My Third (maybe 4th? No, 3rd) Polar Bear Plunge

Let it be clearly known, that I did not decide to dunk myself in the freezing water of Lake Michigan until about forty five minutes before I did it.  Afterwards, it turned out that LuLu, in the days prior to New Years, had asked about doing it, and so I looked like a jerk when I proceeded without her. But this is not a retcon; up until midday I really didn't want to do the plunge. A lot of years I hem and haw and feel like a scrub for not completing the task, but this time, nope: I just didn't want to do it. 

And then I changed my mind. 

It was too late to participate in the official, public events (who can get up and ready and be somewhere by noon on New Years Day??), but the lake was still there, and we were about to reacquaint ourselves with one another. 

I picked a not-great day to do it, weather wise. It wasn't the worst weather Milwaukee can throw at you, but a brisk 29 degrees (F) did not make for comfort even on the walk from the car to the beach. 

I did succeed in getting Smiley to go with me and watch (and drag me out if need be). 

 But he claimed his phone was dead or at 4%, depending on the minute, and so couldn't be used to record the event. As I wanted both pics and video for different social media platforms, I needed two devices. So I called Yaya and she and Alex met us there. 

"There" not being the standard Bradford Beach, north of downtown, but the nearby South Shore, where a local , alternate version of the Polar Bear Plunge had taken place at noon. I didn't make it to the "x" on the map, instead going in at the boat launch. 

While we waited for YaYa, an elderly couple came, ignored the "don't feed the geese" sign, and dropped two big bottles of feed on the concrete. 
 

When it was time to go in the water, a shock, and not just from the bitter cold H20: Smiley had secretly decided to go in with me, and had his swim trunks on under his pants! Yay!

The water was brrrr and getting splashed didn't help any. 

Smiley went out to below hip height and declared, being a man of common sense, that he would go no further. He turned around and returned to shore. 

I continued on my own. 

I dunked myself to chin height but I did not dunk my head in, an act later criticized by Lisa, who, I might point out, has never done the plunge and if she did, would have hair on her head to keep her warmer. 

This pic is me in agony. Soaking wet, my feet pins and needles, desperately trying to get to the warmth of the car, and held hostage by the need for a final, positive pic for the post LOL 

Cancelled

With air temperatures expected to hover around negative 9 degrees F, I've cancelled our Polar Bear Plunge. I can't justify risking the health of LuLu and Stacey. We'll get back to it next year, God willing.

Polar Bear Plunge - New Years Day 2017

For a few years now Lulu and I have talked about doing the Polar Bear Plunge, a New Years day tradition where Milwaukeeans dash into the ice cold waters of Lake Michigan at the stroke of noon. Talked about it, but never even tried to go. It's been so many years of "maybe next year" that she snarkily referred to *not* going as our actual tradition.

Well, enough of that. Today, we did it!

The kids were scattered between different NY Eve locations, so we scooped up Lu and our niece Stacey from my parent's place, then Junie from a friend's house, and headed down to the lake.

Alas, we misjudged the size of the crowd. I expected a few hundred people and difficulty parking. What we got were thousands of people (probably only a couple hundred who went in the water) and NO parking. I won't lie. I handled this stress poorly, and squabbled with Lisa. Eventually she just dropped us off and we had to hike the rest of the way.

Now, as January 1st goes in Wisconsin, this was a beauty. The sun was out, the temperature was about forty degrees F (by my reckoning) and the water a balmy 35 degrees F. What more could you ask for?

(the event did have medical personnel in the water in case someone went into shock)

Without Lisa, our plans for a  mobile changing station were kaput, so we threw our stuff in the sand and, when the horn sounded, waded in.

It wasn't that bad. Oh, it was painful, sure, a bit like a thousand knives thrusting into your skin, but most of THAT didn't occur in the water, but once you returned to dry land. THEN the pain hit, especially in your feet. But with the air conditions as mild as they were, the pain was short-lived and we dried off quickly.

So, naturally, we went in for a second round.

None of us were in the water as long the second time, nor were we as deep. But it was a lot more pleasant, probably because we knew what to expect.

Here's a video of me in the surf. 

Afterwards, the same quick pain, the same quick relief. But as we were getting dressed a local newsreporter from WTMJ showed up to do a report, and Junie asked to take a picture with him.

I didn't talk to him on-air, but we did chat for awhile. I told him only a few weeks ago we'd been in the Bahamas complaining about the water temperature there, and here we were jumping into a frozen lake!

It was a good time, and I'm glad we did it. It's something LuLu and I can scratch off our bucket lists. And who knows, we may even do it again!

Tomorrow?

Still contemplating a plunge into Lake Michigan with LuLu tomorrow. Yes, it'll be a day late and Lisa is already mocking us, but we can start a "thing" and call ourselves the Tardy Bears. No?