Life Jackets and the Not-So-Nude Beach. Sept. 26, 2025.

Reader advisory: discussion of death and naked people. This post sat in my 'drafts folder' for a long while as I made updates to the website.

Looking to get out to somewhere new and hopefully relaxing, I set out to find a location that popped up on GoogleMaps as being "beach" on the Wisconsin River. As I drove to my supposed destination, I found it gated and several signs posted that the area was closed. The vibe was that whoever put these things in place really, really didn't want people going past this point--and not because it was private property. This isn't the first time I have considered trespassing, but I decided this seemed just weird enough I would move along. I went back along the river to a small landing I had seen that had what I assumed would be a great view of the sunset.

As I started walking around the very small area, I saw a few folks kayaking, fishing, and/or lounging. I found a publicly available structure with life jackets of all shapes and sizes available. It warms my heart that something so important was offered publicly and seemed to be maintained fairly http://year.Aswell. Life jackets have numerous layers of meaning for me at this particular point in my life. A lot of things are changing, and largely in ways that I hope to improve my life. Seeing child-sized life jackets dangling from their hooks, I was reminded of a tragic incident that took place in 2011 to a coworker. My coworker had gone to work one day and while she was out, the child and her father drowned. I later met the man who was the first responded to the scene who had since devoted his free time to educating people on life jacket safety. Even years later, the story did not stop putting tears in his eyes. This incident involved a life jacket that was marketed as a toy--not an actual life-preserving safety unit.

I have not been out to do hardly any plein air work this year and sometimes painting feels like it's own kind of life-preserving activity for me. As a means of setting myself up for some positive changes, I recently procured a Leuchtturm 6"x4" watercolor sketchbook at a local art supply store I had not tried before.

I got the sketchbook set up with the highly portable plein air pochade box and as I was getting myself comfortable, a woman approached me who had been lounging about. Like many others before her, she had questions about what I was doing and offered information about her own creative endeavors. I explained to her that I attempted to find this nearby beach I found on GoogleMaps, but it was closed.

With a straight face, Barbara said "Oh, the nude beach?"

I was one part surprised, one part sad it was closed, and another part very curious as to this location's closure. Barbara went on to explain that at one time the beach attracted people from different parts of the world, it was small and safe for many years. Unfortunately, she speculated that drug use and other illegal activities likely contributed to it's closure. It brought me some joy that at one time this area was once home to an activity that naturalists would enjoy in this rural corner of Wisconsin. Living life vulnerably in the nude can be it's own kind of freedom, I suppose, and I was so glad that Barbara brought some hope to the day after having been a little down. It was a lovely day and folks were still being their friendly selves.

We chatted for a while and she told me of her ferrets, her many years living in the area and enjoying her retirement. Other folks had come through the park saying hello and stopping to give advice of where to go for future adventures. Everyone was friendly, one man pulled through the area just to tell me that he A man and his kid were there to fish and explained that the sunsets and sunrises down near the river were incredible and that sometimes they could even see the aurora borealis at night. As I finished up my painting, the sun had begun to set.

They were right, the sunset was a sight to behold on this lovely fall day. Life preservation, however, seemed to be the better fit for this particular day. Changes happen constantly, it's what being alive kind of is. This particular day I was reminded that sometimes it might feel like a person is drowning, but really they're just in a bathtub and needed to sit up.