Beachy Keen

If you've known us for longer than 10 minutes, you already know we're a beach-going, lake-loving family.  We took that reputation very seriously in the last week of June 2019.

With the weather finally warm and dry enough to seek out more water, we visited no less than five different Lake Erie beaches in a week. 

Not a bad way to live.

First up:  Edgewater.  Our perennial favorite, certainly the beach we visit most often during the off-season.  A pretty, 7- degree night in June is a different story.  The beach was hopping, the line for concessions stretched to the sand, and the sun-kissed, chilly water was dotted with after-hours swimmers.  Out without our dog for the evening, we played Frisbee and stayed among the crowds instead of heading to the dog beach.

 What I love about the beach:  It works magic on our kids.  They can be grumpy little boogers harassing one another all day and the moment they hit the sand this happens...

 Next up:  Huntington Beach.  Hot and bright, Friday called out for us to pack up all the chairs and towels and make a real beach day of it.

We hemmed and hawed between heading way east to Mentor Headlands or way west to Huntington.  Chose the latter because historically it's had a nice wide expanse of sand and with the lake levels so high this year that seemed and important consideration.  We were surprised to find only about 10 feet of beach in most areas!  Luckily it was not at all crowded and so there was plenty of sand for our little base camp.

 And to play Kan Jam.

 We stayed for 4 hours, picnicked, met up with friends, and thoroughly  baked ourselves in the delicious sun, bobbing about in water that felt just right.  As we were leaving, some large groups of high schoolers were beginning to congregate, bringing back memories for me of so many afternoons during the early 1990's, laying out on this beach with my friends...

 Beach #3:  Euclid Beach.  Best kept secret in Cleveland, this one. Perhaps its just that we keep visiting it on the most perfect of afternoons, but this little spot may be my current favorite.

 Frisbee and hanging out with my two guys while Ivy was with a friend.

 But wait, there's more!  A quick stop at E. 55th Marina after dinner out for our anniversary...Not quite a beach but one of our closest-to-home sunset spots AND they have a bar.

 And one more to finish out the month:  Presque Isle State Park.  A quick stop on our way to Farley's.  We enjoyed our scenic drive around the park, with it's wetlands and ponds overflowing their banks, and waterways with great names such as Misery Bay.  Then we stopped to peek at the lighthouse and we were somehow transported from Lake Erie to South Carolina, with a gorgeous, ocean-y view opening up before us, complete with sand dunes.

 We were all enchanted.  The kids laid themselves down in the warm sand and proceeded to just chill out on the beach together for 20 minutes while Nat and I walked and threw a stick for the dog.

 Somehow we had the place to ourselves.  The water was so intensely blue and the sun so just-right and all 3 of our little ones so very content. As always with beaches, I had to pull myself away....

 We will definitely  be adding "lighthouse beach" to our rotation, any time we're in Erie...