Bare-ass Beach

I'm fairly certain I came within the vicinity of the infamous 'Bare-ass Beach' last night.

After a FABULOUS dinner at Will and Ron's house (my temporary home) I decided to go for a walk and I took Zoey (Ron's dog) with me. Will said it'd be an easy walk, but I had no idea how long a distance it was from the Lake street bridge to the Franklin bridge. My route was this: starting at the West end of the Lake Street bridge, heading along West River Parkway, to Franklin Ave. Bridge, across it, down the East River Parkway to Lake Street bridge, and across that to home.

Zoey and I are cruising along, saying 'hey' to all the peeps along the way... We get to the East River parkway and it's pretty dark on that side of the river... Passed only a few people until about 3/4 of the way to the Lake Street bridge I notice an increase in the frequency of random men standing along the path.

The walking path and the biking path separate and TALL grass is growing in between them. I decide to take the walking path and I come upon a park bench. There is a single man sitting on the bench and it's dark so we can't see very well. I pick up the pace a bit and pass the dude and say 'hey' (as was our walking custom) . The minute he opened his mouth I KNEW he was a homo and I turned and looked... I jumped at his fugliness (poor timing for the passing car) and I think Zoey did too. He couldn't have been older then 25 and most unfortunate looking...

I just smiled and continued on past the other (much older) random men. I also took notice of the sudden increase in parked cars and bikes.

I would have been BLIND not the see the 'X' marked on my mental map. So, I get home and I tell Will and Ron about my adventure and they confirmed I had most likely had passed Bare-ass Beach.

I have lived in this area my entire life and had never adventured out to try and find this place. I feel so much more educated now. However, I probably would have received a much more EDUCATIONAL experience had I ventured down one of the dark paths...