It's a Good Day to Go to the Normal Beach
Posted 4/22/2025
The day after Easter Sunday in late April is an absolutely perfect day to go to the beach!
The recent nice weather put me in a good mood and I demanded that my friends play outside with me so we decided a week in advance that we NEED to have lake time. The initial plan was a repeat of a previous outing; we would go to a nice secluded campground beach in town and dig a hole, fill it with coals, roast hotdogs over it with skewers, and not start a forest fire. Since only one of us can drive, the 6 of us all crammed into his 5 seater car and headed for the beach. But it was closed! This is a good thing though because even though it meant an additional 20 minutes of illegal driving, it also meant that I got to go to my childhood lake when it was completely devoid of human life. Not really– there were a few people walking dogs and maybe 2 families who stopped by for like 30 minutes for the playground– but otherwise we were completely alone. And it was badass. The purpose of this entry is letting you live in my little teenage adult fantasy moment.
We got there at like 3 pm. Sun high in the sky, immaculate vibes. Not a soul was there. We claimed the pavilion and immediately started grillin’. Something this lake has over the nice little secluded one is that this one actually has one of those disgusting crusty park grills, which I have ALWAYS wanted to use. We made cheddar dogs (I forgot to bring ketchup but that’s ok) and s’mores and drank sodies. We burnt a lot of stuff on purpose and on accident and it made us smell great and also cough and made our eyes water. Even though it rained yesterday there was plenty of nice dry wood to burn! Speaking of wood, deer friend Gabe brought some knives which I used to whittle a small, inferior wooden knife. Then I wanted to whittle a bigger piece of wood into a mushroom or at least a penis but then I cut my finger and figured I should stop.
It was way too cold to swim but people brought their dogs down to the lake. There was a funny little wet dog off leash that came and started snuffling around our grill and honest to God I thought he was lost for a while with how desperate he seemed for food. I dunno how I forgot that that’s just how we dogs are. We almost called the number on his collar right before the owner whistled for him and he bolted away. Anyway, even though I felt particularly doggy today I did not get in the water. I did however run around and sit in the grass and roll around in the sand. I don’t show my tail in public often but today I did. It hits different wearing it outside. I tried to jump off the swing and it fell off.
Did you guys know that when you leave the house you’ll see wildlife? Even though I see robins and squirrels all the time it still makes me happy. I could hear frogs but didn’t see any. I saw a loon chilling in the lake, and later some geese flew past while honking loud as fuck.I spotted the coolest creature from far away; I saw something moving in a straight line through the water and went down to investigate. It was a little beaver! Or idk, a small aquatic rodent. My eyesight isn’t great. I did manage to get decently close to view it though. It sat on a branch overlooking the water and chilled for a while before I scared it off by getting closer. Oh also, the friend with the car and my boyfriend found something super weird. I don’t think they got a picture but there was a rock with some completely clear gelatinous slime balls on it. I figured I could easily identify them with a google (duckduckgo) search but I can’t find something exactly like it. I’m regretting not getting a picture for iNaturalist. We just threw it in the water to make a big splash.
Anyway, we were there for about 5 hours and watched the sun set from the playground with Flying Beagle playing from my phone using a sandcastle bucket as a speaker. April beach time has become a new tradition and next time I hope my other friends who couldn’t make it can come too! Also if this inspires you to go hang out with your friends at the beach before summer then go ahead because it is a super good idea but be cautious because if too many people start doing it then it will ruin it for everyone. Maybe try going in March instead.
