Oh I wish I was in Sandusky

Hundreds of People Stranded on Ice Floe in Lake Erie

So here's the thing: if the ice floe is 8 miles wide, and there's about 300 people who were ice fishing on it, then we're talking a very large area. How would you know when it broke off? Did they hear the bone crushing noise first? Or did someone come running towards them shouting? Running on ice that can break on you at any moment is not perhaps the smartest thing. And did the people keep drilling holes in ice, figuring they might as well keep fishing while they waited for the helicopters? Did they get the women and children off first, or is it more random? Is everyone gathered in large groups, or are they afraid of the weight, so they're standing scattered about? Will they get everyone off by nightfall, or will people be stranded in the dark, with freezing water and gusting winds, while the searchlights scurry back and forth in the distance?

And more importantly, who goes ice fishing on the warmest day in the past three weeks?

What I wish is that I could drive out to Sandusky now, and stand on the shore by the Maritime Museum (which I'm sure will someday have a picture of this) and watch the helicopters and boats. Then I wish I could go into a warm waterfront bar and get drunk watching them. Then I wish I could walk along the beach in the cold and watch the ice melting.

I can still do that last part tonight. It's one of my favorite things in Cleveland, watching the ice break up.