids would agree.  Murray Park Aquatics Center is great!