I woke up Sunday morning with a strong desire to go play in a large body of water . At first I thought we’d go to the beach . We haven’t been there in a few years. My husband and I grew up spending many summer days playing in the sand and waves and we both have fond memories of the beach. After we moved to the country , the drive time was doubled . We quit making beach trips a priority because we weren’t enjoying it enough to justify four hours of driving and the gas expense. So we talked ourselves out of the beach idea yet again and decided to head to Lake Somerville, a large lake that’s only about 60 miles from here and has a few state parks and Army Corps of Engineers parks with lake access , as well as private marinas. It has been a few years since we’ve gone out there because of various flooding episodes that had closed and damaged the parks. But everything is open now. The weather was cloudy and it even started to sprinkle rain on us right when we arrived, but thankfully it stopped quickly. The park was surprisingly empty of people for a summer weekend so we were able to get a choice picnic spot by the lake with trees , although we didn’t end up needing the shade. We brought along our fishing poles and our canoe, but due to the wind we chickened out on the canoeing and just waded into the lake with poles . The temperature was just warm enough to quickly adjust and it felt so refreshing! It was great to see everyone really enjoying themselves in the peacefulness of the cloud covered water. After awhile we took a snack break then got back into the water . Before we left the park we took a tour of the camping areas , found some good sites on the lake, and made plans to return for a camping trip . It’s not the most scenic park as far as camping , but the lake is very nice . Here are some pictures of the park .