Midway Beach, Conneaut Lake

Nothing seems to change at Midway Beach. The snack shack still sells inexpensive food (bags of sour patch kids or Swedish fish for .25, or an ice cream for .75). We still sit our same shaded spot, and the kids still enjoy lounging about in the warm water. 

Midway Civic Club Dinner

We love going to the Midway Civic Club Dinner on the beach each summer. A bargain at $4 each, the catered dinner is surprisingly tasty. And hey, who doesn't like to have dinner plans every now and then.

On the menu - burgers and pulled pork, green salad, pasta salad, baked beans, cookie, and brownies.

How cute is my nephew?! He can barely see over the table.

Bob and I at the dinner.

The 50/50 Raffle and Conneaut Lake

I went over half my life without ever knowing of the 50/50 Raffle. And then, I started visiting Western Pennsylvania. It's some sort of requirement for organized events. The hosting group or organization sells raffle tickets, which guests buy in order to enter the raffle. If $100 is collected, the organizer gets $50 and the winner gets $50. If $200 is collect, the organization gets $100 and the winner gets $100. You get the idea.

Tickets are never much, and we always enter. The Midway Civic Club hosted their annual dinner on the beach last weekend. There was, of course, a 50/50 raffle. Guess who won? My aunt! You can see the excitement on her face.

As if that weren't enough, they had a little bonus drawing and I won a bottle of wine. That's my husband holding the wine. I'd like to think my hands aren't quite so masculine.

Old Picture of Cottage

I love old pictures. Our cottage is on the right. It looks almost the same today, but the trees and hedges are much larger.

10 Things I Love about Summers in Conneaut Lake

I adore summers in Conneaut Lake. In no particular order, here my ten favorite things.

1) Midway Beach - Accessibly only to cottage owners and renters in the Midway Beach area, this small beach is reminiscent of the 1950's. We've spent many hours here over the years. Little has changed from the postcard in my blog header.
2) Family - It's all about family here. In the picture below my son is teaching his little cousin to blow up water balloons. I love this daily interaction between cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

3) My Cottage
4) Tradition - So much of our time at the lake is built on tradition. Traditions that we've started as well as traditions that have continued for years and generations.
5) Warm Nights, Fireflies, and Thunderstorms
6) Sunsets - Each one is more spectacular than the next

7) The Spillway at Pymatuning - You really have to see it to believe it.
8) Hanks - The best Frozen Custard ever!
9) Antiquing - I've found the best treasures around here.
10) Amish - I love seeing them shopping in the grocery store, selling baked goods in roadside stands and hanging their clothes out to dry.


If you also spend summers in Conneaut Lake, what do you love most about the lake? If you spend summers elsewhere, where do you go, and what do you love about your special summer spot?

Blue Streak Sand Sculpture on Midway Beach

When Will insisted that I go to Midway Beach a few nights ago to "see something amazing", I wasn't sure what I'd find. This could mean many things to a 10 year old. What I found was a truly amazing, built to scale, sand sculpture of Conneaut Lake Park's historic Blue Streak roller coaster. 

Below is a picture of the actual roller coaster from a few years ago. The 1937 wooden coaster was designed by Ed Vettel, a big name in the roller coaster world.

A family (a large, extended family) makes a sand sculpture on Midway Beach each summer. The design is top secret until plans are revealed to the family. Each child has a job to do. It took two days of hard work to create this giant sculpture.

To give you an idea of the size, Kate is kneeling in one corner of the sculpture.

I love the detail of the wooden trusses.

Then, as if seeing this wasn't enough, we witnessed something equally as entertaining the following morning. We happened to be on Midway Beach at 8:00 a.m., only because of free donuts that morning - not much else will get my kids up that early. It also happened to be the planned destruction time of the sand roller coaster. Below, the creators lined up and enacted a ride on the famed Blue Streak, complete with up hill, down hill, and hand motions.

After the dry run of the ride next to the sand sculpture, they all boarded the roller coaster, buckled in, and proceeded to ride' the entire coaster, destroying it as they went.

Horses at the Cottage?

Yes, it's true...horses at the cottage! Years ago, though.

In anticipation of our summer at the lake, I was looking through some old pictures I have of the cottage. I adore this picture. That's our cottage on the right.

The horses were kept at a farm maybe a mile away. My mother-in-law tells stories of riding her horse from the barn down to Midway Beach. Before the summer visitors arrived, in fact, she'd even bathe the winter mud and muck from her horse by riding him straight into the lake and washing him off.

Heatwave

The heatwave has FINALLY passed. I thought we were going to melt last week!

4th of July Part 2

It wouldn't be the 4th without a barbecue, so we invited friends and family over.

Bob at the grill

Baby Charlie

Lori and Perry and the food

Kate, Will, Francie and Sylvia participated in the first ever Sandcastle Building Contest on Midway Beach.

Here they are putting the finishing touches on their creation while the adults watch.

Not that I'm partial or anything, but it was the best sandcastle on the beach!

Eagerly waiting for the results

A medal!

Snack Shack at Midway Beach

We spend a lot of time at Midway Beach, which is right next to our cottage. Although our usual routine is to pack a lunch, it's hard to keep the kids away from the snack shack.

Kate, Will, and Ben working up an appetite.

The snack shack. Not so glamorous, but heaven to a kid. A few bucks can go a long way. Twenty-five cents buys a popsicle, a dollar buys a hot dog.

Decisions, decisions...

A Slush Puppy, a Kit Kat, and popcorn