Sunday, July 8, 2007

Photoessay #52 - Civic Club


I used to spend many afternoons at the Lake Forest Park Civic Club when my kids were smaller. This semi-private club located on Lake Washington is just about a mile from my house, really very close. Anybody who lives in the deeded area can join and the membership is very reasonable (less than $100/year). There is not a lot of public access on the north end of giant Lake Washington so it really pays to join the Civic Club. Around here, you are never far from bodies of water, Lake Washington to to my immediate east. How big? Maybe 30 miles long and 10 miles wide. Big lake. Puget Sound is approx 6 miles to the west with ferries and saltwater marine life. All of this water creates the mild (if dark and dank) marine climate and all of the greenery that I love so much. Summers are short.

Partially obscured to the left is a sand beach where my kids spent many hours building sand castles. You can set up in the shade and there's plenty for kids to do. The dock is set up for boats but you can easily jump off the dock, the water is quite shallow off the dock. Even I have floated around in the water on an air mattress out there.

4 comments:

Oreo said...

I remember that beach when my little one was still little! We just threw away some feathers the other day that we got on that beach!

azure said...

Really? Did we go down there all that long time ago? Probably we did. See, I don't remember that. It's kind of a fun place especially if you have little kids.

lil1suz said...

You have to love the Civic Club special! That was always great! I remember jumping off the third ladder was a 'big kid' thing to do and of course I found my way to the fourth ladder on the dock. Go figure right. I also remember finding $5 in the murky waters there and I bought my alarm/radio clock (which was high tech at the time) and I still to this day have by my bedside in college. Good investment I have to say as a 10 year old.

-lil1suz

azure said...

I love to hear the perspectives from different family members. Like your memories of the civic club. I didn't know about the $5 for the clock radio. I do remember now trying to limit how far you could go, how many ladders down the dock. But I knew that you also were going to jump from whereever ones you wanted.

The Civic Club Special was buying the fried chicken/coleslaw supper from the Albertsons and taking it over to the Civic Club across the street on hot days and having dinner there. A big treat in our house. Sounds like a good idea for tonight actually.

Also so fascinating hearing my sister's memories and viewpoints on events that happened in our own childhood