Lake Huron: A salt-free ocean
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
It has taken me forty years to discover the absolute joy that is Lake Huron. Forty year before I found Ontario's MOST GLORIOUS SWIMMING LAKE! The greatest of Great Lakes for swimming (though I've never been in Lake Erie or Lake Michigan, so maybe I should hold off on grand pronouncements...)
My kiddo has a kindergarten pal whose family bought a bunch of cabins up near Sauble Beach. They had a flash sale, and the thought of a beach+lake swimming was a dream come true, and so we packed up piles of towels and bathing suits and headed north west for a last minute Covid-cation!
I'm used to the Muskoka/Haliburton drive – city, city, highway, smaller highway, trees and lakes, and more trees and lakes until you come to your trees and lakes. But this drive was all small towns and farms and more small towns and more farms and then turquoise blue shining at the end of the road. It felt like a mirage! But there it was, turquoise and stunning.
There were four (!) sandbars, and clear, turquoise blue water and sand for as far as I could swim. No murky bottoms. No getting tangled in seaweed. No fear of fish swimming underneath you. It felt like ocean swimming, except without the salt or the tides. It was truly glorious. I was shocked, given the size of Lake Huron how warm it was, but it wasn't even that cold!
My kids are 5 and 3, and we'd never done a beach vacation before, but it was PERFECT. They built sandcastles and "rivers" and played with their toy dinos in the sand for hours. The water was shallow and perfect for kid swimming. It was blazing hot, and I was grateful for the little sunshade tent we borrowed. My youngest had s'mores for the first time, and a writing pal and her fella had the cabin next to us, so we managed some post-kid-bedtime socially distanced hangs.
I went on some glorious swims straight out from the beach, and a few parallel to the beach, depending on the waves and the wind. The sunsets were absolutely extraordinary, and one evening, I hopped in the lake and swam along the golden shimmering path until the sun had disappeared. They were the most glorious swims I've had...well, ever, actually. Truly remarkable.
I also got to wear my stunning Minnows Bathers suit – my 40th birthday present to myself!
Lake Huron! Sauble Beach! Truly a revelation!! This might have to become an annual tradition!
(Note: this isn't sponsored at all, and Minnow bathers are the best suits, and Westview Beach Villas is a most perfect place for a rustic beach-y, swim-y retreat!)
There were four (!) sandbars, and clear, turquoise blue water and sand for as far as I could swim. No murky bottoms. No getting tangled in seaweed. No fear of fish swimming underneath you. It felt like ocean swimming, except without the salt or the tides. It was truly glorious. I was shocked, given the size of Lake Huron how warm it was, but it wasn't even that cold!
My kids are 5 and 3, and we'd never done a beach vacation before, but it was PERFECT. They built sandcastles and "rivers" and played with their toy dinos in the sand for hours. The water was shallow and perfect for kid swimming. It was blazing hot, and I was grateful for the little sunshade tent we borrowed. My youngest had s'mores for the first time, and a writing pal and her fella had the cabin next to us, so we managed some post-kid-bedtime socially distanced hangs.
I went on some glorious swims straight out from the beach, and a few parallel to the beach, depending on the waves and the wind. The sunsets were absolutely extraordinary, and one evening, I hopped in the lake and swam along the golden shimmering path until the sun had disappeared. They were the most glorious swims I've had...well, ever, actually. Truly remarkable.
I also got to wear my stunning Minnows Bathers suit – my 40th birthday present to myself!
Lake Huron! Sauble Beach! Truly a revelation!! This might have to become an annual tradition!
(Note: this isn't sponsored at all, and Minnow bathers are the best suits, and Westview Beach Villas is a most perfect place for a rustic beach-y, swim-y retreat!)
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