August 30th is National Beach Day. This is to recognise our beaches, and also to take care of them. We all love beaches. I first went to Florida, and the white sand beaches of Siesta Key beach 46 years ago, when I was dating my future wife. We later took our kids down there many times-almost annually. This year, my wife and I went back down to that same beach with some friends. We may have to again, do this annually.
But I thought today, let’s talk about closer beaches. But, they cannot be a pond or small lake beach. At a real beach, you can listen to the waves. Let me show you this old paperback book “Doing the Dunes” by Jean Komaiko and Norma Schaeffer, published 1974. This is a book about the Indiana Dunes National and State Parks, and surrounding areas. There are wonderful dunes to walk along and explore.
But if you want to talk even closer to home, on my backpack, there is a half-hidden patch from Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, Illinois. We had school trips to study the ecology along Zion Beach State Park. I use to camp there, fish there, even drink beer under-age there.
It helped that I grew up less than a mile from lake Michigan. I was always exploring at the beach. My first date with my future wife was to end with a secluded drive to the beach. We took a back dirt road, and as I was maneuvering around a large flooded puddle, my car got stuck, in fact pulled in further. I had to help my date climb out the window, walk on the hood, and jump to dry land. We then had to walk to my house (this was late in the evening), sneak my Mom’s car to tow my car out and home. The car looked bad. I opened my car door like in the movies, and water poured out. I had to ladle out the footwells. Even with this disaster of a date, she ended up marrying me!
I have this old booklet promoting the beach area in Zion-even with a nuclear Power Plant on the beach. This is simply called ‘Zion, Winthrop Harbor, Beach Park, Illinois” by their joint Chamber of Commerce teams, published in 1975.
As well as little tidbits of what was to be seen in this area, the booklet had ads from local businesses. Our family business Will Inc. was one of the sponsors, and had a small picture.
I got kicked out of that Zion Power Plant when they were first building it. Rode my bike down, crossed the fence on the north side, and walked in. It didn’t take long to get kicked out. Was it because I wasn’t wearing a hard-hat, or because I was a kid wearing shorts and a tank top?
“Listening to the waves” is my mantra sound. I can be lying on the beach in the sun, or sitting under an umbrella. It is not the sun that calls me, but rather the sound of the waves.
What did the beach say to the high tide? Long time no sea.
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