One of our favorite annual trips is to "Big Mac" also known as Lake McConaughy in Nebraska...
It was an especially sweet trip this year as Ryan & Kelli joined us for this trip on Thursday,
Friday & Saturday just before Ryan's flight for his 2-month Kenya mission trip early Sunday morning!
After Robyn completed transfers in the morning for her job,
it used to be that I was the one that had business calls randomly at the Lake ~
lately it's been Uncle Darold's turn to be standing by for problems at the shop
and needing to be available via cell phone during our adventures ...
Here's a picture of the lodge, along with our favorite breakfast diner!
I love the tractor guys at Big Mac ...
they come in the morning with their big tractors and launch the boats
and then they come down the sandy shores to retrieve in the afternoon
and deliver you right back to your camp spot ~ very cool!
With all the white sand at this lake, there's lots of neat hiking and exploring to do ~
we just pull the boats right on to the soft sand shores and climb on out ...
I actually call this lake the Hawaii of the Mid-West!
A new find this year were areas of stakes and caution tape ~ for what we had to ponder ??
Eventually we came upon a sign announcing that
Least Terns and Piping Plovers were endangered, protected, and nesting ...
And then we finally located their little eggs just sitting out in the middle of the staked areas...
hmmmm, it seems that their nesting habits might be
an explanation for why they've become endangered?
But we must say, they really were cute little peep-peepers running all over the beach ...
Speaking of cute peepers running all over the beach ...
One afternoon we headed out for a walk from camp ...
the bugs were a bit much at first through the brush & Trey was going to turn back.
Ryan chided him with an admonishment not to be "A Nancy"!
It was funny and we had a great time ...
A special time for a long good-bye before a long trip...
Of course there was a great day to head to Cabella's in Sydney ...
Honey, do these pants make my bottom look fat? Ha ha ha!!!
With our treasures purchased, it was time to head back to the lake ...
with plenty of time to spare for more silly pictures!
We arrived with a couple of minutes to spare to put our coins on the railroad tracks
to get smashed Big Mac souvenirs! Another Big Mac tradition!!
We have some missing pictures that come before the following set!
The next day we launched our boat in a bit of a wind that reached stormish conditions (Darold decided to leave his boat on the trailer and instead took Jocko for a walk along shore - hmmm!) As the winds got stronger and the waves got bigger, we snapped the cover on the front of the boat for the kids to hide under, I donned my rubber boating suit and googles, sang a song, and charted us through the great waves breaking over the bow and soaking the boat and passengers. Robyn and I took the main seats and we're laughing our heads off as the waves soaked the crazy driver, time after time after time. We never get pictures of these parts of our big adventures due to water & camera being a bad mix, but man-o-man, I absolutely love boating through a storm. Aye aye matey!
Oh, the song? It goes like this ... Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship. / The mate was a mighty sailin' man, the Skipper brave and sure, five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour. A three hour tour. / The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, The Minnow would be lost. The Minnow would be lost. / The ship's aground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle --with Gilligan, the Skipper too, the Millionaire and his wife, a movie star, and the rest (Professor and Mary Ann), Here on Gilligan's Isle!!
Gotta' love being a child of the 70s!
After the storm passed, we had some more shore-time
with some awesome mud and mud-pack skipping ...
After these pix, we headed back to the eagle and packed up for the drive home ...
Ryan had to be at the airport in just 12 more hours for his summer service adventure.
We were so thankful to have this perfectly wonderful weekend together before he left!
Friday & Saturday just before Ryan's flight for his 2-month Kenya mission trip early Sunday morning!
After Robyn completed transfers in the morning for her job,
it used to be that I was the one that had business calls randomly at the Lake ~
lately it's been Uncle Darold's turn to be standing by for problems at the shop
and needing to be available via cell phone during our adventures ...
Here's a picture of the lodge, along with our favorite breakfast diner!
I love the tractor guys at Big Mac ...they come in the morning with their big tractors and launch the boats
and then they come down the sandy shores to retrieve in the afternoon
and deliver you right back to your camp spot ~ very cool!
With all the white sand at this lake, there's lots of neat hiking and exploring to do ~we just pull the boats right on to the soft sand shores and climb on out ...
I actually call this lake the Hawaii of the Mid-West!
A new find this year were areas of stakes and caution tape ~ for what we had to ponder ??Eventually we came upon a sign announcing that
Least Terns and Piping Plovers were endangered, protected, and nesting ...
And then we finally located their little eggs just sitting out in the middle of the staked areas...hmmmm, it seems that their nesting habits might be
an explanation for why they've become endangered?
But we must say, they really were cute little peep-peepers running all over the beach ...
Speaking of cute peepers running all over the beach ...
One afternoon we headed out for a walk from camp ...the bugs were a bit much at first through the brush & Trey was going to turn back.
Ryan chided him with an admonishment not to be "A Nancy"!
It was funny and we had a great time ...
A special time for a long good-bye before a long trip...
Of course there was a great day to head to Cabella's in Sydney ...
Honey, do these pants make my bottom look fat? Ha ha ha!!!
With our treasures purchased, it was time to head back to the lake ...with plenty of time to spare for more silly pictures!
We arrived with a couple of minutes to spare to put our coins on the railroad tracksto get smashed Big Mac souvenirs! Another Big Mac tradition!!
We have some missing pictures that come before the following set!The next day we launched our boat in a bit of a wind that reached stormish conditions (Darold decided to leave his boat on the trailer and instead took Jocko for a walk along shore - hmmm!) As the winds got stronger and the waves got bigger, we snapped the cover on the front of the boat for the kids to hide under, I donned my rubber boating suit and googles, sang a song, and charted us through the great waves breaking over the bow and soaking the boat and passengers. Robyn and I took the main seats and we're laughing our heads off as the waves soaked the crazy driver, time after time after time. We never get pictures of these parts of our big adventures due to water & camera being a bad mix, but man-o-man, I absolutely love boating through a storm. Aye aye matey!
Oh, the song? It goes like this ... Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship. / The mate was a mighty sailin' man, the Skipper brave and sure, five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour. A three hour tour. / The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, The Minnow would be lost. The Minnow would be lost. / The ship's aground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle --with Gilligan, the Skipper too, the Millionaire and his wife, a movie star, and the rest (Professor and Mary Ann), Here on Gilligan's Isle!!
Gotta' love being a child of the 70s!
After the storm passed, we had some more shore-time
with some awesome mud and mud-pack skipping ...
After these pix, we headed back to the eagle and packed up for the drive home ...Ryan had to be at the airport in just 12 more hours for his summer service adventure.
We were so thankful to have this perfectly wonderful weekend together before he left!
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