Skrdla Family: Lake McConaughy SRA

Our final stop on the first day of our vacation was Lake McConaughy.

Lake McConaughy is Nebraska’s largest lake, measuring over 35,700 acres. There is plenty of room for boating, fishing, swimming, camping, lying on the sandy beaches, etc. The water, held back by the Kingsley Dam, the lake is 22 miles long and over 4 miles wide. When at full capacity, the water can reach depths around 142 feet. Since being built in the late 1930s, the dam, which is fed by the North Platte River, was originally purposed to store water for irrigation purposes, but has since had a hydroelectric station added and has become popular with tourists and outdoor sports.

The south shore of Lake McConaughy.

We stopped by the visitor center as we arrived and determined from that where we wanted to try camping. After stopping for some wood, ice, and night-crawlers, we headed down to the camping area.

It was here that we ran into the first bump on our vacation as we tried to reach the camping areas. The sandy roads proved to be too much for our van and we ended up stuck. Papa tried to dig us out, but it was of little use. After about 20 minutes, a very kind lady used her Yukon to give us a tow, much to the chagrin of her father-in-law. Once we were out, we tried to be more careful with the sand.

After we checked out a number of the beaches, we decided on a camping spot not far from the outhouses. After all, we did have a 2 1/2 year old with us who had been going potty ever 2 or three hours all day. We began setting up our tent under some trees about 300 yards from the lake. As we were putting on the finishing touches, a lady from the tents next to us came over and informed us that, "We're gonna be havin' a party and we're gonna be up late, be loud, and be drinkin' a lot." We wondered if this was a sign of things to come, but we thanked her for telling us and decided to move camp. We pulled the tent down onto the beach and moved it about 30 yards from the edge of the water.

Our tent on the beach. We were able to drive the van right up to it, if we were careful.

The water was nearby, so the girls were able to to play by the lake while we prepared to camp.

While Papa was building the fire, a game warden pulled up. It just so happened that this game warden was from his home town and had worked for his dad for a couple of summers. He gave the girls special fishing permits for kids and we had a nice chat.

Then Papa got the fire ready while Mama got the girls cleaned up for the night. As soon as the fire was ready we roasted hot dogs and brats over the fire. By this point the sun was beginning to set, so we got everyone ready for bed. Papa and the girls went outside and used Droid Skyview App to look at the constellations. The stars were out that night in mass and later on, you could even see the Milky Way.

We hadn't been camping since Gabriella was born, so we were a little nervous about how everyone would sleep. Papa told a story trying to put everyone to sleep, but after the story he just took Ella out and carried her up and down the beach until she dozed off. We got a pretty good night's sleep, all considered, and woke not long after sunrise. The girls played on the beach while we broke camp. We took the time to try a little fishing and even some creative photography (but we are still beginners).

"Skrdla 2013"

The "Skrdla 2013" still sketched in the sand with all of our shadows in the shot. Would have been much easier if someone else was shooting that one...

Lake McConaughy was another stop on the GPP, so we found our next rubbing at the top of a hill. Just a warning for anyone trying for this one, there are cactus plants on the path going up this hill so we wouldn't recommend running, as Clare found out the hard way.