Day 593 -- Silver Beach, St. Joe
We spent the entire day today in St. Joseph, Michigan. We woke up at 9 am.
I am interrupting the flow of this post to emphasize that we woke up at 9 am. Are you kidding me? That's absurd! Colby and I were thrilled!
Colby and I sipped on coffee while the kids swam in the hotel pool. It was one of those cool hotel pools that was both indoor and outdoor, with the little doggie door-like contraption that you could swim through to get from one to the other. Thanks to the new swim bubbles my dad bought the kids, Colby and I could relax in deck loungers without worrying about any of our kids drowning. Those bubbles could be something to be thankful in and of themselves. But, that's a different story.
After our swim, we headed off for Silver Beach Pizza, which is an old train station that has been re-purposed into a restaurant specializing in pizza and beer. Actually, it's still half of a train station, as it is an official Amtrak stop, and the entire south portion of the building is used as an area for passengers waiting to board or buy tickets. Even though it was little too early for beer on a Tuesday, the pizza was fantastic, and we had the luxury of looking right out over the blue water of Lake Michigan.
Unless you've actually been to Silver Beach in St. Joe, I'm not sure there's any way that I could possibly do it justice by my description here. There is, of course, clean white sand and crystal blue water as far as the eye can see. There is a snack bar and changing rooms. There is a children's play area that made my kids' eyes bug out of their heads. There are beach volleyball nets. There are actual human lifeguards who sit up in those huge towers (I've never seen that before in all my years of going to Lake Michigan). There are huge boats out in the lake. There is a pier and a lighthouse. There are colorful umbrellas and happy people spending a beautiful day in a beautiful place. It's happiness, in a place.
Naturally, the beach was fantastic. My kids were meant to be at the beach. Breslin did a full out sand sprint from the car to the water and was three-quarters of the way to the buoy before I caught him. The waves were 2-4 ft today, and he allowed himself to get pummelled by them pretty much the entire day, laughing hysterically the entire time.
Dharia and AJ split their time between swimming and the lure of the sand -- building sand castles, getting buried up their necks, writing messages, and digging canals.
Not only is it refreshing and interesting, the water spouts are amazing at powering the residual sand off of your body. You can't see it in this picture, but there are also vertical spouts that come out of the ground that the kids loved running through. By the time you're done, you're fully cleaned off and you're far enough away from the beach to be done with the sand for good.
Dharia and AJ both said afterwards that it was their favorite part of the entire trip...so we went again.
I am interrupting the flow of this post to emphasize that we woke up at 9 am. Are you kidding me? That's absurd! Colby and I were thrilled!
Colby and I sipped on coffee while the kids swam in the hotel pool. It was one of those cool hotel pools that was both indoor and outdoor, with the little doggie door-like contraption that you could swim through to get from one to the other. Thanks to the new swim bubbles my dad bought the kids, Colby and I could relax in deck loungers without worrying about any of our kids drowning. Those bubbles could be something to be thankful in and of themselves. But, that's a different story.
After our swim, we headed off for Silver Beach Pizza, which is an old train station that has been re-purposed into a restaurant specializing in pizza and beer. Actually, it's still half of a train station, as it is an official Amtrak stop, and the entire south portion of the building is used as an area for passengers waiting to board or buy tickets. Even though it was little too early for beer on a Tuesday, the pizza was fantastic, and we had the luxury of looking right out over the blue water of Lake Michigan.
Unless you've actually been to Silver Beach in St. Joe, I'm not sure there's any way that I could possibly do it justice by my description here. There is, of course, clean white sand and crystal blue water as far as the eye can see. There is a snack bar and changing rooms. There is a children's play area that made my kids' eyes bug out of their heads. There are beach volleyball nets. There are actual human lifeguards who sit up in those huge towers (I've never seen that before in all my years of going to Lake Michigan). There are huge boats out in the lake. There is a pier and a lighthouse. There are colorful umbrellas and happy people spending a beautiful day in a beautiful place. It's happiness, in a place.
Naturally, the beach was fantastic. My kids were meant to be at the beach. Breslin did a full out sand sprint from the car to the water and was three-quarters of the way to the buoy before I caught him. The waves were 2-4 ft today, and he allowed himself to get pummelled by them pretty much the entire day, laughing hysterically the entire time.
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| Okay, this was actually yesterday. The waves were much, much bigger today. I just thought it was a cute picture. |
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| Same thing here. |
After 2 days of digging and rolling around in the sand, I'm sorry to say that I haven't gotten any better at leaving the beach without my kids having sand in every nook and cranny. St. Joe, however, has the most creative, effective and spectacular way of helping you out with that. About 1 block inland from Silver Beach is the Whirlpool Compass Fountain, which is a city fountain that kids and families can walk through and around.
Not only is it refreshing and interesting, the water spouts are amazing at powering the residual sand off of your body. You can't see it in this picture, but there are also vertical spouts that come out of the ground that the kids loved running through. By the time you're done, you're fully cleaned off and you're far enough away from the beach to be done with the sand for good.
After a while, our bellies would no longer allow us to continue the uninterrupted playing, so we decided to bring the day to a close, but not before taking a ride on the Silver Beach Carousel. One of the coolest things about this carousel (you know, besides it being right on the beach) was that the animals were all meaningful or themed in one way or another -- for example, both high school mascots were represented. It was pretty awesome that AJ wanted to ride the "Sparty" horse.
Dharia and AJ both said afterwards that it was their favorite part of the entire trip...so we went again.
It was one of those days that was just magical. I wanted to live at Silver Beach. Still do, actually.
The kids were all asleep before we got to the highway, but is it some kind of kids' intuition that they always wake up when it's time to stop for ice cream?
Thank God for Silver Beach, St. Joe!
Lord, thank you for the kind of day that I will remember forever. Thank you for this amazing place we found and got the chance to enjoy. I am so grateful for our family's adventure. In your name I pray, Amen.
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