It’s 100 degrees and I’ve got pool envy — here’s why

I am writing this on what may be the second hottest day of the year.

Yesterday, July 2, might have taken the top spot — I saw 105 on my car dashboard. Today made a run at 100. The Fourth looks like triple digits too. Ah, sweet relief. Eventually.

The traffic reports on New Jersey 101.5 were intense today. The Parkway south, filled. The feeder roads running east to the beach, packed solid. By the afternoon it eased up some. Sweet relief there too, though not much of it.

The weather and the traffic — yeah, we've always had you covered. But as much as I love the Shore, I always ask myself the same question on the hottest days of the year: is it worth it? Traffic, more traffic, an expensive parking spot, and finally, you've arrived.

Honestly, when it gets like this, I have pool envy. We don't have one. We have friends who do. You want to swim, you walk out the door and jump in the water. All the rest of it — the driving, the parking, the crowds — is out of the equation entirely.

SEE ALSO: Best and worst times to drive to the Jersey Shore 2026 

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Where the pool days started

My earliest memory of swimming in a pool is "vacationing" at my aunt and uncle's house in Hammonton. My uncle's brother had a pool, and for the weeks I would spend at my aunt's house, we lived in that water. Their patio was wired for sound, and they always had it tuned to a Philadelphia station called WIFI 92 — a station name that was somehow ahead of its time. Great music that summer of '73. The Doobie Brothers. Jim Croce. Elton John. A one-hit wonder called "Brother Louie."

A few years later I had a girlfriend in Mays Landing whose family had a pool, and her mom always had treats and cool drinks waiting. Classic Fourth of Julys happened at my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Rich's house in Absecon — hamburgers, hot dogs, and always, always, steamed clams and clams on the half shell. We all descended on a Barnegat Bay clammer after all.

As I got older, there were apartment complex pools. A friend's pool right on Lake Lenape in Mays Landing, which was my mid-80s hangout of choice. Neighborhood pool clubs when our own kids were young, and a pool right next to a neighbor's tiki bar. There may or may not have been a skinny-dipping incident a few years back. I am not confirming or denying anything.

What they all had in common

Every single one of those pools had one thing in common: awesome people to spend time with. That is the actual ingredient. Not the water. The people floating in it with you.

Those pool days are always among the best of the summer, and they always have been, going back to a wired patio in Hammonton in the 1970s.

Tomorrow we are heading to a friend's house for adult beverages, hoagies, and great conversation. With the forecast sitting at 100 degrees, we will be in that pool all day. I already know it is going to be one of the most memorable days of the summer of 2026.

I hope this rambling, remember-whening on a Saturday night was not too self-indulgent. My real goal was to get you thinking about your own pool days — past, present, and future. Remember the good ones. And then go be present in the one happening right now.

Cheers to summer, family, friends, and the swimming pool.

Happy 4th of July! 🇺🇸