Lake Time!

Every fall, my friend Marie and I go to the lake. Normally this is kind of a one day "connect with God" sort of outing for us. For the last four (I think) years, we've gone up to Lake Wawasee and spent time on the grounds of the Oakwood Inn. There is a pier there that has become special to each of us, because God has spoken to us in pretty powerful ways in that spot.

So, several weeks ago, we reserved this day for our annual pilgrimage. Thursday Marie checked their website to get their phone number and found a message that said the entire campus was closed and the property was for sale. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I did some scrambling and found a plan B for us. It was very different from what we normally do, but we had so much fun anyway - and it was my first Saturday out of bed in three weeks because of this stupid flu/cold thing I had. So I was just thrilled to be on the OUTSIDE of my house!

We decided to go up to Winona Lake. Neither of us had been there before, so armed with Mapquest directions, coffee, and a full tank of gas, we started our adventure. I sometimes wonder how Mapquest arrives at its paths...we certainly had a scenic route there! We passed a double wide log cabin, a home with a periwinkle garage door, and a home with a coral garage door! How colorful!

Our first order of business was to find a place where we could see the lake. We found a little park that had a very tiny beach. Given that it's the last weekend in September, the beach was empty. So we were able to sit and enjoy the late morning view:

Marie and me. We were in the lifeguard tower, actually.


No lifeguards on duty today, so we took the opportunity to have a photo shoot. It was a pretty fun place to sit and overlook the lake.

After we spent some time at the lake, we went to eat lunch (my pictures got out of order here - oops!) and then we went shopping. The Village at Winona is this little area just across from the campus of Grace College - kind of a Brown County sort of feel. Little artisan shops everywhere. One of the last shops we visited had a big bucket of bubbles with this huge handmade bubble wand in it - just sitting out - so anyone could use it. They also had a bucket of sidewalk chalk. Marie blew bubbles and I added to the art others had begun.

After we'd shopped for a while, we discovered this cute little island park. I'm not sure if it was part of Grace's campus or if it was part of the Village area - but it had this little pond (with a fountain!) and an island in the center. We walked over the bridge and sat in the chairs overlooking the fountain. It was such a perfect day - warm and sunny.

At the end of the day, we went back to the "beach." It was pretty hot by this time, so we went wading. Marie was much braver than I. As soon as the fish started nibbling at my toes, I went running for the edge of the water. I'm not so much into the fish actually TOUCHING me. There was a cute little kid splashing around in the water trying to catch a fish with his sand bucket. Marie tried to help him. I just walked up and down the edge of the water, squishing my toes in the sand.


HERE'S lunch! Not sure how I got this one so out of order. Anyway, there were some little cafes/bakeries in the village, so we just picked one and ate there. This one was kind of on the organic side. I had a grilled chicken Caesar salad - and a bottle of "good for you" cola. I forget the name brand. Anyway, it definitely didn't taste like Coke, but it was so much fun to drink because a., I still stay away from carbonation as a general rule, so it was a treat and 2., it was in a glass bottle! MEMORIES. :) We found another cafe later and got a snack - I, of course, had iced coffee. :)

I think we'll probably go back again - it was a very fun place. And our trip home was 100% different than our trip there. (Again - how do you just reverse your destination in Mapquest and go home by a completely different route?????) We didn't really get to sit and ponder the God-things of life, but we did have a great day!