Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Lakeview Park, Revisited

I don't care how many times I've been to Lakeview Park in Lorain, I love it!  I always find something new to marvel at, or just ooh and aaah at the beautiful scenery there.  Some days I just drive in one end and right out the other, just to get a breather in my day.  Other days, I'll sit down there and enjoy the water.  Ron and I have grabbed sandwiches and gone to this park to have picnics, we have played bocce there.   So much to see and do in one little park!

Sunday we had a ray of sunshine in our dreary winter.  The temperatures were in the 60s and the sun was shining!  For the health of my SOUL I needed to get outside and enjoy that sunshine and warm temperature.  I grabbed Ron and we headed for Lakeview Park to walk the walkways for some exercise.  As soon as we started walking, I was kicking myself in my behind that I hadn't brought my camera with me!  UGH of all days.  The whole day was one huge photo opportunity!

To not spoil our day out, Ron and I enjoyed our 1-1/2 mile walk up and down the park.  We headed home, I grabbed my camera and headed out to do another 1-1/2 mile walk up and down but this time capturing all of the sights that caught my eye and made me say "ooh, I wish I had my camera on me"!  So come take a walk with me through Lakeview Park.  I bet you will find things you never saw before.  I found new things there on Sunday and I've been there hundreds of times!

Firsts off, a paw print in the mud!  Ok, maybe not exciting to you but it scared the crap out of me!  I didn't have anything in my pocket to put in this print to show the size of it, but I swear it was the biggest paw print I ever saw!  It was bigger than my FIST!  That had to be one big dog!  I'm glad the only thing I saw of him was his print in the mud!


Trust me.  BIG dog.

There are a few walkways through the park.  There is the actual sidewalk by the street.  There is a sidewalk that goes right through the center of the park and there is a sidewalk right before the beach.  Plus, we walked on the beach!  This walk started at the top by the street and I walked from one side of the park to the other.  The first thing I came across that surprised me was this monument.  I don't have a problem with the ten commandments or even prayer in school for that matter.  (Because for real, what kid ISN'T praying before a test?  But, I digress.)  The ten commandments.  A good reminder for some of us, I'm just not sure what it's doing at a public park.  A nice monument as an art piece, nonetheless.


On to the west side of the park, by the pavilion, I saw this Ohio historical marker.  I just found out recently at Oye Mi Voz at the Charlestown Coffee House that Helen Steiner Rice was born in Lorain Ohio.  Who knew!?  As a lover of Hallmark Cards, I've read her poems and even bought quite a few of them.  I just didn't know she was a home town girl.


There were more memorials on the middle walkway before the fountain.  This first one is self explanatory.  My ah ha moment on this one was that I did not know this property used to be a farm.  Pretty cool!


Next, a monument to one of Lorain's Mayors, Leonard M. Moore.  Looking at the date I thought perhaps Lorain's first Mayor?  But no, he wasn't first.  But he was the Mayor that spearheaded the movement to purchase this property to be used as a public park.  Anyone familiar with the area around here knows that most of the beachfront property is all privately owned.  In my opinion, there is very little public access to the water in Ohio.  Kudos to Mayor Moore for figuring out that this was needed for the enjoyment of the people, even way back then.



This is one that made Ron and I both scratch our heads.  Why would you put a tombstone up to commemorate the birth of a city?  Ron thought it didn't HAVE to be called a tombstone, but whatever.  It sure looks like a tombstone to me.


No memorial in this city would be complete without a shout-out to one of the most famous citizens, Admiral Ernest J. King.



Heading further to the east, when I got to the fountain, I stayed at the lowest level and walked around it.  I don't think I ever noticed the cool brick work.  I only took a couple of pictures but there were cool little shapes in I think sandstone, all around the fountain.  Very pretty.



The Rotary Club monument was next.  Another great organization doing a fantastic job with our park and with our city!  From the Lorain Rotary Club website: 
Did you know?
When the Rose Garden at Lakeview Beach was dedicated in 1932, Lorain Rotary was one of 17 community organization that sponsored it. The shape of the garden is the Rotary wheel with eight spokes. Approximately 2,500 roses are planted in 48 beds.


That makes much more sense to me now!  This is the last bit of information I got out of my trip to Lakeview Park.  What I liked most was the way the sun was shining inside of here.  This is also where I learned that Mayor Moore was responsible for making this land a public park!  But, as you see on the bottom in the middle, the diagram of the rose garden, I didn't put together the Rotary Club connection until I was writing this blog.  I like it!


That was the informational section of this blog!  Now for the shots of Lake Erie, the reason I went to this park to walk to begin with.

What really made me go home for my camera was the pictures of the Lake itself.  Keep in mind, the temperature was in the high 60s.  But, there is still ice on the lake.  As you can see in this picture, There are some ice dunes in the foreground covered in dirt and sand, some ice a little farther out and then towards the top of the picture, that is not a wave out there, just some ice!  It was an amazing day to be out there taking pictures!


Again, from bottom to top, water, ice dunes, ice, water, ice.  It was beyond description to see this in person.


Same view, a bit closer to the water.



This is one of my favorite shots.  You can see just how close the ice still is to shore in some places!


From the files of "I read too many detective books", as I was walking along the beach I saw this up ahead.  For real, I thought it was a severed leg!  I had to get up close to it and kick it a little to make sure it really was just driftwood!  DANG!  Those darn Michael Connelly and John Sandford novels will do you in every time and make you see severed legs.


Then one more picture of a picture perfect day.


A good day to get out and about and a great day to take pictures.  And another example of something wonderful right under your very nose.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you, my dear friend, for taking me with you on this fantastic walk! I would have enjoyed it as much as you did and I am glad that you had the opportunity for spending some nice time in the sun. We all need a little sunlight! Oh, a walk on the beach! What a pleasure. I love the beach and I wish I could also walk along a beach. I love watching the waves, the water. I could do this for hours without getting bored. Lots of hugs! I'm so happy that you had such a good time! Today it is 5°F over here. Brrrrrrrrrrrr!