Cooling off at Cal Berkeley

A heat wave has hit The Bay Area and, even here in Alameda, it was 89 degrees!!!

Yikes, that's really hot for us as our Spring Time average is 75 degrees.

I knew we couldn't stay indoors, soaking up our A/C window unit so, I checked the Cal Berkeley website and, sure enough, Strawberry Canyon Pool was open for business and boy, were we excited! :)

During the summer, you can enjoy the pool Monday thru Friday from Noon until 7:00PM for only $5.00. Children under 3 years of age are always free and parking is $0.50/hour. Can't beat it on a hot day!

The pool is Olympic Sized with 6 lanes roped off for lap swimming and is next door to the Football Field on the UCBerkeley Campus so, tons of parking! I love that they rope off the shallow end (3 feet deep) for family play and the entire pool is heated to 80 degrees year-round, which is perfect on hot days: not so warm that you can't cool off but warm enough that you don't freak out upon entering and it's perfect for children.

Emily really enjoys their 6 inch deep kiddie splash pool (see pics above) and I love that there's plenty of shady areas for the mommies to sit, within reach of the kiddie pool! :)

As a mom, I really love their facilities: tons of private showers big enough to pull your entire stroller into, changing tables, bathrooms, mirrors, swim suit dryers... all the amenities of home!

After an hour in the pool, Emily and I showered, got dressed and we were home again before 6PM and she was worn out! The heat really does a number on little ones. :)