"Summer afternoon—summer afternoon ... the two most beautiful words in the English language." — Henry James
SPLASHING IN A swimming pool is the only way to enjoy a summer afternoon in Las Vegas. In fact, as a card-carrying Southern Nevadan, it's practically your duty. After all, the city owes its very existence to its rich history of refreshing pool experiences for thirsty and weary travelers. Travelers on the Old Spanish Trail would stop at Big Springs and Little Springs, now called Las Vegas Springs, the Valley's original natural water source. The legendary site of the spring is near the intersection of Interstate 95 and Valley View Road. It was this spring that fed the valley's meadows. The meadows en espanol is las vegas. (Find out all about it live and in person when the Las Vegas Springs Preserve opens to the public in May 2005.) Years later, the au naturale spring fling gave way to the more refined in-ground swimming pool experience, a must-have feature at every successful motor lodge or inn built here during the 1950s and 1960s. The skeletal remains of these once-mighty roadside stops line East Fremont Street and dot Las Vegas Boulevard South. When the larger and much fancier hotels such as the Flamingo, Desert Inn and Caesars Palace came into play, pools really made the scene. Who can forget the swim-up blackjack tables at the Tropicana?
Modern Las Vegas builds entire megaresorts around water features that you can (Mandalay Beach) or can't (Bellagio Fountains) swim in. Aren't we are all just dying to see what kind of water features will spring up around Wynn Las Vegas?
Pools aren't just for the tourists, either. Residents have become addicted to pools. So like it or not, pools of water play a major role in our world. So go have some fun in one while the weather allows.
Once the pool is installed, the chemicals balanced and the optimum water temperature achieved, it's time to have some fun. Now, like most fun, the kind of fun to be had in or around a pool is all relative to the participant. Some of us just want to throw a few Rainbow Reef battery-operated fish into the pool, call it décor and be done with it. Others want Poolahoops to swim through or rust-proof treasure to retrieve. Still others may require more interactive toys such as Battle Boogie Battlescope, a snorkeling kit with a periscope feature that allows kids of all ages to transform themselves into a battleship, complete with a squirt gun weapon. These and other fabulous water toys are available at Leslie's Swimming Pool Supplies on West Charleston, just west of Decatur Boulevard. Yes, there are 12 other Leslie's stores in town closer to you, but this one has the largest pool-toy selection and a friendly staff who is not afraid to share toy tales.
Leslie's Swimming Pool Supplies, 5225 W. Charleston Blvd., 878-0956.
An upside-down, rightside-up, sideways, back-ways or all-ways tumble around a pool inside the 5-foot wide Neptune Playground Sphere Habitat is the best thing going this season, according to Leslie's Swimming Pool staffer and official water-toy tester Garret Hampton. The second best is probably the Original Toypedo, a crazy little torpedo that you can actually throw under water. "It goes about 40 feet, so you can play catch underwater," he said. "But you need goggles." Third place goes to the Nikko Rescue Fireboat, a remote-controlled toy that is the best because it squirts water. Squirting water at people is good summer afternoon.
Neptune Playground Sphere Habitat $29.999
Original Toypedo $14.99
Nikko Rescue Fireboat $39.99 (Battery Pack $29.99)
Anne Kellogg is a local writer and a longtime Las Vegan who has a thing for purchasing stuff