Kool Park Pool + The Quarry at Carrigan Farms: Two Final Summer Break Adventures

Peanut Butter Fingers · 2 days ago · 8 views

What a good weekend. From start to finish this weekend was filled with summer fun. We were determined to sneak in two final summer break adventures and both were quintessential summer fun involving swimming and sunshine: Kool Park Pool and the Quarry at Carrigan Farms! For my local friends, both of these spots are 100 percent worth a day trip from Charlotte! Kool Park Pool On Friday, the boys and I drove about an hour away to Hickory, North Carolina. I recently heard about a local community pool in the area that was open to the public for a small fee. What really piqued my interest was the fact that this pool had a number of diving boards which seem to be almost an anomaly these days. As a former diver, I LOVE diving boards and knew jumping from high heights would thrill the boys so we made a visit to Kool Park Pool happen. The pool itself isn’t anything fancy by any means but that is part of its charm. Kool Park Pool has been open for 90+ years and took me right back to my days of lifeguarding at Birchwood Community Pool in Palatine, Illinois in the early 2000s. There was concrete everywhere, four diving boards, a not-too-fast-but-still-really-fun slide built into the side of the pool and lifeguards who were keeping everyone safe but not overcorrecting if that makes sense? Kids were allowed to jump and play and just be kids and I felt like for the afternoon the boys and I were transported back to a simple ’90s summer. It was one of my absolute favorite days I’ve had with them all year! When we arrived at Kool Park Pool, the high dive — a 15-foot monstrosity — caught our eyes immediately and I had to laugh when 5-year-old Rhett of all the kids was the first to make a beeline for it! He didn’t hesitate for one second and jumped right off, emerging from the water exclaiming, “It felt like jumping into outerspace!” We all followed suit and jumped off the high dive before trying out the low dive, a medium dive and a traditional 3-meter diving board (a typical “high dive” that was dwarfed by the 15 foot high dive). Fun fact: The high dive at Kool Park Pool was once a metal tower dignitaries used to watch rocket launches at Cape Canaveral. Apparently in the 1960s the son of the man who originally opened the pool submitted a bid on metal items from Cape Canaveral not knowing what all it included. His bid won and when the metal items arrived, he discovered he had purchased a 15-foot tower and had it transformed into the diving tower. The pool has a smal amount of food and treats for sale, bathrooms and showers but they were 100 percent fine with people bringing outside food into the pool which we appreciated since we packed a picnic lunch to enjoy during our afternoon visit. Carrigan Farms Quarry Our second adventure of the weekend took us to the Quarry at Carrigan Farms in Mooresville, North Carolina. Carrigan Farms is a fifth-generation family farm our family loves visiting at different times of the year for different reasons. Flashback family pic at Carrigan Farms!  In the spring, Carrigan Farms is a hot spot for strawberry picking. In the late summer/early fall, it’s a must-visit for apple picking in our area. In October, they offer pumpkin picking and hayrides to their pumpkin patch. Despite our many visits to Carrigan Farms...