Seabreeze and the Beach

Today is a Monday and on Mondays, Seniors can get into Seabreeze amusement part as spectators for free. Other days it cost $12.00 each for that privilege. The idea is that grandparents can accompany their grand kindred and still be able to afford to do so. Spectators can't enjoy the rides unless they pay $2.50 per ride. Anne hasn't been there in many years, so we went to look around.

Seabreeze was stared with a hotel built by a railroad company in 1886, a common practice for railroads at the time. They wanted people to have somewhere to go, so they created a place for them. The same happened on Long Island and New Jersey and many other places. The hotel was on the lake, but by 1903 an amusement park was added with the first ride being the Jack Rabbit, a roller coaster which still roller coasts today and is, in fact, the oldest continually operated roller coaster in America. It isn't quite as scary looking as some of today's giant coasters, but people looked like they were having fun on it. Seabreeze has grown over the years and has a variety of rides for all ages, a neat looking water park with several high rise rides, a wave pool, arcades and some live shows. There used to be a Natatorium (I'm not sue about the spelling, but it was a salt water pool - I remember the one that used to be in Asbury Park), but I guess in the depression, when people weren't amusing themselves in parks, it got too expensive to maintain and is now, sadly, under a nearby highway. The park has its own carousel with a genuine band organ, made in 1996, that is really neat as it plays drums, organ music, little chimes, etc. Somehow it runs on music rolls, similar to a player piano, although I'm not sure if the rolls are paper or some form of electronic program. Seabreeze isn't a big intimidating park, but it is big enough that people from the youngest children to adults could have a good time for most of the day. The park is attractive, clean and seems well maintained.The railroad people knew what they were doing in locating the park with a beautiful view overlooking Lake Ontario.

After Seabreeze and a hamburger at Bill Grey's, we went to Ontario Beach Park for swimming. We got a spot pretty close to the park and a spot on the beach very close to the water. No worry about tides here coming up and getting your stuff wet. I did notice this time and other times when we went to the beach that there is a serious absence of beach umbrellas. In fact, when you ask people about this they look at you funny and don't know what you mean by a beach umbrella. Seriously, though, I think the reason is because of the wind. There were a few umbrellas, but the breezes can be strong. The wind isn't strong enough to blow up the sand, but it does cause wavelets in the water with whitecaps. If you don't want to bake in the sun you can sit in the shade in the park and just walk a little bit more to get to the water. I used plenty of sunblock, so I felt safe on the beach, for a while anyway.

As I mentioned in my prior post, the beach patrol protection seems like overkill compared to the Jersey shore, especially since you can rarely get over your head. It is nice for small children who are able to wade out quite a ways. The guards keep a close watch on everything and don't tolerate any horseplay or floating devises that may carry a bather beyond a quick rescue. The wavelets that I mentioned are nothing like the waves in the ocean and don't have the power behind them, but you get some exercise swimming among them.

We watched sailboats and some motor boats coming into the lake and it was a very restful afternoon. Some people were being very creative in sculpting sand figures, one of a woman lying on her side with her head propped by her hand with her elbow in the sand. She had on a bikini, or not, I'm not quite sure. It took about twenty-five minutes to get back home. About eight minutes closer to home is Durand beach, part of Durand Eastman Park, also in the City of Rochester. This is a somewhat narrower strip of sand than Ontario Beach, but it is backed up by a row of trees and brush that separate it from a hill on which there is a parking area. The trees provide a nice area of shade right on the beach. They charge $3.00 per carload at Durand Beach and there are Porta-Potties as opposed to regular rest rooms and showers at Ontario Beach. Did I mention that there is no charge for parking or use of the beach at Ontario Beach Park.

The other day when we were at Ontario Beach Park we noticed a man roller skating. He was noticeable because he was about 70 or 80 years old and had on about as much clothes as the sand sculpture, which in his case was a mini Speedo. He was remarkable in his roller skating skills doing quick turns, little jumps and everything. Anne and Marian wanted me to take a picture of him, but I just couldn't bring myself to think of looking at a picture of him on my computer. Turns out, he was there again today and had parked right next to us. He was just finishing and getting in his car as we returned from the beach. I didn't take a picture today either. In fact, I didn't bring my camera today thinking it was just something else to carry. Maybe I should bring one in the future. Hey, you never know.