Polar Bear Swimming at Lake Grapevine

It's a nice first day of the new year, here in Texas. I've got my windows open again. It's almost 70. I went up to Lake Grapevine, a bit past noon. I brought along a swimming suit, fully intending to go swimming on the first day of the new year.

But, when I got to Rockledge Park, the wind was blowing, there were waves, I felt the water and it was cold. Getting in the lake would not be as easy as getting in the pool. It doesn't get deep fast, you have to pick your way carefully over the lake bed so as not to step on something unseemly.

So, I chickened out on the swimming thing.

Taking the left turn from Grapevine Highway on to the road that goes over the Lake Grapevine Dam, there was a big group of bikers. I would not ride my bike on these type streets. Bikes and cars and busy highways do not a good mix make, in my opinion.

That's the bikers you see in the picture, above, with the pair of Big Balls in the foreground.

There were a lot of mountain bikers today riding the Northshore Trail out of Rockledge Park. I used to pedal this trail a lot. But it is treacherous in places. And now that I'm a senior citizen I am wary of such risky things.

That is the Gaylord Texas Resort and Convention Center, on the left, that you see rising above Lake Grapevine on the south side of the lake. I'll take my Mom and Dad there when they are here. Which is sooner than I expected, I learned today, when I called my Phoenix sister, while I was at Lake Grapevine.

Lake Grapevine has lost some more water since I was last at today's location. It was fun walking the beach in places where previously that was not possible.

About 2 miles into walking along the beach, there is an inlet that leads to a smaller inlet. During summer, when the vegetation is thick, this is a good skinny dipping spot. In the dead of winter, not so much. But the water was calm there, and it felt warmer. If it had not been so far from my vehicle and the post swimming need for heat, this would have been a good spot for my First of the New Year Polar Bear Swim. Doesn't that look like a big natural swimming pool?