The view of the bridge was vivid as Angie and I arrived at the bulb today; the city looked close enough to swim to. Bright sun and clear skies, the water ripply and blue.

The price of such a view was the wind. It whipped around as we reluctantly stripped off our warm outer clothes and made our way to the water where we plunged right in because it was colder out than in.

We swam pretty hard in our attempts to keep warm, chugging out to the big tree.

The way back turned out to be harder. The wind had picked up speed by then and the waves were splashing us in the face while a little bit of a current tried to convince us to stay out.