Swimming in Crystal Lake

 

Today Travalon took the day off of work, because they turned his nephew's life support off and he just wanted to grieve quietly at home. They had originally been planning to do it last night, and his fiancee had asked us to be there, but then they changed the ceremony to 8 am this morning. Apparently all the doctors and nurses line the hallway while the person is being wheeled into the operating room to have their organs harvested as a sign of respect for their sacrifice. I had emailed my band that I couldn't come to practice and then had to email them that never mind, I would be there after all.

It was a productive day for me, working from home, and since Travalon was right there when I got done at five, I suggested we go to Crystal Lake to swim. Before the pandemic they charged $8 to swim at the campground, but during the pandemic it was only open to campers, not the public. Now it is $15 and only open to the public on weekdays. Usually Travalon gets home from work too late to get out there, but today was our big chance, and we took it. Swimming in the lake was so wonderful, and then we climbed on the inflatable obstacle course in the lake, and now my arms are quite sore. Climbing things is so much more fun than lifting weights! We decided to try the pool too, and that was so lovely that we stayed in there quite a while as well, shooting buckets with a Fighting Illini basketball that was just laying around and throwing each other a black and neon green football that was also just laying around. When it comes to sports, if there's a ball involved, I'm all about that! But not pucks so much - hockey is just not my thing. The hills around the lake were so beautiful, and I took this photo (that unfortunately isn't that in focus) of the sunset behind the hills from the car.

As we drove home on Highway Y, we could see beautiful glimpses of the sunset behind the hills, but it is a one-lane highway with nowhere to stop and take a photo. When we got home, we did take a walk in the neighborhood, and I took this photo of the sunset behind Mariner's Inn.

It looked like a painting. We thought how much fun it would be to stay at Crystal Lake Campground, where your big decision every day would be, "Should I swim in the lake or in the pool?" The pool was warm and surrounded by fake palm trees, and it really did feel tropical. Looking at the hills around us, we could pretend we were on St. Lucia or some other tropical island with mountains. What a wonderful evening!

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