Photo courtesy of RR PhotographsWe went to the pool yesterday with this gal and her über-cute twins.
Guess how much it cost?
No, guess higher.
No, still higher.
OK, your last guess was just ridiculous. ($25? C'mon!)
It cost each adult $SEVEN, though kids under 2 were free. And despite Miss Dub's extraordinary height, she's still passing for a baby.
The kiddie play area was super cool, complete with water tanks, a spouting whale, a huge water jungle gym and various other water features. But at $4.50 an hour it seemed a little steep. I could have seen a matinee for that price, though movie ticket prices are a whole 'nother issue. And let me tell you, I didn't see Matt Damon at the pool. Even for $SEVEN.
Going to the beach here is even pricier. You get a small discount for living in the town where each beach is located, but it's $NINE for non-residents. To walk on rocky sand and swim in a frigid lake!
Maybe I'm just out of it, but when I worked as a pool lifeguard, admission was a mere $1.50. And last time I went to the beach in Cali admission was free. So that's some steep inflation.
Don't get me wrong. I paid it. And I probably will again because Miss Dub had such a fun time crawling around in the shallow water and getting sprayed, and I enjoyed the sun without having to hold her above water.
But it seems excessive.
What do you think?
How much are you paying to enjoy the outdoors this summer?
18 comments:
our fabulous pools are free. in our neighborhood, which boasts "the largest private water park in the South," we pay a minimal homeowner's fee ($750 a year) for use of such facilities. we also have a fabulous workout center, great tennis courts, outdoor concerts, etc.
you should move to texas. it's way cheap here. :)
Don't move to Boston. A Californian at heart, I frequent the beach here, but it consumes my entire (meager) entertainment budget for the summer - weekdays are $20 and weekends are $25. I almost passed out the first time I went.
We have neighborhood pools and splashparks for free (with annual homeowners fees) plus my brother and also our next door neighbor both have pools (score!) We also found a large splashpark for free in a gorgeous park, but it's quite a drive from here. Now, with my fair skin I spend most of my time hidden from the sun. My idea of summer fun is dark, cold movie theatres with a large Dr. Pepper (that runs us about $3.50 per person at the discount theatre!)
I don't understand how you can be charged to go to a lake or the ocean!?! How exactly does that work?? Seriously.
I am so frustrated by this issue! If someone who lives in the Salt Lake area knows a cheap place to swim, please let me know. I've never had to pay $7, but usually $5 for me and $3 or $4 for each of my kids -- one place even charges me $1 for my 1-year-old, which I think is a little chintzy of them. It adds up pretty fast! I grew up lucky with a backyard pool, and now wish my kids had that luxury, or at least a neighborhood one. We lived in Florida when they were tiny, in a neighborhood with a small HOA fee and a nice pool -- I long for it now.
I'm a little surprised at the fee to use the beach.
if you are in Utah Valley, you can use the kiddie pool up at Deseret Towers at BYU for either a very small fee, or it's free. I've never gone so I'm not entirely sure.
I am thinking it may be worth hitting the Mundelien (sp) pool for $2. I told Ryan we spent $7 and he is like, "WHAT?" But we still plan on seeing you there on Saturday.
I even asked the girl at the front desk if they offer discounts if we promise to stay in the kiddie area...she said "no". I think I will send Ryan in to negotiate a better price.
You have to pay to go to the beach?! Aside from an annual membership fee, the pool I grew up going to was free.
Now places like Seven Peaks and Raging Waters are way expensive to get into and I'm okay to pay.....but those are more like the once a summer type pools.
Phoenix pools still $1.50 for adults and $.50 for kids. But, hey, Casa D&M Pool is free 24/7, and we'll put in a spouting whale (okay, just me in a black singlet with a squirt gun) if we get to see Miss Dub more often. The big water parks are all $24...maybe why I've only ever been to Big Surf and not in 15 years. But dude, paying to go to the beach seems majorly wrong.
p-daddy o'mine -
i would pay large amounts of money to see you in a singlet. (or not to see you in a singlet, i can't decide.)
i wish we could use your pool every day for free, but illinois and arizona would need to do some major state rearranging to make that happen.
oh well, there's always HB.
The public beaches in LA county are free; parking at the public beaches, however, is $7 to $10 for the day. Beachgoing is actually one of the cheapest recreational activities in LA (by comparison, parking in my downtown office building is $35 for the day). Let's be honest, Santa Monica is not the world's nicest beach, but it's still the beach.
$25? Isn't water free?
Isn't that a Target swimsuit I see? Molly has the same one! :)
We went to the beach in Maryland last weekend and they wanted to charge us $9 per person and $7 per child over 2 years old. $34 for three adults and one 3 year old... just to walk on raked sand for an hour or so. We said no way, and found a less maintained section of the beach that was free and spent our 45 minutes there. My daughter never realized the difference.
Thoughts on the Chicago beach...
I am from a small town, where you could buy a summer pass for... I don't know... $10 maybe. But, alas, I too have arrived in the Chicagoland area. A few things we have learned.
The beaches IN Chicago are free. They are crowded (and not always as clean), but they are always free.
You can buy a "pre-season" beach pass in the burbs. I think ours was $25 for the summer.
You can ALMOST always buy a season pass to the aquatic center. In Wilmette you pay $7 per day or $25 for the summer.
But, for some reason, they never tell you these things...
Ours is $2.00 for adults, $1.50 for kids, and under 2 is free. I'm feeling pretty grateful right now.
We like to go to grandma's and play in her little kid pool, or run through the sprinklers, or put the hose on the slide. Good times, and all free, plus Grandma's ice cream afterward!
2 words for you... season pass. here in the good ol' town of provo, utah, i like to frequent seven peaks with my two little dudes, but it cost 21 buckaroos for me to get in on any given day (free for them because they are under 3 years). so my husband and i each bought a season pass for $45 (it's $109 regular price, but you can always find deals) and we've been going a couple times a week all summer long. not bad considering we paid for our season passes after the first three times we went... but yeah, still expensive. if i didn't live on the corner of a busy intersection, i would have just bought a plastic pool and let my kids run around there every day. on the other hand, it's a small price to pay to stay nice and cool on a hot summer day and to have some serious fun in the water. :)
i pay way too much rent here in Huntington Beach BUT, I hop on my bicycle and it's four blocks to the big free beach. In fact, I just got back from a late evening run that ended in a little splish splash in the Pacific. I could go every single day if I didn't have to earn a living...
Post a Comment