Valdez: "No P in our OOL!"

There was a sign in the window of the Valdez pool that said, "There is no P in our OOL, let's keep it that way!" And I can't say I didn't pee in the Valdez pool all the time as a kid. Gross, I know, but I'm trying to keep it real.

I met up with my childhood friend, Jenny, in Florida a few months ago. She and I used to go swimming every weekend at the Valdez Pool. Then we'd walk home to her house to spend the night. We must have swam in that pool a ba-jillion times. The photo is of us in a local pond, but you get the idea!

As you enter the women's locker room, the first row of lockers, 3rd one in, was mine. I kept the same locker all through high school . . . used it on the swim team and to keep my lifeguard stuff in, too.

These are the Pool's communal showers. Maybe I was a weirdo, but I remember all the women in town using these after family swim. They'd bathe their kids here, along with the kid's swim teacher (me!)

When I went to BYU, the girls there weren't such exhibitionists, like Valdez Girls, apparently. Each dorm floor had a shower room that all the girls shared. I was lectured by the floor "mom" a few times for forgetting my towel and streaking back to my room. Some local Provo girls, inviting me to their homes for the weekend, reminded me I'd need to change in the bathroom and not in front of everyone. I guess I must have had a problem with modesty. It all stems from these showers. It's not my fault, I'm telling you!

This is my wonderful Valdez Pool . . . I really do love that place! It smelled just like I remember. This is where I learned to swim, competed on a Synchronized Swim Team, became a lifeguard, Swam on the HS Swim team 4 years, broke 3 OLD School records and taught swim lessons to pay for college.

Once I was lifeguarding for an early morning lap swim. A visiting boys basketball team was showering in the mens locker room. They heard the noise of the pool through the shower room doors and walked out to see where it was coming from. I must admit, the first time I saw naked men was at this pool, too. Wow, that was embarrassing! I never saw so many behinds move so fast to get back into the locker room!

I've only seen hand dryers used as hair dryers in this crazy locker room! The sink was replaced, much to my chagrin. These double sinks are not half as cool as the huge trough sink that waterfalled water, when you pushed the foot pedal. We did like to dam the drains up with paper towels and flood the bathroom, so that might be why they took it out??

I'm posting syncro swim photos tomorrow and photos of my brother John, in a speedo, the next. Fun stuff. Please notice how flat my stomach was before I grew 5 babies in that thing!