Hillbilly beach

Generally speaking, I like to hold back my inner country...at least enough to allow me to dress up in tailored suits and pointy shoes from time to time.

But this recent stream of summery weather got the best of me. I was on a mission to find a beach—any beach within a 15-mile radius of my house—and I was successful.

I took Noah to nearby Kokosing Lake, which boasts a beach (if you can call it that) of about 40 feet long by 8 feet deep. If you can overlook the half-mud concentration of the sandyish grains, then you can just barely pretend that you're in a tropical climate.

Let me also say that though the air temperature was 78 degrees, I'm thinking the water temperature was hovering in the 50s or 60s. Brrr! Noah didn't care one bit. It took him about 1 minute to hit the water once I dug out the sand toys. And though I inwardly shivered watching him wade, splash, sit and dump buckets of water over his head (!) in that frigid lake water, the jubilant smile on his face helped me hold my tongue.

Sitting—holy coldness!—in lake water in late April. Though the "beach" left a lot to be desired, the lake water was crystal clear.

Kokosing Lake is quite beautiful... that helped me feel festive as I dug my toes in mud, I mean sand, while I watched Noah fill up his bucket (using a shovel to scoop the water, no less!).


We made beach lakes together. You know... you dig a little hole in the sand, and then run back and forth to the water for the next half hour as the water drains out faster than you can refill it.

The great thing about a hillbilly beach? Kids don't notice. They could care less about pretentious adult ideas of soft, white sand and cabanas with pina coladas on hand. In fact, when I told Noah it was time to blow that popstand, he cried. He's ready to go back to hillbilly beach right now.