Lakefront memories... (and I swear I won't post any more Plinky crap today after this!)

Today's Plinky prompt: What's your favorite beach or lakeshore?

I'm not much of a beach person. The sun and I have a hate/hate relationship. My friends and family use me as a comparative when talking about other people who have pale skin. If I had a nickel for every time I heard the phrase "almost as pale as you," I'd probably be able to buy a new computer. Not that I'm complaining. I mean, I used to hate it, but then the whole goth thing became cool and strangers stopped commenting on my apparent lack of sun exposure.

Anyway, the idea of spending time on a beach doesn't really appeal to me. In general, I'm not much of a nature person. I like nature, I'm all for preserving nature, but I don't want to spend a lot of time out in it. And I love swimming, but I'd prefer not to share the water with non-human swimming companions or have to walk on rocks while doing so.

That said, my favorite beach or lakeshore would have to be the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago. In the three years I lived in Chicago, I think I only visited the beach twice. The first was for a corporate beach volleyball tournament. The one game we played was pretty fun. Okay, so we didn't "play" so much as "lose quickly so we could get to the bar for the afterparty before all the other losers ate the free appetizers," but it was still fun.

The second time was when some friends from college came to visit. We'd gone to the Lincoln Park Zoo one afternoon, and as we were wandering around we kept seeing people come up over the hill with beach stuff. My old roommate asked if there was a pool or something nearby, and couldn't believe that there was an actual sandy beach that far north (she's from Texas). So we left the zoo for a stroll on the beach to prove that it actually existed. It was May. The weather was beautifully warm. The water was fucking freezing.

There was the time that the company I worked for had a dinner cruise for its Christmas party. The boat cruised along the shore for a couple of hours while we had dinner and got drunk at the open bar. I think I had five cosmos. I don't remember much about the cruise.

I may not miss hanging out on the beach, but I do miss living near it. I liked having a view of the lake from the roof deck of my apartment. I loved having the lake breeze blowing through my apartment in the summer. I missed going to Navy Pier with visiting guests. If I still lived there, I'd totally take advantage of the miles of paved trail along the beach for my fitness walks.

But you'd never catch me laying out on the sand.