Barton Springs

I'm really starting to bore just a little of water activities but quite honestly, there is not much else to do in 100+ plus temps. Well, not for outdoorsy types like ourselves anyway. I'm really looking forward to the temps cooling down just a little so we can do some much missed hiking.

Isn't it funny how when it's hot you want it cooler...when it's cold you want it warmer? I guess that's why Spring and Fall are mostly always favorite seasons to most folk.

Anyway, so today we went to Barton Springs. Toby needed to get some supplies at the medical supply store downtown so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and go swimming in Barton Springs which is also downtown.

Barton Springs is in Zilker Park and is also one of my favorite places to go in Austin. I love, love, love the water in Barton Springs. It has such a natural clean feel to it and it's a beautiful color. The water is also very, very icy cold.

I don't typically like ice water but the temp was 105 today so it felt pretty refreshing...to Toby and I anyway. Summer shivered and complained the whole time she was in it. We kept trying to get her to move around so she would generate some heat in her body. She kept insisting that she couldn't move because she was frozen solid. My daughter, the dramatic one.

I swam around as much as I could in-taking the fresh aroma of natural earth water. Because of the algae in the water it's almost impossible to walk in the water without water shoes...of course, we forgot our water shoes. There is massive amounts of algae and plant life in the water. I am just glad there are no stinging or biting animals wandering around in there...at least none that I have come across yet. :-)

I had also forgotten until today that it is perfectly "normal" to sunbathe topless at Barton Springs. Warning: Anyone that is squeamish or has an aversion to topless ladies should not enter the pool area. :-)

Here are some pics of our day...