MOSES LAKE — Okay, it is mid-July, so it’s reasonable to expect triple-digit temperatures. The question is, how to stay cool? Or at least, stay cooler?

Well, that’s what the pool is for.

All that water looks really inviting on a hot day. The Surf ‘n Slide Water Park was full of kids – and adults, for that matter – spending as much time as possible in the water on a very hot day.

Most people who weren’t in the water sought the shade, either setting up chairs under the trees or in the shade of the umbrellas and shade structures. Not Holly Thompson – no shade structure for her. She sat out in the sun, reading her magazine. “I like it,” said Thompson, Moses Lake, who had accompanied her children. She soaked up the sun, kept an eye on the kids. “It’s great.”

Parents and grandparents encouraged little kids to slide down those two scary big slides decorated like an octopus and a tropical island. Some kids who managed the climb to the top of the island hesitated when it came to actually using the slide – boy, it was a long way down.

Moses Lake’s pool draws swimmers from all over central Washington. Shanna Simonson and Sally Vietzke had one reason for driving over from Ellensburg.

“Entertaining kids,” Vietzke said.

Of course Ellensburg has a pool, recently remodeled too. But it’s an indoor pool, and on a hot July day it’s a little humid in there. So once or twice during the summer Vietzke makes the drive to Moses Lake. “We see lots of other Ellensburg people here,” Simonson said.

Some adults are content to sit in the shade and not get wet. But it’s the high 90s – or hotter – out there. “We’ll definitely get in (the pool) when we get hot,” Simonson said.

The pool is a regular stop for visiting family. Sara Kowallis and her family were in town from Brigham City, Utah, and were at the pool to meet some cousins. “Only I haven’t seen them yet,” she said.

Kowallis got some food from the cooler – most pools don’t allow coolers, but Surf ‘n Slide does – watched her daughter run off to the Lazy River and sat down to enjoy her sandwich “This is a fun pool,” she said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].