Pool Tour 2011!

Five years ago a few of my friends and I started one of our finest traditions, Pool Tour.  It is a day of swimming, biking, tanning, exploration and relaxation.  Early in my life here in Chicago, I found out that the Chicago Public pools were free.  I found this out, of course, in the dead of winter when sitting pool side was just a dream.  It was a cold Friday evening where a few of us were huddled up at Cal's in the Loop that Pool Tour was born.  There was a vision of biking to as many pools around Chicago as possible and deciding on which one we thought was the best.  The vision appeared the next summer with our first Pool Tour, and five years later Pool Tour is still as fun as it was the first year.  We don't really care which one is the best, but we prefer  the ones that let you wear you cycling bibs as swim trunks and play rambunctious games. 

Here is a new mini pool we discovered this year in Wrightwood Park.  It was three feet deep and we played a game that you might expect in such a pool.  "Guess what I'm Saying Underwater."  Totally fun.  We hit four pools this year, which was perfect.  Games of 500, Sharks and Minnows, and catch were in abundance.  As was the relaxing.  Here are James and Daphne relaxing poolside with a magazine that is oh so Pool Tour appropriate.
 

Look at all the excellent pool wear!

Our accidental route took us right past the Southport DQ just when everyone was starting to get hungry. 

Cookie dough Blizzard

Thanks to everyone that came out to Pool Tour this year and every year!  And for those of you that still need to experience the glory of Pool Tour.  We'll see you in 2012!