Clothes changed. Beach stuff packed away. Vans locked up. Every nook and cranny cleaned of sand. Time to see what else St. Joseph had to offer.
A short walk away from the beach was an inlet, leading from the lake to the aptly-named St. Joseph River. On either side of the inlet was a pier that was open to pedestrians. The one on the far side featured a lighthouse. The pier we could reach featured...uh...
A view of the lighthouse!
So, we started the hike. Thankfully, the skies were clearing at this point, because it would have been a long walk back to the car if it was raining.
Here's a view of Silver Beach and the Michigan coastline, which we had just been enjoying earlier in the day:
We walked all the way out to see this:
I'm sure you've all seen more impressive lighthouses before, but there's kind of an unwritten rule of life that says any lighthouse is cool. Plus, it was a long walk, so you'd better believe I'm posting these pictures for somebody to look at.
Apparently this lighthouse gets very scenic in the winter when the lake freezes. The combination of cold, wind and water makes for some very interesting formations.
Here's one example.
Personally, I don't enjoy being outside in -40 degree temperatures, so I'll let others take that picture for me. While we were on the end of the pier, we submitted our applications for 2011 Parents of the Year by encouraging our kids to climb up a crumbling, unguarded concrete piling right smack at the end. Maybe we endangered our kids' lives, but we did get a possible Christmas card shot.
By the time we walked back to town, we needed to make a call on dinner. We could head back to South Bend and order from Domino's. Or we could try for
Silver Beach Pizza, the local pizza place which was located inside the town train station. Tom and Cathy said they liked it a lot, but that it was very popular and got crowded often. I don't know about you, but if you give me a choice between Domino's and a local spot in a train station, the train station wins every time. Nothing against Domino's, but local dives make for better stories.
As our friends predicted, there was an hour-long wait. And this was just after 4:00 p.m. I hate to think what the wait would be like at dinner time. So we had to entertain ourselves. First, Scotty found a corn dog.
Then we climbed the hill behind the train station and took in the view of the splash park, the Silver Beach Carousel, and Lake Michigan.
There was also a cannon up there, which according to my extensive notes was part of a Memorial To Something Or Other. Scotty made sure to inspect it carefully.
Wait, did somebody say there was a carousel? That's right. Strategically located across the corner from the pizza place was a merry-go-round. Given the choice of sitting on a bench waiting for our buzzer to go off or riding the merry-go-round, the kids unanimously voted for the benches.
Just seeing if you're paying attention. If my kids had chosen the bench, we would have sought medical attention immediately.
Supposedly they were doing a "Christmas in July" theme, but other than having a Santa dummy on one of the horses, I couldn't see it. I think they played Christmas music, but I have to confess that calliope music all sounds the same to me. In any case, Dave was thrilled to ride a giraffe, his absolutest mostest favoritest animal in the whole world. He was less thrilled afterwards, when he found out it didn't go up and down.
Looks like Scotty got the Police Horse, while Julie opted for the more non-traditional Flamingo Horse.
And you're probably thinking we had a couple of leisurely rides waiting for dinner, but they do things differently in Michigan. It didn't take long before the merry-go-round was cranked up to...
LUDICROUS SPEED!
I'm pretty sure they went back in time on that trip. Because we got back to the pizza place, and the table still wasn't ready. As it turned out, it was only a few more minutes, and then we were ready to eat.
I remember the pizza being decent. Not the best we've ever had, but certainly tasty and worthy of a meal. I do remember eating a LOT. Ever notice how much hungrier you get when you're out on the beach all day? Or is that just me?
Anyway, our trip back to South Bend was uneventful. We bathed the kids that evening. Or rather, sent the kids upstairs to bathe themselves (getting old mostly stinks, but one of the rare benefits is having more independent kids!). But not long afterwards, we heard a loud thump and some cries. Worse, it sounded like Scotty and not one of our friends' kids, so we weren't allowed to ignore it. Sure enough, Scotty had fallen in the bathtub and gotten a nasty bump on the head. We did what all loving parents would do in that situation and grabbed the camera.
Oh, and a bag of frozen soy beans.
Coming Up Next: The Second City. The Toddlin' Town. The City of Broad Shoulders. The Windy City. Chi-Town. The City by the Lake. The Miami of Canada (according to C. Montgomery Burns of The Simpsons).
I think I need a rim shot button for you.
Doesn't it? It sounds so much better than whining about how much my heel hurts. 
I probably do need to come up with some sort of contest. I still have fond memories of the Beverly slogans. Maybe I can come up with something along those lines.
The "after" picture? Maybe you weren't looking close enough...
I would imagine you've just about seen it all as far as kids and water features!
I actually have a go-to Best Man speech I've used before that seemed to work pretty well. It's always good to be prepared.
Another fellow Delaweenie! Thank you for reading along!
