Oh we had great times, swimming all day at the public pool which was a 10 minute walk through the neighborhood to the park and pool. Gorgeous park, green grass, beauitful trees, a creek with ‘secret’ hideouts along it;s banks that made you feel like you were in a tropical country, all overgrown with bamboos and various bushy bushes. The pool opened at 1p.m. and closed at 8:15 pm. We kids would swim from 1 til about 5ish, rush home, wolf down some dinner and go back and swim til dusk. Then we would loiter in the park and wander home. It was a very safe neighborhood and it was the 60’s, parents cut us loose and sometimes didn’t see us all day, no worries. :-)
As a teen we all migrated to the local river for swimming and rafting and the bike trail which ran for miles and miles. We would swim and raft all day, go home, change and go out and party til all hours of the night, usually at friends whose folks were on vacation. This was now the 70’s. haha I grew up in a fairly affluent country club suburb and it was not uncommon for us older teens to have the house to ourselves, mommy and daddys credit cards, and we threw a lot of kegger parties, amongst other debauchery. ;-)
One friends folks were both archeology professors at the state U, their house was amazing, full of artifacts and they collected cultural masks. It was our favorite house to drop acid or eat Peyote and play with the Zulu masks. His dad had a huge greenhouse full of tropical Orchids too, it was a great party house! hahaha