When the pools around town close for the summer, and the lifeguard whistles stop tweeting across the warm air, most of us in Colorado put thoughts of swimming to rest. Our eyes and hearts shift quickly from the pool to the slow build-up of snow on the mountains to our west. We hit the ski sales and re-outfit our growing kids in new gear, while bathing suits sink forgotten to the bottom of dresser drawers.

I am a summer girl, however, who counts the days until Memorial Day as soon as the sun sets on Labor Day. And I have a child who loves being in the water. It’s not necessarily about swimming for him. It’s just the calm, the ease of movement. So this winter, for the first time, I looked to our local indoor pools and was more than pleasantly surprised about the options.

An entire family can spend the day swimming while watching the snow fall outside from steamy floor-to-ceiling windows. And it costs as little as $20 for a family of four. Here are a few we have enjoyed from north of the city to south of it: