Venetian Pool

I just got back from a conference in Miami. Yeah, it sounds fun on paper, but I should note that it was at a hotel near the airport, surrounded by concrete.

The highlight of my trip, aside from playing "touch fingers" with a giggling toddler at the airport, was skipping the closing session of the conference and taking a cab to a place in Coral Gables called the Venetian Pool, which I'd seen in a hotel guest guide. Ostensibly I was trying to beat the rush to the airport, but honestly I just needed an excuse to see this place. I wasn't even sure I was going to swim until I got there, at which point I practically jumped in with my clothes on.

The Venetian Pool is the only swimming pool on the National Register of Historic Places; it was created in 1923 from a coral rock quarry and is fed by a natural spring. It's now the municipal pool of Coral Gables, and it's definitely the coolest municipal pool I've been to.

When I was there yesterday at 3pm, it was 84 degrees and sunny. There were a total of four kids and two adults in the pool. Okay, I probably would've opted for a dozen more toddlers, but we take what the market will bear.