Who doesn’t think of growing up in the country on either a farm or, like in my case, the woods. Make that a cabin in the woods, complete with creek and yes, a magnificent swimming hole!
My daughter lives in town and came out the other day to swim. Folks call us to ask permission to come swim on hot days. They don’t care if we’re there or not, they just want to get in the water. Add the fact that the setting is gorgeous in the summertime, and you have the makings of a slice of paradise. There are natural rock ledges rimming the hole on two sides. You can dive off them as the hole is seven to eight feet deep at its center. I can’t tell you how many times my big brother gave one of us a shove to help us get in the water. Ahem.
We logged our property about six years ago and a bridge was put in. The bridge is still there and will be for years to come. It’s solidly built. I like to stand in the middle of it and look down on the swimming hole. I remember back when I was a freshman in high school we had a cougar in the canyon. A big fir tree came down and fell across the creek the winter before. Seems one of his favorite things to do was to lay on the middle of the tree and watch the swimming hole. We could watch him from the safety of our back porch with a pair of binoculars.
My mother used to say there was something magical about summers, and our swimming hole made them magic for us. We were the envy of a lot of other kids growing up. Everybody wanted to come to our house to swim because many weren’t allowed to swim in the Clackamas River unsupervised. We had no shortage of friends that wanted to do sleep overs when it was hot.
Our swimming hole has been a family gathering spot ever since we moved to our little cabin in the woods back in 1965. Yes, we’ve had the place that long, so is it any wonder that swimming hole is one of my favorite things in the world? I’ve come up with character names sitting at the water’s edge. I’ve played any number of water games in it while growing up. I remember my mother sunbathing, then yelling “Yikes! Oh gosh that’s cold!” every time she jumped in to cool off. And the water IS cold! Or, refreshing, as my father would say. He’d be cutting wood for winter, stop, and take a dip to cool off, then get back to work.
In the winter the swimming hole turns into a raging torrent. I’ve watched logs come down the creek. I still remember the time my dad and I were at the kitchen table one winter. The front of the cabin is nothing but windows so you can see the creek. Down came one log. Dad simply said. “Log.” Then came another log. So I said, another log. Then came another and another and we figured the natural log jam up the creek had come apart. It relocated itself about a hundred yards down the creek from the swimming hole.
I created a swimming hole in my books about my fictional town of Clear Creek. In fact, the creek that runs in front of our house? Yep. It’s called Clear Creek. It helped me come up with all sorts of names including my town! And, just as my characters picnic down by the swimming hole in my fictional town, my family does the same thing down by the real Clear Creek.
What are some of your favorite summer spots? I’m giving away an ebook of mind of your choice to one lucky commenter.
USA Today bestselling author Kit Morgan is the author of over 180 books of historical and contemporary western romance! Her stories are fun, sweet stories full of love, laughter, and just a little bit of mayhem! Kit creates her stories in her little log cabin in the woods in the Pacific Northwest. An avid reader and knitter, when not writing, she can be found with either a book or a pair of knitting needles in her hands! Oh, and the occasional smidge of chocolate!
My happy place in the summer is the deck by my above ground pool, my floating chair in the pool, and swimming.?
We had an above ground pool when I lived in California for a time. The kiddies loved it.
I grew up with a lake only a mile from the center of town. The 1920s saw several hotels built with Big Bands coming into play music. Originally the cottages were summer only but transitioned into year round homes/condos.
But in the 50s-70s, a great place tp be a kid.
Oh how fun! I love lakes. My family camps at Diamond Lake here in Oregon every summer.
Your place sounds wonderful!! I have always enjoyed the beach and the ocean waves.
I enjoy them too, Kathleen. I’m actually cat and house sitting for my friend who is at the beach. The lucky duck!
What a wonderful place!
My favorite summer spot is the mountains of Northeast Tennessee, where I’ve been going my whole life.
I also love the beaches of Delaware and Ocean City, Maryland. They hold a special place in my heart.
I’ve heard those are beautiful! I have a friend that lives up that way in Huntsville in Scott County.
I love to hear the history behind books.
It’s fun to hear how authors come up with ideas! I can remember my sister doing a lot of writing in her journal down by the creek while growing up.
we had a farm pond to make sure the cattle had water, but the dam washed out years ago and we usually swam in the cattle/horse tanks! – or went to the lake less than 5 miles away!
My cousins who are wheat and cattle ranchers, used to do the same thing with the tanks!
I loved your story of your pond and the photos- it makes all the references in novels to characters swimming in the pond come alive!
It’s a very inspiring spot, our little swimming hole!
My favorite summer place as a kid was our back yard & the neighboring copse of trees. We built so many forts in the blackberry brambles & up in the trees!
Now my favorite place in either curled up on my couch with a good book or puttering around in the yard if it’s not too hot!
Tree houses! How fun! I always wanted a tree house growing up.
My favorite place to go in the summertime growing up was the woods behind our house. It didn’t have a creek, but here was a heavy canopy of lush green leaves overhead to block out some of the sun, birds to serenade me, hills to climb, logs to jump, and moss to make furniture as a playhouse for stick dolls. I even built a fort from saplings back there one year. What fun memories!
I love the woods. I remember playing with my dolls back behind our house. Moss does make a great carpet. I tried making a teepee for my Barbies once but it kept falling over!
We had ponds at boearly creeks and either wade/swim or in the larger ones, tube or paddle. When my boys were young, we would greatly enjoy tube the Salt River, NW of Phoenix. It is a busy place, with buses running tubers from the landing to the entry point. That was in the days before sunscreen with high SPF, a contributing factor to why so many from there now have skin cancer. But it was tons of fun at the time!
Oh I bet! Sounds like a great time!
Hey Kit! Nice! We didn’t have a creek near our house, but have many springs we went to! I guess my favorite times on the water is on the three rivers: Suwannee, Santa Fe, and Itchetucknee. Tubing, skiing, and tube behind the boat! And going to all the springs in the boat! My brothers and I were also blessed to have a river house right on the Suwannee River growing up. My kids also enjoyed everything we did also.
Thanks for sharing and bringing memories of our times on the water too!
You are quite welcome! I’m hearing about all sorts of fun places in these comments!
beach
When I was growing up I lived close to the mountains in N.C. We had some favorite little places to swim there. I now live in eastern N.C., so when we want to get wet, we head to the ocean.
I’ve always wanted to tour around in North Carolina. One of these days I’ll have to check it out.
We grew up on the river and we use to swim there. Now my sister lives on the lake and we go there to swim. I don’t swim there now because of my age and also going down her steps to the lake is a killer, going down is not bad its coming back up those steps is the killer. She has family dinners ever so often so a lot of the family does go swimming there pretty often.
Sounds like she lives in a neat place!
I used to love playing in the creek across from my Mom’s homeplace in West Virginia. I also loved spending time in swimming pools and ponds when we were camping. Since I am disabled, I am no longer able to swim. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
Yes, there’s nothing like a creek to play in!
I enjoy the coast in summer
Me too! The gal I’m currently house and cat sitting for went to the coast for the week.
When my mom bought a house on one of the lakes in the Olympia area, there was a path through the woods to get to the lake. One day I wandered off the path into the woods and found several downed trees forming an alcove. I loved to go down to the alcove and read. Or just sit there and enjoy the quiet. That is one thing I miss about living in the NW. Trees. Lakes. And, sometimes, even rain.
Lot’s of rain! LOL! You can find all sorts of forest nooks and crannies to cozy up in around here!
We have a small lake on our property that I love to canoe in but we don’t swim there because alligators have been seen in it on several occasions
Yikes, Rhonda! You must be in Florida or Louisiana?
Our family had a camp on a small mountain lake in the Adirondacks of Northern New York. We got it in the early 1960’s. I loved going there. We could swim, but the bottom near our camp was a bit muddy with weeds. The other end of the lake had a sandy beach so we swam there. That end of the lake was owned by a paper company so there were no camps. We had a rowboat and a canoe which I made good use of. The fishing was good, and we had “secret” blueberry patches in the surrounding woods. It was the place the extended family came and for us, that was a large group (I had 60+ cousins). I would walk in the woods, hiking to the top of the mountain to just sit on the bald and enjoy the view. There was no trail and I don’t think I ever took the same way up twice. Most of the time I hiked alone and thought nothing of it. We were there year round. I spent a week up there one winter researching the white tailed deer for a college paper. It is much easier to track animals and figure out much about them reading sign in the snow. Sadly the family no longer has the camp and the lake has gotten so crowded with camps and permanent homes it is no longer the peaceful escape it used to be. What I wouldn’t give for a cabin on a small, quiet, mountain lake.
I love lakes! And yes, so many once peaceful retreats are now over-crowded.
My favorite fun things are the family picnics. People volunteer to have our family reunion. This year we had 105 people show up. In August we have a smaller picnic for my mother’s family where I see cousins.
Several years ago we added on to our house and put a sittin’ porch right off our bedroom. It catches the breeze and we have a wonderful view of our garden and beautiful trees.