Sunday and today were some of the first real hot, humid weather we've experienced here in southeast Minnesota this summer. How did you beat the heat? My wife and I decided to check out the beach and lake at Foster Arend Park.

Minnesota DNR
Minnesota DNR
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I'd never been there, and my wife had only been there once before, when she was competing in the Med City Triathlon.

I'd heard about Foster Arend, of course, so we decided to check it out. We got there around noon Sunday, before things got too crowded. After loading up on the sunscreen, we plopped down on our beach towels and soaked up enough sun and got hot enough that we were ready to hit the water.

The water was...refreshing! It's a fairly deep lake (about 42 feet deep), so the water was still nice and cool. Those warning signs about the steep drop-off (seeing as the lake is a reclaimed gravel pit the city of Rochester transformed into a lake back in 1981) gave me a little pause, though, as I'm not a fantastic swimmer. By that, I mean that I can keep myself afloat, but won't ever be mistaken for Michael Phelps out there.

We headed back to our beach towels and then repeated the process one more time before calling it a day. By then, the park was decidedly more crowded than when we first got there. All in all, it was a nice time-- and was a great way to keep our cool during yesterday's afternoon heat.

Where (or how) do you like to beat the heat during the summer?

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