Water slides: please don't do this

On Kate Presents, I try to make an effort to stay positive, so I don't usually post very often about things that I really dislike. It is a belief that I hold very strongly that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

That said- there are a few things that I am quite happy to be outspoken about disliking and this is one of them- I hate the way water slides look. In my mind, they fit into two categories: ugly, and horribly ugly. The worst offense of all is when you don't have a hill to slide down, so you just build one.... in the middle of nothing... and then you label it naturalistic. They don't look natural! In nature, water runs downhill, end of story. It doesn't magically get pumped up to the top of a pile of rocks so that it can tumble down.

And, as much as I do believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I believe something else even more strongly: things that look like they violate the laws of nature, like you tried to copy nature's work and just did a bad job of it, those things can never be beautiful.

(Normally, I link to the photos I use as examples. In this case, I'm sure you'll all understand why I'm not doing that).

What do you all think? Water slides, really fun or really ugly?

© Kate Wiseman 2012. In San Diego? Want your own waterwise landscape design? I'd love to help! Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.