Look What Happened to the Beach

Yesterday we visited my parents, who live on Lake Michigan in Indiana. We took a glorious walk to the beach and it made me grateful that we have been able to experience the dunes in all seasons. We haven't been to see my parents in a while because this winter has been particularly icy and we don't have a four wheel drive. Our car can't make it to the top of the dune where their house is.

We took the path through the blowout, a section of valley between the dunes caused by the wind. It's our favorite walk to the beach. First we climbed up and down through a wooded dune section. Then it opens up to this beautiful scene. In the picture, two of our kids are on separate paths.


After going through the blowout, we climbed a small dune to get a view of the beach. It's a great, open space and was beautiful with strange ice and snow formations. Yesterday was warmish, in the 30s, with little wind. Obviously, there has been a lot of wind this winter.






Beautiful, jagged mountains of ice and snow with the open water peaking out behind. It was as if the waves were completely frozen in time.

I don't remember seeing the lake like this before. It was breath-taking. This little sand, snow and ice formation reminded me of pictures of the west - Wyoming or Utah - on a smaller scale.




There weren't a whole lot of people on the beach. One woman walking two dogs passed us. There were footprints of other dog walkers, but we had this whole space to ourselves.

We came back from the walk exhilarated, having walked down the beach to another access point and up and over a couple more sand dunes to get back to Grandma and Granddad's. Unfortunately, my parent's can't enjoy the beauty of the winter much anymore. It it too strenuous a walk for them, too dangerous at this point.