An Ode To Lake Michigan
Wisconsin has continued to surprise us around every corner, so why would beach days on Lake Michigan be any different? With our proximity to Lake Michigan, we had to make a couple of trips back to see as many of the amazing landscapes and beaches it has to offer. This has become a sort of “down weekend” activity when we want to stay around Fondy. We have been to the lake a few times to swim, hike, and just take it in. Every time we are blown away by the vastness of the lake. With summer coming to an end, it’s time to say “Thank You” to Lake Michigan for surprising us and giving us the Midwest Coast!
Mile: 67,070
Quote of the Blog: “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” - Lauren Eiseley
Song of the Blog: “Sunshine” - OneRepublic
After we got ourselves settled into our rental in Fond du Lac, WI, we wanted to take a weekend to explore more locally and found out about Harrington Beach State Park. This is only a 45-minute drive away from our rental. Once we got to the state park, we grabbed our much-needed floaties, filled the cooler with snacks and cold bevvies, and headed down to the water. Harrington Beach State Park offers an assortment of activities. Not only do you have the beach, but there is also a small quarry lake, miles of trails, and multiple picnic areas. Once we got down to the beach, I had my tube blown up and was out in the water right away!
Amity loves her lake time to relax, soak in some sun, and read some books. Every so often I would be able to get her out into the water for some fun, floating, and swimming. We even picked up some swimming goggles for added fun. The water here was very clear and a pleasant temperature, which made for an amazing day at the lake. One of the best parts about this area was that we could swim out to shallow sandbars far off the shoreline where the water was no deeper than our knees. This made it very easy for us to get hot in the sunshine, then walk off the sandbar to cool off in the deeper water. Harrington Beach is a very low-key kind of spot. It was not overly busy, which was both confusing and awesome!
The next adventure down to Lake Michigan came on a beautiful sunny day after our long trip up to the Apostle Islands. Amity had found out about a unique coffee shop in the town of Kohler, WI, that was part of a fancy golf course and resort. It was one of the coolest-looking coffee shops I have been to. The building was 90% stained glass in the middle of a garden courtyard. Definitely a cool side quest. Not too far away from it was Kohler-Andrae State Park. This area was a little busier than Harrington Beach, but for good reason. The sandbars went way out into the lake, and we were able to swim out between multiple sandbars. This allowed us to go far out into the lake, away from the shoreline. On top of that, the farther we went out, the cooler the water got. On a hot sunny day like it was, this was perfect! We spent a good amount of time just sitting out in the water. We had to take full advantage of this unique beach and the fact that there are NO SHARKS! Once we had our fill, we hopped in the car and headed home, and onto some more adventures away from Lake Michigan.
After a few weeks of exploring the state, we came across a weekend in which the weather was spotty, so we decided to find another area of Lake Michigan’s coastline to explore. A patient had suggested to Amity that we go down to Lion’s Den Gorge Recreation Area, just south of Port Washington, WI. The area features massive bluffs overlooking the lake. We weren’t sure we would be able to swim here but came prepared just in case. When we walked out on the first bluff, we quickly learned we would not be swimming that day. A couple of days before, Wisconsin had been hit with a major weather event that led to flooding all along the eastern half of the state. This caused a large amount of muddy floodwater to be discharged from the rivers into the lake, turning the shoreline a dark shade of brown. What has typically been some of the clearest water we have swum in had finally failed us for swimming.
The good thing is that this area is more about exploring and hiking than swimming. We were able to see some amazing views from the bluffs and then walked down to the lake. We spent some time looking at all of the debris that had washed up on shore, while Amity found a good place to read a book. While walking, I found a large buoy that had washed up and made a good seat out of it. Just watching the water making its way from the nearby river down the currents in the lake, I could see so much trash and debris coming along with it. Somehow Fond du Lac missed the flooding. We only had a couple of tornado sirens and minimal rain compared to whatever made this happen. After leaving the Lions Den Gorge area, we headed up to Port Washington to walk around there. We found they had a really nice harbor on the lake. We walked out on one of the jettys. Things like this make it hard for us to remember that we have left the east coast, and that we are not looking at the ocean. We walked around town and found Inventors Brewpub. We enjoyed a couple local beers before calling it a day and heading home.
With these adventures, along with time spent in Chicago, Indiana, and up in Door County, we have had some amazing times exploring Lake Michigan. It has surprised us in ways I did not expect. The ability to be so close to so many people, yet still find a beach with space and crystal-clear water, is sometimes hard to fathom. But hey, we are in Wisconsin, and at this point, I no longer know what to expect other than to be pleasantly surprised! We look forward to more adventures in Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes while we are here. Until then, we need to find some cheese and brats STAT!