This past weekend was summer solstice and the official start of summer, which arrived with a massive heat wave: low 90°F temperatures with dew points in the low-to-mid 70°F range. It has a feel of Florida weather, which doesn’t consistently get so hot, but does get slightly greater dew points.
Anyway, to get some fresher, cooler air, I decided to stop by a couple of beaches: My local one at Mosquito Lake State Park and the one up in Mentor, Headlands Beach.
Beach Bash
I visited the beach at Mosquito Lake somewhat unplanned and it was good timing because there was a scheduled Beach Bash, which is when the park hosts local bands and food trucks from 5 to 9 pm during the summer. I went to a couple of Beach Bashes last year, including one in August.
This Beach Bash had Speed Limit, a local band from Cortland, playing cover tunes. Of course, I brought a book (see further below) to read when I sat on the beach for a few minutes before the show began.
Headlands Beach
On Sunday, again mostly unplanned, I took my beautiful lady, Maggie, naked to the beach.
I consider her naked when she isn’t wearing her saddlebags. If you want to see her wearing her saddlebags, then take a look at her when we visited Headlands Beach last July.
Route to Headlands
This year, I drove through the charming village of Chardon both to and from Headlands, but took different roads through the various Amish settlements on my way home. Both State Rt. 87 east of Middlefield and State Rt. 528 heading south have Amish buggy lanes in both directions. They help with traffic flow and safety because without those buggy lanes, rush hour gets bottlenecks leading into Middlefield.
Beach
Anyway, the beach had a lot of people, as expected on such a sunny hot day, even though my pictures don’t indicate so.
I even went swimming a couple of times. The water felt a little chilly initially, even though it was listed at 64°F, probably because the air temperature was so hot with blazing sun. The sand, however, was almost hot enough to leave burn marks on one’s bare feet.
When I went into the water, one thing I noticed is the drop-off slope. By the third or fourth step into the water, I was between waist and chest deep in the water. Just a couple of more steps and it was above my head (and I’m 5’ 8”).
In comparison, the really nice beach in Cleveland, Edgewater Beach, doesn’t drop off much. I remember walking maybe 15-20 meters out and the water was only waist to chest high. I think Edgewater also has buoys that limit the swimming area to relatively shallow waters.
Headlands Beach’s smimming area, on the otherhand, is vast and feels almost like an ocean on a milder-water day. Speaking of which, Huntington Beach in California currently has a similar water temperature at about 67°F. But, the waves and undertows out there are much bigger and more powerful. Even so, the undertow at Headlands shouldn’t be underestimated, especially when the waves turn wicked.
I like all of these beaches in somewhat different ways; they have their trade-offs.
Sunburn
I did make the mistake of taking off my shirt while reading a book and swimming at the beach, and then hiking across the sand dunes.
Although it’s not visible in the picture, my shoulders and back got a moderate sunburn, which is rare for me because of my natural olive skin tone, probably inherited from my portion of Mediterranean (Roman/Italian) genes.
Piping Plover Birds
Also, perhaps 10% or more of the beach is now permanently closed near the east end towards the lighthouse because of some birds, the Great Lakes Piping Plovers.
Ancient Tech Book
I brought this book with me to both beaches to read about lost technologies of ancient Egypt:
Christopher Dunn, the author, is a retired engineer. He wrote this book, The Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt (2010), and others about ancient technologies used to build the pyramids, temples, and statues in Egypt. All of his work was conducted as a hobby, while he had a full-time job at a metal stamping manufacturing company. Quite impressive.
At this point, I’ve only read the first few chapters, but it is already convincing, although I’ll try to maintain a degree of skepticism.
Essentially, Mr. Dunn provides evidence from digital images he took of the statues and pyramids that he later analyzed. What he found was evidence that these structures were designed using technologies as advanced as what we have today, probably a lot more advanced (my opinion).
He demonstrates that the statues, for instance, were not sculpted using basic tools by craftsmen. Rather, the statues were designed using some sort of advanced 3-D technology and then constructed using perhaps giant machines to produce the sculptures. He also goes on to explain that the precision used is so advanced that modern society just 50 years ago did not have the precision machining capability to achieve what was accomplished in the production of those statues.
Maybe I’ll write a summary of my takeaways after I finish reading the book and have some extra time to do so. For those interested, I originally learned about Christopher Dunn’s findings from YouTube videos.
Closing Words
I couldn’t spend much time at either beach because I had some work to finish before Monday, so I’ll plan another visit to Headlands this summer.
Additionally, although I don’t like oppressive heat and humidity like we are currently experiencing in my hometown area of Northeast Ohio, when I was sitting on the Beach at Headlands, I felt quite comfortable. No sweating, even in the direct sunshine. This was partly so because there was a continual cool breeze off of Lake Erie. Nevertheless, the heat and humidity became much more noticeable while walking through the Dunes and parking lot to meet-up with Maggie and go home.
