We’re definitely feeling the change in seasons these days. The sunrises are later in the morning, and there is a slight chill present in the air that wasn’t there in late August. But September and October are two of my favorite months for outdoor swimming as the lake temperature usually stays fairly high, and the sunrises are just spectacular. And this was certainly that case last weekend!
I found myself hustling out to the lakefront after a longer than expected ride out the city. Apparently, the Bike the Drive event was rescheduled for Labor Day weekend (it’s usually held on Memorial Day weekend), so Lake Shore Drive was completely shut down. As a result, I had to take an alternate route through the city to get to our swim site. But the silver lining was that I got to experience a wave on nostalgia driving past all my old haunts and hangouts on Clark and Broadway.
Once on site at L1 everything was fantastic. We had a great turnout (likely driven by the 6:15am sunrise), and the lake temperature came in at an amazing 73.0F – much more comfortable than the 63F air temperature. I did a point-to-point 1/2 mile to Oak Street Beach and walked back to L1 where everyone was still hanging out. I jumped in one more time as the conditions were perfect. I could have stayed out there all day, but I had to get up north to attend to my two little ones (and two future Lake Monsters!).
Hope you got out to (and into) the lake last Sunday!