Lake Erie at her finest

Summer 2009 has been especially pleasant and beautiful weather-wise.
Here is a photo essay of a boating excursion one ordinary July weekday evening.


We put in at Gordon Park, just outside of downtown Cleveland and paddled out of the zigzagging break walled entrance.
Marty and I took Paddle To The Sea, a very fine Lake Erie craft. She started out as a Bell Northwind canoe, 17.5', black and gold layup. She was customized by boat builder/designer Ron Sell of Unadilla Boats of Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is now a decked-over sailing canoe and she handles waves, wind and open water with ease. Marty has spent many a fine evening sailing this boat this summer.
We had good company: Heike is always quick to accept an impromptu paddling invitation on a nice evening.


Heike looked like a wilderness bound adventurer, silhouetted against an enticing horizon.
Your hardworking photographer and stern paddler.
Her husband.
The Lake. Lake Erie. Shallowest (and notoriously rough) of all the Great Lakes.
It was promising to be a picturesque night; the clouds were crisp and shapely, the lake surface mercurial and sinuous; and calm.
We headed east toward Bratenahl and Euclid's Wildwood Park beyond.
Marty and I practiced our maneuvering skills and turned to face downtown Cleveland so I could get a picture of the skyline for you to enjoy.
The sky was a never ending display of lessons in nuance and mood.
Heike strikes a heroic pose.
We paddled five-ish miles to a welcome leg-stretch on the beach at Wildwood Park. The lake looked lustrous and majestic from the bluff.
We paddled back after treasure hunting on the beach (green beach glass!) to find a sky rendered in smudgy charcoal and watercolor.
The watercolor pinks deepened and glowed at the horizon.

Marty paddled without cease and dreamed dreams, no doubt, of summer evening breezes that would billow his now stowed sails with the promise of sea bound miles covered with elegance and ease.
The watercolor pinks and oranges smeared and ran and became almost heavy handed had they not been so luminously beautiful.

The colors muted, allowing true darkness to creep in at the edge.
Downtown Cleveland lights look like those of a mythical, magical faraway place.
Heike looks the part of a long ago voyageur.
Ahhh, this is what we have been wanting to see; a surface of bottomless black ink, spangling, romantic city lights defining a vast and unconquerable landscape; a life and days of limitless possibilities whisper and beckon in every wave meeting bow.

Good night.

Edie