lakeside, ohio

remember that post where i was dreaming about an ohio lake house? my mom pointed out to me that it reminded her of lakeside, ohio, a tiny community on lake erie where my family vacationed yearly when i was a kid. no wonder that cabin was so appealing! i have such fond memories of lakeside, i had to look it up to see if the town was still there and-- yay-- it is!

lakeside always seemed to exist out of time. the entire town is actually gated, which means you have to purchase passes in order to be allowed in for the week, and which also means it is ridiculously safe.

147 jasmine avenue

the view at the end of jasmine avenue is exactly how the street ended that we used to stay on. it feels like the lake is everywhere.

116 west 2nd avenue

208 sycamore avenue

i remember renting vintage bicycles with my brother and riding them around town. i remember reading in my room and listening to madonna. i remember being a little bit bored there. and i think that's a great thing. we live in a world where all some kids know of vacation is the disney world fast pass. 

lakeside was about slowing down. i used to be happy with bikes and donuts and skipping rocks. no one played video games in the downtime. in fact, there was no tv at all in our cabin. (except the one year the bulls were in the finals and it coincided with our vacation. that year my mom brought a fuzzy 5" black and white tv and we were all crowded around it having heart attacks, superstitiously throwing our socks on the floor and praying michael and scottie would pull it off again). 

416 poplar avenue

most of the cottages are quaint and tiny, with terribly outdated decor (or worse, newly updated decor). our cabin had original wood floors and wonderful plank ceilings and walls. as a kid, i thought my room was huge.

433 jasmine avenue

huge screened front porches abound. i hope i don't get in trouble for saying this, but all i see when i look at a porch like this are my mom and my aunt, in housecoats, in twin chaise lounge chairs, reading books. i chuckle to think about it.

702 east second street

my grandmother did all the cooking for us in a kitchen about as big as her thumb. i remember a lot of BLT's and her making corn beef hash for my aunt's side of the family. i was informed by my mom that we (meaning her and her kids) would never eat such a thing, and to this day i have never had it. the things you accept as normal when you're a kid!

170 lynne avenue 

207 cedar street

the absolute most gloriously wonderful thing about lakeside was the donuts. truly. every single morning, rain or shine, someone in our family would trek down to the patio restaurant, and bring home a box of piping hot fresh fried donuts. those are worth the price of a week's admission right there. i've been on a quest to find donuts as good ever since, and i'm telling you, they just don't exist but for that little spot in the world. 

302 east 2nd street

705 east 5th street

{the keystone guest house}

my mom actually did some digging and found the exact cabin we used to stay at:

{all photos courtesy of sotheby's realty and lakeside chautauqua realty}

i can perfectly picture our car parked on that front "lawn" and our bikes dumped by the door. it would be fun to lounge on that porch with a donut again someday. i think we need more vacations that are about unplugging, slowing down, and enjoying a view of the lake. thanks for walking memory lane with me a little bit!