The Beach

I grew spending my summers in a bathing suit, in and on the water. 
I was fortunate to have grown up in an area where that was possible.

I grew up in a suburb called Fairview. All my friends and I spent our summer at the beach.
My friend Nanette's parents had a home in a development that was on the water. 
So we would meet there and walk down the path to the beach. There were bonfires and just laying on our blankets and doing what kids did in the early 70's hanging out on the beach.
All so very innocent.

When I got older we would ride our bikes into the city to Presque Isle state park. Now my parents wouldn't let me ride my bike there. They thought it was too far (10 miles) and too busy traffic wise. But they let me ride my bike to Cathy's house. And from there we rode our bike to the beach. Cathy's mom thought it was fine. 

The state park is free. I believe it to be over 3,000 acres and I probably should have googled that before I typed this. (I'll let you do that) It is 11 miles of sandy beaches, lagoons, walking trails, concessions stand at the beach as well as cute life guards etc. When you're a kid, those cute lifeguards were 'da bomb'   Everything you want the beach to be. It's a gem in a city that is not so gem like.

We'd ride our bikes to the beach in our bikini's. What the hell were we thinking? Sometimes I'd have a t-shirt on but sometimes I didn't. I remember a time riding with my girlfriends, and we were heading to our favorite beach at that time, which was beach 6.  A car full of boys our age drove by and they smacked us on the ass. I fell off my bike. I was only in my bathing suit so when I fell on the pavement I had a bad gravel/pavement burn down the side of my right leg.  OUCH.  But I sure couldn't go home and tell my parents since I wasn't suppose to be down there in the first place. So as far as they knew, I fell in Cathy's driveway. 

One day we were on the beach and we saw the guys from a band we loved. It was Donnie Iris. He was in a band called the Jaggerz. They had a couple of hits, two, being, Ah Leah, and The Rapper. They were a regional band and I believe from Pittsburgh. Now Donnie wasn't cute but to us he was a rock 'n roll star so we were giggly goofy girls who weren't old enough to drive a car. But they thought we were older and we went along. Of course, the band talked to us and asked if we were going to the show. They said if we went to the door and said our names they would be sure to have us get in. I am sure they had no idea how young we really were. 
So of course we didn't tell them. Cathy told them we were 18 when he asked her how old she was. We looked it and sure played along. We were "swooning" 

Oooh, I knew my father wouldn't let me go but I sure was gonna try. And right I was, I wasn't allowed to go. None of us were. We were 15, I wouldn't let my daughter go either. But trust me when I say I wasn't happy. We were all so stupid to tell our parents we could get in for free. 
Our parents knew what we didn't know and of course they wouldn't let us go. You don't get in for free for nothing.  Kids today aren't that naive but boy we sure were.

This place is my favorite place. It has everything for 4 seasons. Once you leave what I feel is a dirty depressed city and you enter this park you are swept away. I have spent my life traveling to beaches and none are any better. Each beach is numbered and each has its own personality and differences. One is great for the wind so you'll see the windsurfers and professional kite flyers. One has a lot of picnic tables and is more family friendly etc.

I love winter there too. I used to cross country ski there in winter. The animals were so close to you on the trails when skiing and that to me was cool. Of course, my husband loves the fishing there most of all. The lagoons and the bay were his favorite spots for his fishing.

There is a lot of history there of course as well. Monuments to Commodore Perry and the battle of Lake Erie. Along with the tall ship Niagara. A little bit of everything there for everyone and it's free. Doesn't get any better than that. I know there are a lot of bird sanctuaries and bird groups. Not a fan of the bird so never did partake in those sorts of things but knew it was a big deal down there and used to see all the bird watchers in their groups. 

There is a working lighthouse on Presque Isle.  As you'd drive by sometimes you'd see the family who lived there outside. I used to tell my parents how cool it would be to live there. Then as I got older I used to tell my friends the same thing. I was always fascinated by this damn thing. Then it was no longer lived in and just used for some offices for the park etc. I so wanted to see the inside of this place. But there was never a tour so it was just always something I had pictures of, pen and ink drawings hanging in my home or I could walk by on the beach to view.

This past week while in my hometown to visit my family I got to tour the lighthouse.
My sister from the west coast was in town with only 1 of her children. The youngest one is 12, Sophie,  she wanted to see all the things her mom did when she was a kid. So we took a drive out to Fairview to show her the house we all grew up in. The big tree in the front that her mom planted from a science project in school. We took her to ax murder hollow where her mom had told her the story of her big sister Peggy scaring the bejeebers out of her. Sophie loved that story. We showed her the schools her mom went to and that too was fun for her. But her favorite part was the beach. 

We stopped and got ice cream at Sara's, which is an institution in these parts.
We showed her the house boats on the bay and then as we were driving by the lighthouse we saw they were having tours.  I squealed the brakes and we 3 went in.  I was like a little kid, something I have always wanted to do is finally happening. 

The tour was going to begin in a few minutes so we could walk around the house while waiting for the tour to begin. The tour took us up the top of the tower. As we were walking around commenting on how damn small the room were a woman came into the room we were in. We saw her sitting at a table earlier signing copies of a book in the room that was now a gift shop
As I pointed something out to my sister, this woman jumped in and said, "That's right it is 5 bricks thick" She then introduced herself to us and shook our hands and told us she lived in this house from 1956 to 1965. She had great stories.  Her father was thrilled to get this opportunity for the hunting and fishing at the time that was allowed on the park. She said he came home and told her mother that they could live there for $25 a month. Her mother said yes. They moved in and her mother learned there was no running water in the house. 

Now to me that would have been the end of my idea of living in the lighthouse. 
But they lived that way for a year. She had some great tales to share!
Finally, our tour was ready. 

We climbed these narrow steps up a spiral staircase to the very top. 
We were told how men and women who lived in this house would climb these every 3 hours with buckets of oil to keep the light burning. 1 trip up and 1 trip down was enough for me.
Today, of course, this is not done by oil. It is modernized.  Those steps were a killer. They were so very narrow. One of the women in the group was a large woman and she got up just the first couple and we all had to back down. She couldn't fit width-wise as it turned the first bend. I felt badly for her. 

The steps were so narrow that you had to walk on the side that was wide for your foot to fit. One side was like only a piece and the other side was wider. But coming down I still put my foot sideways and held on for dear life. The steps for me were also very high from one step to another. I am short so that was an issue. My niece of 12 has longer legs so she was laughing at me.  We got a fun history lesson up there. Sophie got to see Canada across the lake. She got a kick about that. This kid doing the tour took to Sophie being that she was the youngest there and really pointed things out to her specifically. She asked so many questions. The young man doing the tour mentioned how a young man walked across the frozen lake to Ontario and how three years later someone swam to Long Beach Ontario from beach 10 and that beach was later named after him. All the way home she kept asking us questions about it. I knew the kid who walked across the frozen lake he was my friends older brother. But I did not know the person who swam across lake Erie. She drove us crazy for awhile with all the questions. Then telling her grandma (mom ) about the thickness of the lighthouse and how it was built that way to withstand the winters and winds.  But I was also thrilled that she was so interested in something I was so happy doing. 

This gal is a gymnast and she is tumbling constantly. She did it as you see below even at the lighthouse.

 These were the harrowing steps to the top of the light house. Note how they are wide on one side and so narrow and short on the other.

Views from the top of the lighthouse. 

 This was from one of the windows as we were going up. This out building was the oil shed. It was used to store the oil for the light. 

This is Sara's at the entrance to the park. Yum!

 Of course I had an orange sherbet vanilla twist in a dish. Mmm.....love soft serve orange sherbet!
That skinny little girl above ate curly fries, hot dog, huge cone and then flipped around the park and I supposed burned it off. Damn, to be young again!