230309 Hidden Lake

This is a story about my life 60 years ago, during a time filled with golden memories.

This first picture shows the area where my dad and grandpa leased our clubhouse from the army corps of engineers on Brick House Slough. It has changed a lot in 60 years.

At the bottom of the picture, the little road had small clubhouses dotted all along the road up as far as where the road takes a right hook. Above the hook is where the lily pond was and going right from there was the small stream that could only be paddled through in a small boat. It was a beautiful little stream. On the far right side of the road there was a marina with gas pumps, a bar and small diner. The owner was married to the mother of my first love Sheri. I met her when I was 16. She was a beautiful lass very similar to Joyce in her beauty. We used to write poetry to each other. That lasted about a year. Sheri was in an in unhappy situation with her step father, so she broke my heart by running off with a local boy who was a farmer's son. I don't think she was happy, but I don't know what happened because I never saw her again. Through the years that have gone by I realized than none of the many girls I dated would have made for a good marriage. The only one that was the right one for me was Joyce.

The second picture is the clubhouse in 1959 when we acquired it. It was no palace, but a lot of fun for kids and grownups.

This picture was our dock where our boat was stored and where kids could swim. The water was shallow there so there was no danger of drowning and we could catch fish from the dock.

In the hidden lake area the water was very shallow, about one foot deep. In the spring there were pond lilies that grew quite large. The picture shows my three sisters with one of the lilies plucked from the hidden lake.

The small stream off hidden lake went from the lily pond through perhaps a quarter mile and then opened up into the slough where we could paddle back to the clubhouse. The stream was only about 6 feet wide and the banks were lined thick with trees. It was a great place to take a girlfriend and grab a kiss or two. Hidden lake was like something out of a dream to us early teens.

On Saturday nights the clubhouse next door had huge floodlights that lit up an area where the men gathered to drink beer and play horseshoes. That was fun to watch and their ladies were there to drink and discuss the play by play action. We teens were used as beer runners for the gents playing horseshoes. Us boys got to play horseshoes in the daytime.

In the winter the slough would freeze over and while we had no ice skates we could run and slide all over the shallow areas by the boat dock. This picture was my grandpa strolling along with beer in hand, dad and grandpa would break the ice by the shoreline and chill their beer there.