June 23, 2016

Lakeside, Ohio – My Happy Place

Everyone should have a happy place where they feel totally at peace and at ease and for me that place is Lakeside, Ohio. It has been a place that I have gone for a week in June since I was 2 months old. I missed a few years when I was younger and moved away from Ohio but it has become a very important place for me to visit as I have become an adult.

Lakeside is located on Lake Erie on the Lakeside Marblehead Peninsula and is known as a Chautauqua. If that is a foreign word to you it is basically a community that welcomes people to gather and participate in lifelong learning opportunities through four pillars: religion, education, cultural arts and recreation. Lakeside has celebrated over 140 years of attracting families to the shores of Lake Erie to enjoy a time of fun and learning. Lakeside is one of the few remaining Chautauqua sites in existence and it keeps getting better each and every year.

Our family is steeped in the heritage of the United Methodist Church with my grandfather, father and sister all being ordained elders in the United Methodist Church. Others of us have worked in different capacities within the church as well and the week that we travel to Lakeside is the week of the East Ohio Annual Conference so we experience Lakeside in a slightly different way than those that come during the season. For us it is a time of meetings for those who are delegates, getting together with family and friends and relaxing in the laid back atmosphere that defines Lakeside.As a kid growing up I loved being at Lakeside because it meant a lot of freedom. It is a safe place where kids can ride bikes and walk just about anywhere and parents don’t have to worry at all about the safety of their young ones. There are so many activities for all age groups during the season that there is really something for everyone. A week probably is not long enough to take it all in if I were honest.When I go these days for the week we stay in a cottage with my family –whoever can come does and we cram into a cottage that while it lacks a lot of luxuries it keeps us all under one roof so we can share time with each other. I mean who doesn’t want to share 1 shower with 11 people? Or sleep in a double bed when you are used to sleeping in a king sized bed? Or share a room with your adult son? It is all part of the “experience” of the week and it is the one week that I look forward to year after year.The draw of Lakeside pulls me in year after year. It is the communion with family and friends, the worship services during Annual Conference, the sitting by the lake, the arrival of the mayflies, the ice cream cones, the miniature golf game, the shopping and the walking miles every day just because it is such a wonderful place to walk. One of these years we are going to go when it is during the actual season so we can take advantage of some of the great events that happen during those weeks. For the next few posts I plan to share more about Lakeside because I think everyone needs to know about my happy place. There is something for every one there and I think you will agree after you read all of my posts that it is a magical place as well. Plus they have a daisy –my favorite flower.