Horsetooth reservoir, Ft. Collins, Colorado, August 3

No swimming in Lake Michigan because I'm in Colorado. The closest big body of water is the Horsetooth Reservoir in the Rocky Mountain foothills just outside of town. It is about 6 miles long and averages about 1/2 mile wide in what was, until recently, a steep valley. Like our Lake there are official swim areas, the one I liked was in a small cove marked by two buoys restricting boating. But the actual official swim area is a small 25 foot radius semicircle marked by a yellow oil boom. Unlike our Lake there are no lifeguards and even the official area gets deep quickly. The big people use the entire cove for swimming which does allow for a 200 yard straight swim, not Lake quality but better than a pool. In my first attempt a park ranger in a boat came up to me and told me that I needed a life jacket to swim outside the marked area. I asked him "are you serious?", his reply was the usual "I don't make rules, I just get paid to enforce them." Later talking to people on shore I learned that this was an unusual encounter, perhaps I somehow looked like an intruder from Chicago. Anyway I didn't have this problem again.

The water was absolutely beautiful, 75ish and very flat and, although a bit silty it had a much nicer feel than the Lake. But mostly the air, sun and just being outdoors made just hanging out at the beach a very pleasant experience. One caveat, unlike our Lake beaches one regular beach visitor was a 7 ft. bull snake. But like the rest of us he was just enjoying the sun and minding his own business so was just part of the ambiance.