Life Lesson Learned: Sometimes, you gotta mix it up
How is summer almost over? Where has the time gone?
It’s been a rather odd summer weather-wise with many days being more humid than hot. Although I have a lot of disdain for humidity, I am grateful that we haven’t been battling the excessive heat warnings that often pop up in August. It’s been sticky and smokey, but I guess things could always be worse.
Last weekend we were blessed with sunny and fairly comfortable temperatures, so my parents and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and spend our Sunday at Geneva-on-the-Lake (GOTL). Since we weren’t heading there on a holiday this time, we were hopeful we wouldn’t be fighting crowds everywhere we went. (I blogged about our 2022 Father’s Day experience here.)
I’m sure this comes as no surprise, but we tend to be creatures of habit when it comes to our traditions. GOTL is hardly an exception. We park in the same general area, eat lunch at the same place (though this has changed a tiny bit over the years), play mini golf at the same location and hit up the same attractions. Okay, that makes us sound as dull as can be. But hey, why fix what isn’t broken?
This time, however, my mom suggested we start off our time at the strip on the opposite side of the street. (What rebels, I know!) This sounds rather unimportant, but believe it or not it can make a difference. Since we usually begin our day on the right side of the street, we are all so hot, sweaty and exhausted by the time we get to the sites on the left. At that point we basically just drag our feet to the car and groan that we may as well have parked the car in Indiana. As a result, almost everything on that side of the strip gets passed up because we’re too tired to care about anything but a seat and air conditioning.
Not this visit! Mixing things up meant we could actually enjoy those usually passed-up spots and instead save our “God, I can’t feel my legs” walk for the opposite side the street.
This shake-up ended up having another perk…we got to explore a section of GOTL that we haven’t seen in a long time. There used to be a mini (about as mini as you could get) amusement park tucked along Lake Erie, complete with a carousel, haunted house, ferris wheel, water slide and more. It was definitely quaint and built more for kids, but it was still a nice attraction to have. (Minus the carousel….the music on that thing always gave me the creeps!)
Unfortunately, the entire park closed in 2006, and much like Geauga Lake, there are few remnants of its existence still remaining. Luckily, the Ferris wheel was purchased by the Firehouse Winery down the street, so at least some history remains! It was actually the Ferris wheel that caught our eye on this visit, so we decided to wander over and snap some pictures since we haven’t had a good look at it in ages.
That’s how we happened upon the site of the former Erieview Park tucked away behind the buildings. Of course, it’s now full of extra bar tents, axe throwing (sigh), and more outdoor seating, but it was still interesting to see what had been brewing back there over the years. (Even if it did spark a bit of nostalgia for the amusement park!)
One tradition we’ll hold onto dearly is playing at Allison’s Mini Golf, which I’ve mentioned in previous updates. We were thrilled to find the course was far from busy, as it’s hard to enjoy yourself when you feel like you’re being rushed by players waiting for the hole. It was also the perfect time for the course to be nearly empty because boy, did we stink. Usually at least one of us walks away with bragging rights (heck, I’m still hung up on my impressive 2021 game when I managed to get a couple of holes in one while calling and texting my real estate agent….), but this was just overall embarrassing. Collectively we may as well have been about 40 strokes over par per each hole. Oh well…it’s about having fun right?
GOTL is packed with restaurants, but we tend to stick to your favorites. For as long as I can remember, we’ve made our lunch choice Eddie’s Grill. The food, particularly the burgers, has always been delicious. But it’s usually like the Hunger Games there trying to get seating, so eventually we decided to look elsewhere for options. We started going to a different stand with a small collection of picnic tables for the past few years, and while the food was tasty, it just didn’t hit home the same way. We were set on Eddie’s Grill this time around; and it was completely worth it! Juicy, hot burgers as tasty as I remembered and we actually managed to get a table. Huzzah!
The rest of our afternoon was just as busy–but enjoyable–as the morning: stocking up on an unhealthy amount of candy at the candy shop, stopping into the various boutiques, grabbing some donuts to go and losing badly to my dad at air hockey in the arcade. I did much better at a handful of other games…and I was so close to earning just enough tickets to win one of their adorable GOTL mugs. Sure, I could have spent like another half hour and another $20 to win what was probably a $6 mug, but we still had a bit left to see at that point. The good news is that that I can save the game card (with the tickets I’ve already accumulated) and earn enough additional tickets next year to hopefully snag the prize.
Though we were still worn out from a fun day, it did seem that the annual “I’m so tired” walk back to the car was not quite as tedious as usual. But more importantly, this time we knew we weren’t missing anything on the way!
Life Lesson Learned: Skip the parade!
There are a few places in NYC I still regret not seeing more, and Coney Island is undoubtedly one of those.
I made my trip out there in June 2016 (you can read my initial entry here) to watch the annual Mermaid parade, which turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. Sure, there was a parade full of unique costumes and photo opportunities, but everything was insanely crowded by the time I left. In fact, things were so bad I couldn’t even get any cell service. Crazy!
I’m not generally one to hop onto most amusement park rides (thanks to good old motion sickness), yet I’ve always enjoyed being around those types of parks. Strange, no? I thought Luna Park looked so cool even when nearly empty in the morning, and I would have loved to see the thrills in full swing. It brought back fond memories of Geauga Lake as a kid and it was hard to believe I was still in NYC.
Since I was not about to do any rides (see above), I basically just walked around to explore and snap photos. (Basically what I did during most of my six years living in the greater NYC area. )
I did at least have enough sense to get a hot dog from Nathan’s on the boardwalk. Yes, I had eaten plenty of Nathan’s hot dogs from stands around Manhattan, but something about enjoying it there in Coney Island just couldn’t be matched…even if I was sitting at some table with a less-than-stellar view.
Speaking of views; can you believe this is the only photo I have of the beach and ocean?
I think the police line border had me nervous to venture into some blocked off region, but by the looks of the plenty of carefree souls on the other side of said line, I was just too timid to investigate. Sigh. I was barely into my first year of living there at the time and although I was clearly brave enough to venture to Coney Island solo, I’m confident my now 30-year-old self would have been nearly climbing on top of beach-goers to get the perfect photo.
The rest of my time there was spent watching the parade, and although it was entertaining, I probably could have spent it instead exploring the restaurants, shops and you know…the beach. I’m sure there was a lot there that I didn’t see! It reminds me a lot of GOTL just looking at photos, and I think I would have had a blast there had I gone at a less busy time.
Ironically, when I was making a couple of new friends in early 2020, the possibility of going to Coney Island together that summer had come up. Obviously that never happened….
But hey, at least I can say I’ve been there at least once!
That's What Shay Said 