Celebrating 230 Years

Two days late or right on time, depending on how you look at it—HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence, formally declaring our separation from the Kingdom of Great Britain and transforming a band of British colonies into American States. Read it here.

To celebrate, Season and I went to the beach yesterday. A few years ago, Erin and I went up to Manistee, Michigan and watched a display from a beach front home. It was one of the best nights I have ever experienced. Up and down the beach, one could see fireworks going off from other communities and private residences (illegally). I had hoped that this year, we could do something similar and watch St. Joseph’s at Silver Beach which I have never done before. I wasn’t sure how crowded the beach would get and I knew that parking was limited, so we planned to spend the whole day at the beach.

Scattered thunderstorms were in the forecast for the third. When I woke up, it was raining steadily. It lightened up to overcast skies by the time we arrived in St. Joe at 1400. It gradually got better with the sun even trying to poke through as you can see.

Some of the kids around us were so cute. While us older people would wade out into the water to acclimate, some of them would just run right in. The water wasn’t cold and it probably helped that the waters were extra shallow. The swim boundary buoys were actually waist deep. Not much fun if you want to swim more than wade. Since it was shallow all the way out, some people were tempted to go past the buoy markers. The lifeguards can’t put up with that however. While we were there, two guys almost got kicked out because they were ignoring the guard. The county cops actually came out. Their excuse for not coming on shore when directed: “Oh, we didn’t hear you the first two times.” I just rolled my head back. I’m glad that he was conscious to know that he was being directed to do something twice, even if he didn’t know what would be told of him. Idiot.

Silver Beach


Season enjoying herself. No really, she is. I think.


I don’t think I have ever had a relaxing day at the beach interrupted as much as I have here. In this picture, you may notice that there are a lot of people on the beach but there is no one in the water. That’s the first evacuation of the day. Shortly before 1830, the county cops (you can see one in this photo) directed everyone out of the water. The reason was for announcement that the life guards were leaving and that if we reentered the water, it was at our own risk. Heaven help the poor schmuck who manages to drown in 3 feet of water.

The next time it happened was when a thunder cell came through. Lighting was hitting very close to us and many of the beach goers decided to leave. Some more hardy souls decided to stick it out. It would be over in a couple minutes. I would have wanted to stay because I didn’t think retreating to the parking lot which was surrounded by tall metal poles was any safer than hunkering down on the beach. But we were eventually directed to leave and so we did. I would grant that the lighting was extremely close.

When the cell had moved on, a lot of us headed back to the beach. Apparently we went back too early as the county cops again directed us off the beach and told us to wait for an all clear. By this time, I was beginning to wonder if they were going to cancel the fireworks. While waiting in the lot, we heard that someone had been struck by lighting on the beach which explained why we saw a couple of ambulances and cop cars going by. I could not recall a bolt hitting so close that I thought it actually hit the beach but it did.

From the South Bend Tribune (Metro Edition), Wed. 5 July 2006, Sec. B Local Briefs:

St. Joseph
10-year-old stable after lighting strike

A lighting strike injured a 10-year-old girl Monday at Silver Beach, the St. Joseph Police Department reported.

Lyndsay Prager, of Haysville, Kan., was visiting the beach with her grandparents when lighting struck a nearby tree around 7:30 p.m., a news release said.

The girl was knocked to the ground unconcious. Her grandmother also was knocked down but was not injured.

The Girl was taken to Lakeland Medical Center and airlifted to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, where she was lited in serious but stable condition.

My sister and mom showed up and we tracked down a group of people that I knew: Kraig and his fiancée, Stacey; Erin and her boyfriend, Will; and Carrie with her husband, Justin. They had already arrived but neglected to tell me that they were there until I did a little probing. I could get into another post about that but I won’t.


A fleet of private boats drop anchor.

I had always believed that the fireworks were shot off from a barge located in the lake. They’re not. They go off from the pier. It’s odd, I think. With the amount of boat traffic coming and going around the pier, I would think it would be dangerous to have that stuff there. Anyways, the whole thing lasted about 15 minutes. It was alright but I was expecting a little more. Communities like Niles and Baroda send them up one at a time. St. Joe does multiple so that was nice and I got a feeling that I was stepping up. However, I would bet dollars for donuts that the programs for Niles and Baroda are longer. I suppose there is a trade off for these things.

Curses to my cousin, Jason, who went to Chicago and saw theirs. *green with envy*

I hope all of you had a great holiday!