On Beaches, Lakes, and Traditions
I could have sworn I wrote a blog post a week ago about our fourth second anniversary. Apparently not. I was all set to write a post yesterday and then somehow I didn't. I even had my new post page open and ready to go.
Whoops. Sorry about that.
It has been a good two weeks. As noted, Gretch and I recently celebrated our fourth year of marriage (that is our second anniversary; our first anniversary is on August 16--the date of our first date). We seem to have established a tradition of going to State Parks for our anniversary. I have been advocating for formalising this since our first second anniversary, when we went to Starved Rock State Park, but Gretch wasn't so sure about it. The next year we went to Moraine View State Park (actually for our third first anniversary, due to the fact that Gretch's sister got married the day before our second wedding anniversary, and we were traveling with her family at the time). Last year we did not go out to celebrate either of our anniversaries due to unemployment on my part.
We decided to go to Moraine View again this year, since we had so much fun at the beach on Dawson's Lake last time. We made sure we had plenty of sunscreen and then, just before we were about to leave, I decided to call the park office to see how much the cost of entry was. I learned that the parks charge one dollar per person per day to go to the lake, but the lake is only open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Our anniversary was on a Wednesday.
So we sat around a bit, bemoaning our ill-luck, and then I thought, "You know, Clinton Lake is fairly close, too. I should check that out." Huzzah! Clinton Lake is open seven days a week during the summer! And while it is officially classified as a Recreation Area, it is listed under state parks on the Illinois Department of Natural Resources website. So we decided to go there, instead.
We grabbed our swim gear, our sunscreen, and stopped off at Jimmy John's to grab a couple of sandwiches for lunch on the beach. (And no, neither one of us got the Beach Club, although the intern at JJ's HQ who runs their Twitter feed suggested it.) Then we opened up the GPS navigation on my phone, started the Doctor Who music, and away we went.
Learned an interesting thing about GPS this trip. It still isn't perfect.
Instead of taking us to the beach portion of the lake, it took us to roughly the middle of Clinton Lake.
Oh, and did you know that there is a nuclear power plant in Clinton, Illinois? It is apparently right next to the middle part of the lake. We were clearly in the wrong part and, as if the nuclear power plant wasn't enough of a clue, there was a sign that said, "NO BEACH ENTRY!" I should have taken a picture. Instead I just turned around and navigated by road signs until we found the beach.
(Quick aside: I learned that a friend of mine from high school works for Exelon, and is going to help me arrange to have a classroom visit about what they do there. Pretty cool!)
So we spent several hours at the beach. Lots of sunscreen, and only a little bit of sunburn on Gretch's shoulders, because I still haven't mastered the art of slathering on the lotion. We may be amending our anniversary celebration policy to just going to the lake each year. I know my family had a tradition of going to Moraine View State Park each year for, oh, I don't even know how long (although we apparently stopped around 1993 or 1994, since my baby sister has never been). There is a strong possibility we will be picking up the tradition for our own family.
Whoops. Sorry about that.
It has been a good two weeks. As noted, Gretch and I recently celebrated our fourth year of marriage (that is our second anniversary; our first anniversary is on August 16--the date of our first date). We seem to have established a tradition of going to State Parks for our anniversary. I have been advocating for formalising this since our first second anniversary, when we went to Starved Rock State Park, but Gretch wasn't so sure about it. The next year we went to Moraine View State Park (actually for our third first anniversary, due to the fact that Gretch's sister got married the day before our second wedding anniversary, and we were traveling with her family at the time). Last year we did not go out to celebrate either of our anniversaries due to unemployment on my part.
We decided to go to Moraine View again this year, since we had so much fun at the beach on Dawson's Lake last time. We made sure we had plenty of sunscreen and then, just before we were about to leave, I decided to call the park office to see how much the cost of entry was. I learned that the parks charge one dollar per person per day to go to the lake, but the lake is only open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Our anniversary was on a Wednesday.
So we sat around a bit, bemoaning our ill-luck, and then I thought, "You know, Clinton Lake is fairly close, too. I should check that out." Huzzah! Clinton Lake is open seven days a week during the summer! And while it is officially classified as a Recreation Area, it is listed under state parks on the Illinois Department of Natural Resources website. So we decided to go there, instead.
We grabbed our swim gear, our sunscreen, and stopped off at Jimmy John's to grab a couple of sandwiches for lunch on the beach. (And no, neither one of us got the Beach Club, although the intern at JJ's HQ who runs their Twitter feed suggested it.) Then we opened up the GPS navigation on my phone, started the Doctor Who music, and away we went.
Learned an interesting thing about GPS this trip. It still isn't perfect.
Instead of taking us to the beach portion of the lake, it took us to roughly the middle of Clinton Lake.
Oh, and did you know that there is a nuclear power plant in Clinton, Illinois? It is apparently right next to the middle part of the lake. We were clearly in the wrong part and, as if the nuclear power plant wasn't enough of a clue, there was a sign that said, "NO BEACH ENTRY!" I should have taken a picture. Instead I just turned around and navigated by road signs until we found the beach.
(Quick aside: I learned that a friend of mine from high school works for Exelon, and is going to help me arrange to have a classroom visit about what they do there. Pretty cool!)
So we spent several hours at the beach. Lots of sunscreen, and only a little bit of sunburn on Gretch's shoulders, because I still haven't mastered the art of slathering on the lotion. We may be amending our anniversary celebration policy to just going to the lake each year. I know my family had a tradition of going to Moraine View State Park each year for, oh, I don't even know how long (although we apparently stopped around 1993 or 1994, since my baby sister has never been). There is a strong possibility we will be picking up the tradition for our own family.
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