McCallen Musings: Flashback to summer: Madison Shores

There is in my family a vacation spot with a four-generation history. On the shores of Lake Erie on several grassy acres are three rows of cottages I used to call Roll-In Beach as a kid.

What I didn’t know—or apparently had forgotten—is that my Grandparents took my mom and her siblings to Roll-In Beach when they were kids in the 40s, 50s and 60s. And later, in the 80s and 90s, my family went there, along with my aunts, uncle & cousins. Those summer vacations were, quite frankly, among the best of my life.

As we got older, and baseball games, college farewells and other things got in the way, we stopped going to Roll-In Beach. But this year, for the first time in about 15 or 20 years, we went back.

Turns out, everything and nothing has changed there. The cottages in tidy rows are all there, with fresh coats of paint and the same seemingly endless green lawn between them (which, as an adult, looked incredibly smaller than I recalled). Some still had the same prop-open windows and slammable screen doors off Florida-style porches.

The beach was different—still rock- and driftwood-filled, but new break walls smoothed out the rough spots. The water was just how I remembered it: crystal-clear and smooth as glass first thing in the morning, with endless mounds of brown, green and orange pebbles beneath your feet to carefully navigate. And it was cold, too. After the tropical temperature of the Atlantic Ocean, Lake Erie felt chilly by comparison.

And just like his mother at three, Noah didn't notice that his toes were cold. He dove right in.

The first day we got there, a storm had come through the night before, leaving the beach a mess and waves rolling in.

These benches were there when we were kids. We walked down to the water almost every night to watch the sun set over the water. Like this...

Noah & McCamey checked out a boat far away on the horizon.

Peek-a-boo, Camey!

It's a long walk from the beach back to the cottage (well, in full disclosure we stayed in a more modern condo that was new to the place), so Noah & Camey hitched a ride.

Noah loved hanging out with Great-Grandma Dilley & Auntie Peg. He often plopped down next to anyone who was available.

Uncle Jeff played a silly game with Noah, hiding his favorite dragon pillow under his shirt.

Papa & Rylan hung out on the beach while the big kids explored.

We even got Great-Grandma Dilley down to the beach. She flew Noah's kite while he checked out the hill in the background.

A grand tradition of Lake Erie vacations is painting rocks or coloring them with charcoal. Mom, Noah, Auntie Peg and I made some colorful creations. I laughed with Auntie Peg that I'm still painting the same things I did when I was 10—hearts, trees, grass, houses and dots!