Lake Erie Bluffs, Collecting Rocks

Lake Erie Bluffs

On May 24th, Bryon, Tiny, and I took a nice ride. The weather was perfect: blue skies, and some wispy white clouds, temps in the low 70s. With Bryon and I getting married in July, I wanted to do something that would help guests recall the day, and being the Earth-loving, stone-appreciating woman I am, I decided to paint rocks with flowers and set them out as celebration favors.

But I needed rocks! What a better idea than to plan a ride to Lake Erie to collect the sanded and sculpted rocks from a beach. Put me near a body of water where the horizon never ends, and I am taken away, not like in a Calgon bath, but like in a finding my place in the universe way. So far out the sky becomes the water and the water becomes the sky; that blurred line lets me know that living is about flow and interactions. 

So, rocks. I planned a route to Lake Erie Bluffs, west of Geneva, and the route was a zig-zag one, going north then west, north then west, and so on until we reached a point where the roadsigns didn't match my printed directions. Hmm. I took a guess and turned left at the light we were at, and sure as shit, the road we needed to turn right on was just down the road. Good guess! 

I did miss one turn and that led us up a concrete road to the nuclear power plant on the shore. We did a big U-ey in the road and went back to the missed turn. We then found ourselves at the part of Lake Erie Bluffs with the lookout/viewing tower. The tower was closed due to the Covid horseshit, but that saved the guys from having to climb all the stairs, which I'm almost positive they would have had to either call for pizza and pop delivery or an ambulance! LOL

Halfway up the walkway were some pretty daisies. I had to get some photos of them as they are the flower for Bryon's birth month, April, and part of our wedding flowers. (Mine is the carnation, but those just don't grow in the wild.)  We walked past the tower to the first viewing area where a couple was taking in the view too. The colors of the water and the sky were fabulous - radiant turquoise and faded purple. 

This area ended at an abrupt drop off into some plants and eventually the beach. We took some pics and turned back to take the dirt path to the next walkway and down to a beach, but that was closed off because the hillside slid off and was dangerous. So, we went back to the bikes to go to the next option.

The bluffs have a park area too for picnics and frisbee, no pics were taken by me, but it was a nice place with a walkway on the hillside above the shore area. There were stairs at one end that lead down to the beach. Not just any stairs, a lot of stairs, and the guys looked at each other with the I can walk down them, but walking back up is doing to Kill me!! Awe c'mon, guys! 

Such troopers! We walked down. Tiny and I brought bags in which to put the stones and we started collecting. Now you'd think I would have taken pictures of the stones, but no, I became engrossed by the trees that were wearing away on the section of shore that I encountered. Oh, how I loved the fibers extruded from the trees. It was soft and strong. Rayon is made from tree fibers, so while this didn't surprise me, I was still tickled pink because I'd never seen this before!.

I think we collected about 150 rocks off all sizes and shapes, a lot of them flat like a painting canvas. I could have stayed all day, but the guys were complaining of being hot and hungry. This is why it's a good thing to always plan alone time doing things you like. Not that going with others is bad, but to fully enjoy your own living, it's good to do things alone too.

We had to get food in Tiny's tummy, so we headed out to US-20 to find the Dairy Queen someone recommended. We got there, but fuck that, you had to go through the drive through and there was nowhere to sit because your breathing poison the air and kill others. Anyway, The Perry Family Restaurant was across the parking lot with an open sign, so we rode over to check it out. Great idea! They were seating customers to dine-in so we did. 

They had a typical family/diner menu and the food we ordered was very good. We thanked the waitresses for being open as it's what bikers need - a place to sit with their food. And, say it with me, "Eat to ride, ride to eat", it's the biker way. Screw DQ, the Perry Family Restaurant was a way better place and wasn't scared to be open.

What to do? It was time to make our way home, but I didn't plan a homeward route, so Bryon suggested we ride through Geneve-on-the-Lake. We headed east on US-20 toward Geneva with me still leading. 

I had put my phone in my Ram mount on my handlebars thinking I could take some videos and pictures.When we got to GOTL, the traffic was slow and backed-up. We walked our bikes down the strip, on occasion getting to use the throttle. I did take a few shots of the oncoming traffic. One of the reasons it was slow and backed up was that the town had closed off sections of the street parking in an effort to reduce the number of people parking and walking around, you know, so that nobody died from Covid. We just kept riding through, plus Eddies hot dogs was closed, Tiny checked us in there anyway just to tease Hammer who wasn't allowed to go on the trip due to a "Honey Do" list.

We made a stop at the gas station at the Indian Lake campground outside of GOTL. A LOT of bikes were out that day. Everywhere. Shelter in place? Nope. Ride all over? Yes! 

Some of the fun things included the astronaut Happy Meal doll shooting off into space off my bike, Tiny losing his head wrap to the wind, and Bryon's phone rocketing out of his pocket onto the pavement at 40 MPH. All items were recovered thanks to Tiny's efforts. 

Here is a photo of most of the rocks I've painted. It's so pretty, I almost don't want to give them away, but I can paint more, and surely another trip to the lake wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

 Live well, give and reciprocate, love and trust. Good words for every day living and to practice in a commitment like marriage.

Take it easy,
Holly