This is a HUGE weekend for nudist parks and ours is no exception. The pool area has about 3 times more people than yesterday and they keep coming!  By tomorrow evening, the place will be wall-to-wall with naked bodies.

We have lots of events scheduled, including the obligatory annual fireworks display. It’s always quite a show and everyone has sore necks the following day, from staring up at the sky for so long.   There will be tons of food with a lot of barbecues smoking up a storm and delicious smells filling the air.

But the biggest attraction is being pool side. I just came from there and you wouldn’t believe all the nude red, white and tanned bodies that are lounging all around it. We have three sides to pick from. They are: the sunny side, the end that slowly gets shade by mid afternoon, and the shady side. I like to call it the ‘dark side’. That’s where I set up my nest (a lounge chair covered with a pad and two matching beach towels). It’s very comfy in 100 degree weather!

Every year we get 3 types of sun worshipers:

1. Tanned and on a mission-These folks come prepared. They are already VERY dark and spend the entire time here, slathering on tanning oil and baking. They never get in the pool or move to the shaded area. These are some serious tanners!
2. Virgin skin that has never seen the light of day-I cringe when I see them come in. Sometimes they apply tanning lotion but usually they just lay out and bake until they are red as a lobster. It hurts just to watch. We met a young couple here, a few years ago, and the woman was getting so red, I was afraid she would get sun poisoning, or a sun stroke or something! We spoke with her (and her fella), while in the pool, about mid afternoon, and expressed our concern. She just smiled and said she would be fine. Now when we see them arrive at the beginning of each season, she comes over to us and says that she brought suntan lotion and will apply it generously. She learned her lesson that year-the hard way.
3. Regular Nudists-yep, the rest of them are nudists too, but they haven’t quite got the right idea yet. Being a nudist doesn’t mean trying to be the darkest body at the pool (and I’m not saying there is anything wrong with it!), nor does it mean that you have to get burned to prove that you are one. Heck, we have neighbors here that never go to the pool! They are about as un-tanned as you can get-yet they are still full time nudists. But the rest of us work up to a tan, little by little. This year I got a gardeners tan before the season even started. And my friends and I would lay out in our yards for an hour or so, when we had the time (and weather permitting), to get a more even tan. Let’s face it, if we are going to be nude out in the summer sun, its probably a good idea to get our skin used to it. Just makes sense!

So there you have it. The unofficial (my personal opinion) explanation, for how folks like to tan at a nudist park. And guess what? It’s just like anywhere else! That’s what’s so wonderful about living here. We are just like everyone else, except we do everything without clothes on. What a concept!