Day trips and destination swims are amazing, but my husband and I are trying to get into the habit of going swimming on weeknights as well. It takes a little bit of effort after an exhausting workday (unless you’re lucky enough to have a pool in your backyard) but it’s also the best way to decompress.

There are a couple of other pools closer to us, but Amos Waites Outdoor Pool in the Mimico neighbourhood in south Etobicoke is close to so many of our favourite restaurants, so we figured we’d turn our Thursday evening swim into a full-on swim date.

There is a small parking lot beside the pool, which is in a small park with a great playground and nautical themed water play area. There are public washrooms in the park itself, and to access the pool you have to walk behind them and along the chain-link fence surrounding the pool.  The women’s change room is fairly small but does have two individual change rooms with benches, alongside the larger open changing room.  When we arrived just after 5:30 pm there were only a handful of other swimmers in the pool. So often we are visiting pools with the rest of the weekend crowd, and it’s nice to escape this on weekdays and actually do some real swimming. Although we didn’t stay for too long, my fitbit tells me I managed to swim a kilometre back and forth across the width of the deep end. Submerging myself under the water, the day’s stress evaporated as the outside sounds became muted in that peaceful, underwater way.

We were definitely hungry by the time we got out of the pool, and we decided to get dinner at one of our favourite pizza places. FBI Pizza is just a few minutes away, on foot or by car, and never disappoints. They offer all kids of specialty pizzas along with a great selection of homemade dips. (I love, and chose, the Asiago). We split the Diavola pizza, which was just the right amount of spicy and delicious, and chose to add sauteed mushrooms, making it extra tasty. FBI Pizza can get busy on the weekend, but on a Thursday night there were only a few other patrons and the service was quick and friendly.

I am already looking forward to our next swim date!

Go to Amos Waites Outdoor Pool!

Go to FBI Pizza!