Friday, February 27, 2009
P.S. SPONTANEOUS TALES
Just a heads up... i am not going to try to make these short stories in chronological order date wise but rather write them spontaneously as they come to mind. Perhaps the random mix of "then and now" may make it more interesting to read and certainly more interestingly for me to write. The stories will be a mix of my childhood and family memories, life before my kids as a young married adult, times with my girls, and current tales of my adult life experiences. They will be a mix of both Midwest living experiences and stories exploring the great lakes of which i love. Here we go....
Thursday, February 26, 2009
WAVES AND FUN !!
I have lived in the Midwest for most of my life and this blog will tell the tales of my experiences living here and exploring the glorious Great Lakes region of the USA and the lakes themselves.I write these stories for my girls and while my memory is still sparking of them.
I have always been in awe of the Great Lakes region and the lakes themselves and have had soooooooooooooooo many adventures exploring them as well. Nothing special perhaps in anyone else's eyes but fond memories and creative adventures if i say so myself. Most of these experiences have been with my husband Dave , some with my daughters Liz and Kate,some with our best friend Mike, some with my dad or brother Garyor Dale, or still others with friends. So these are my musketeer buddies i will speak of.
My earliest awesome memory of my Lake Michigan adventures was with my dad in Milwaukee when i was in grade school.He was a truck driver for Railway Express Agency and worked a shift where he got off work in the early evening( i think he worked 11-7 as he was always home to make us breakfast before school after my mom left for work). My dad hated the hot humid weather of mid Summer in Milwaukee in the 1950's, and when he got off work , off to the lakefront we would go. And it was born- my first encounter with Lake Michigan.Dad would drive us down to the lake front in the evening and take us swimming with our giant truck tire inner tubes,till well after sunset. This sounds dangerous but actually the beach we went to had very shallow water and bright spotlights from the concession building(although i never remember seeing anyone else on the beach after dark, my dad hated crowds so he probably loved this part too). The beach was far down a steep hill that had a paved winding path all the way down to the beach. So the first fun part was rolling our giant inner tubes down the hill and trying to keep up with them till we hit the beach. Then we would ride the waves up and down in a nice cool splash of water on a hot summer evening.My brother Dale came along but i can't remember if my oldest brother Gary came to? I will have to ask him about that.
How unusual for my dad to do this as he never even let us go swimming with another family if invited, for he feared we may drown. (My Uncle Lee who was my dad's buddy) lost two of his brothers in a fishing boat accident and my dad never forgot that.) He also let us ride on his big freckled back as he swam up and down through the water making "walrus" sounds or so he said. The waves were so much fun even if they weren't big (although many times they were due to the shallow water)and it was such safe fun after all. This beach had an amazing concession stand during the day that sold ice cream.popsicles,hot dogs and all the usual beach treats that kids love,when we came on some Sunday afternoons. They had neat picnic tables on the roof of the one story concession building with a little less chance for blowing sand to get deposited in our ice cream cones!!And i remember some colorful paintings on the side and roof of the building. To access this beach, as it was in a really nice neighborhood, you had to go get tickets from the fire department. There was a little booth you turned the tickets into at the top of the hill, before taking the path down to the beach.Years later they actually built a tram to take you down- i wonder if it is still there today?? The tickets were free. I guess they just wanted to limit the number of people coming to their beach, so made it a little more difficult to access it. Funny huh?? But boy oh boy, what fun we had and i remember feeling so excited doing this adventurous thing as a young girl!! It is a great childhood memory for me!!
I have always been in awe of the Great Lakes region and the lakes themselves and have had soooooooooooooooo many adventures exploring them as well. Nothing special perhaps in anyone else's eyes but fond memories and creative adventures if i say so myself. Most of these experiences have been with my husband Dave , some with my daughters Liz and Kate,some with our best friend Mike, some with my dad or brother Garyor Dale, or still others with friends. So these are my musketeer buddies i will speak of.
My earliest awesome memory of my Lake Michigan adventures was with my dad in Milwaukee when i was in grade school.He was a truck driver for Railway Express Agency and worked a shift where he got off work in the early evening( i think he worked 11-7 as he was always home to make us breakfast before school after my mom left for work). My dad hated the hot humid weather of mid Summer in Milwaukee in the 1950's, and when he got off work , off to the lakefront we would go. And it was born- my first encounter with Lake Michigan.Dad would drive us down to the lake front in the evening and take us swimming with our giant truck tire inner tubes,till well after sunset. This sounds dangerous but actually the beach we went to had very shallow water and bright spotlights from the concession building(although i never remember seeing anyone else on the beach after dark, my dad hated crowds so he probably loved this part too). The beach was far down a steep hill that had a paved winding path all the way down to the beach. So the first fun part was rolling our giant inner tubes down the hill and trying to keep up with them till we hit the beach. Then we would ride the waves up and down in a nice cool splash of water on a hot summer evening.My brother Dale came along but i can't remember if my oldest brother Gary came to? I will have to ask him about that.
How unusual for my dad to do this as he never even let us go swimming with another family if invited, for he feared we may drown. (My Uncle Lee who was my dad's buddy) lost two of his brothers in a fishing boat accident and my dad never forgot that.) He also let us ride on his big freckled back as he swam up and down through the water making "walrus" sounds or so he said. The waves were so much fun even if they weren't big (although many times they were due to the shallow water)and it was such safe fun after all. This beach had an amazing concession stand during the day that sold ice cream.popsicles,hot dogs and all the usual beach treats that kids love,when we came on some Sunday afternoons. They had neat picnic tables on the roof of the one story concession building with a little less chance for blowing sand to get deposited in our ice cream cones!!And i remember some colorful paintings on the side and roof of the building. To access this beach, as it was in a really nice neighborhood, you had to go get tickets from the fire department. There was a little booth you turned the tickets into at the top of the hill, before taking the path down to the beach.Years later they actually built a tram to take you down- i wonder if it is still there today?? The tickets were free. I guess they just wanted to limit the number of people coming to their beach, so made it a little more difficult to access it. Funny huh?? But boy oh boy, what fun we had and i remember feeling so excited doing this adventurous thing as a young girl!! It is a great childhood memory for me!!
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