The Beautiful Day

“It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

It's a beautiful day”

--from the song by U2

It was a beautiful day—the best day I’ve had in about three months. On March 16, I returned from my winter sabbatical in Henderson, NV. I have been self-quarantined at home with only an occasional drive through the farm lands of western Portage County or the nearby Cuyahoga Valley National Park to break the monotony. I also make an occasional trip to a nearby state-licensed liquor store to get another bottle of bourbon.

But, this day was different. The weather forecast predicted a sunny, warm day with virtually no chance of rain. So, Pam and I decided to go to our favorite beach in Vermilion, OH, on the south shore of Lake Erie. It takes a little over an hour for us to drive to this quaint beach town that is about 35 miles west of Cleveland.

Vermilion was founded in 1837 and has become a summer resort town of about 11,000 with numerous boat docks and condos lining the lagoon where the Vermilion River empties into Lake Erie. It has a quaint park in the center of town and if you follow Main Street about three blocks north you arrive at the Main Street Beach on Lake Erie.

It’s not a large beach, the public part is only a few hundred yards wide, but there is free parking along Main Street. There is a small replica of a lighthouse at the west end of the beach in front of a building that used to house a museum about the Great Lakes that has since moved to Toledo.

The day we arrived, the beach was fairly crowded with mostly families and a few younger couples. Fortunately, we were able to find a spot that allowed us to keep more than six feet of separation. I set up our beach umbrella and we unfolded our beach chairs and settled in.

The sky was nearly cloudless and gentle waves lapped up on the beach. Because it was mid-week, there wasn’t a great amount of boat traffic, but I did notice several boats enter and exit the lagoon harbor entrance about a half mile east of the beach.

There were a few people on kayaks a couple of hundred yards from shore and a rider on a jet-ski whizzed by during our two hours on the beach. Near the water a few kids played with toy buckets and shovels digging holes in the sand and making sand castles. One teenaged boy came out of the water holding a three-foot wide inflatable raft that looked like the face of a cat.

I always enjoy this beach because of the laid-back atmosphere. I enjoy just relaxing, reading a book, listening to music in my iPod and soaking up the atmosphere. This beach is the exact opposite of the crowded resort area beaches I have visited on the east coast and Gulf of Mexico.

Towards the end of our stay, about a dozen high school kids showed up to join several girls who were already there. The noise level increased markedly as the group talked and laughed close to where we were sitting. They decided to go further down the beach and we packed up our stuff for the ride home. In these tense times, it was great to see a group of kids having fun. It was normal.

We have visited this beach at least a couple of times during the last several summers, but this visit was particularly enjoyable. I realized how much I had missed just being around people. Because we were outside, there was a gentle breeze and people were not getting too close to each other, I didn’t feel concerned about being exposed to the COVID-19 virus.

As we rode home with the sunroof and windows open, we both remarked what a great day this had been. Yes, it was a beautiful day.