When it is hot, there is no better place to go to cool down than a swimming hole! Of course, you’ll need to know what a swimming hole is before you go looking for one.

A swimming hole is a place in a river or stream water where there is enough water for a person to swim. A swimming hole can also refer to a lake or even a pool (if you live in the city), but it usually refers to fresh water so you wouldn’t call the ocean a swimming hole. When most people think about a swimming hole they think about a calm, quite, natural place to go swimming.

For many American’s thinking about a swimming hole makes them think of summer and being a child. This is because it is during the summer months that children have the free time to run and roam around outside and find secret and special swimming holes to cool down from the heat. As adults many of us look back on our summers as children and the time we spent playing with friends outside and finding little swimming holes on our outdoor adventures.

Here is an article that was published a few years back called “Ode to a swimming hole.” An “ode” is traditionally a poem, but sometimes a story in which a person expresses a strong feeling of love or respect for someone or something. (http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0613/p19s01-hfes.html)  If you read this article you will truly understand how important swimming holes are in the American ideal of summer, which is highlighted in the last sentence of the article which is: “Everyone needs a swimming hole.”

You probably know where the best swimming holes are near you, but if you want to see some of the best swimming holes around the United States you can check out this website (http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-best-swimming-holes) which claims to have found the 10 best swimming holes in the whole of America.

No matter where you go to cool down from the summer heat, if you are dipping yourself in water than that is your swimming hole!