This is my entry for the Summer Lovin' 2021 Contest, inspired by a recent vacation to a favorite beach house of ours. If you enjoy it ... and if you enjoy other entries as well ... please do vote and/or comment and let us all know!
The sunsets looking west across Lake Michigan can be absolutely amazing. It's one of the few places in the U.S., save for the west coast, where the sun sets down behind the flat horizon of a large body of water under an expansive sky. For the 65 years that I have been coming to this family cottage, originally purchased by my grandparents and now shared by my siblings and a set of cousins, sunset after dinner has always been one of the very best moments of the day.
Tonight's version is really spectacular. Bright red at the horizon, streaks of red, yellow and orange stretching up into the air, and a softer rose hue to the clouds way up high. My wife Kaci and I have been here for close to two weeks, and we're heading home tomorrow. A few other family members have also been around, transitioning in and out as their family schedules allowed. We've enjoyed a favorite dinner of steaks with corn-on-the-cobb, and then retired to the front porch looking out towards the lake to watch the show, books open in our laps, sporadic conversation taking place from time to time. Everyone is really just relaxing after a busy day in the sun. Before long it would be gone, and darkness would begin to take over.
"It's our last night, honey. Want to go for a beach walk?", asks Kaci. She's usually one to be early-to-bed in the evenings, and generally doesn't want to go back down to the beach again after she's showered the sand off, washed her hair and cleaned up from the day's activities, so this was an unusual suggestion.
"Really? Sure, this would be a nice night for that." The others all indicate that they are quite content to stay behind and relax, so Kaci and I roust ourselves from our chairs and head out the screen porch door to the stairs leading down to the beach.
When we get down there, it's truly peaceful. We kick our sandals off at the dune deck, and head out over the sand, which despite the warmth of the evening is cool beneath our feet. That hadn't been the case earlier in the day! We follow a small path through the dune grass and over the last dune, down to the water's edge. The sunset is still out there warming the sky, but the sun is gone, and the colors beginning to fade.
This has always been a wonderful beach. First, of all, it has great walking sand. Secondly, the beach is actually owned right to the water's edge by the adjacent cottage owners, though the public always has a dedicated right of passage. So while there are usually plenty of folks walking up and down the breach, we're the only ones able to plop our beach chairs down in front of our cottage and spend the afternoon lazing about. The town beach is a short distance to left, and it gets pretty crowded, but to the right, one can walk for miles, during the day passing in front of other groups of cottage-owner beach chair groupings. At night, except maybe on holidays like the 4
th
of July, the place is usually pretty deserted. We turn right and set out.
"Honey, this really is like a paradise, isn't it?" Kaci slips her arm under mine. "It totally is", I respond. "We're so lucky my grandmother had foresight." We find a comfortable pace somewhere between power walk and peaceful stroll, occasionally getting our feet wet as waves wash up onto the sand. Both the evening air, and the water, seem delightfully warm this time of year. We don't need to talk much, instead simply enjoying the ambiance and the togetherness as we continue up the beach.
After maybe half an hour, a mile or so up the beach, Kaci says "It's starting to get pretty dark. Should we turn around?" The sky is in fact now quite black, save for some stars and a very bright, nearly-full moon out over the lake. That's another great thing about this place -- not a lot of artificial light sources to mess up the night sky. And we can't see another soul at this point.
"Okay, let's head back."
"It's so warm, I bet when we get back to our beach you'll want to go for a last-night-of-vacation skinny dip," Kaci offers. She knows I love swimming naked, and while we can do that -- or, really, I can do it, as she not a fan of it for herself in public -- at a couple of beaches when we go to St. Martin in the winter, it's just not really an option here at a family-oriented beach in the heart of the American Midwest. But at deserted moments, off-season or when it's dark and the beach is empty, she knows I might actually do it and strip off for a quick dip.
"I just might!" I respond back, pleased that she had suggested it. The thought had already occurred to me as we were walking, but I hadn't brought it up. "Want to join me?"
"I'll think about it. Maybe. But, there's just one other thing ....." Kaci says, with a slightly unusual tone to her voice. "I want you to get ready for that dip right now. Strip off and give me your clothes."
"What??!!" I ask, not sure I've heard her right.
"Yes, you heard me right. Give me your clothes, I brought along a bag to put them in." and she pulls one of those nylon squashable shopping bags out of her pocket. "You look like you don't believe me?"
"You really want me to walk all the way back home naked?"