PTParaD TRs and Shenanigans

[Part-Time Paradise]

Haven't sent an update in awhile on the shed. It's getting close to being done. Just a few things on the punch list left, but looking pretty sweet.

 

[Teamubr]

Very nice!

j

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

I wish we could've joined the crew in GSP this week, but it just wasn't in the cards for us. We looked at the calendar this year. Last week was the only stretch the four of us had more than two days open at the same time. We had a whopping 6 days to play with. It wasn't enough to make the drive to AL feasible. So instead, we headed north to Omaha. We focused on relaxing and taking it slow, but had a few fun plans along the way.

Saturday, May 31

We pulled into Eugene Mahoney State Park in Ashland, NE late Saturday. I just realized we never got a picture of the campsite. The SP has two campgrounds. We stayed in site 144 in the Lakeside Campground:


It is a nice loop. The sites have plenty of space and this whole loop is full hook ups.

Once we got set up, we headed out for dinner. We stopped at a steakhouse nearby, but it was absolutely slammed, so we settled on Runza. If you don't know about Runza, it's a Nebraska thing. They are similar to bierocks and are accompanied with great fries and scratch made ranch...the real star. We have a few in KS, but none near our house. So we jump at the chance to grab a Runza when we can. After a nice dinner, we got back to the CG and finished unpacking inside the camper and went to bed.

Sunday, June 1

DW had been feeling under the weather and I left my entire stack of pants/shorts on the bed at home. So the kids and I snuck out of the RV around 9 and headed into town to find some pants for the dummy that can't pack and a few other things. We grabbed lunch while we were out and got take out for DD. She was just waking up when we got back around 1pm. She appreciated the extra sleep and everyone appreciated that I was now going to wear pants the rest of the week.

After DW got moving, we went to the Activity Center inside the SP. It has a big play area for little kids and an indoor climbing area (our reason for going). In the winter it also has an ice rink and a sledding hill where they make their own snow. The kids enjoyed scrambling up the wall until their finger strength gave out.


After the climb, we went back to the CG and took it slow. We spent the rest of the evening going on a walk, playing some bocce, football tossing, and lounging around.

Monday, June 2

We woke up late and got moving. We headed to the steakhouse we tried to go to on Saturday for an early lunch. I didn't take pictures. I was having too much fun spending time with everyone, since we get so few opportunities for us all to be together with the kids' schedules. Anyway, I had a ribeye and it was great.

After lunch, we went to the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum. It's a very nice collection of Cold War aircraft and information about how the Strategic Air Command operated then and now (for the uninitiated, Strategic Air Command is based in Omaha and directs the nuclear triad). DS is turning into a big history and airplane buff. I don't know if being a pilot is in his future, but he's quickly starting to know more about military aircraft than me if he doesn't already.


We got back to the CG around 2:30 and spent the rest of the day hanging around again.

Tuesday, June 3

Tuesday was a rainy day. So we drove over to Offutt Air Force Base to bowl. We like bowling together and military installations always have a cheap bowling center with pretty decent food. The Peacekeeper Lanes didn't buck the trend. We rolled a few games and enjoyed our greasy grub. DW won the first game and DD won the second. From bowling, we headed to the Base Exchange to pick up a few items and the rain kept coming. So we decided to retreat back to the camper and enjoy another quiet evening.

Wednesday, June 4

DS and I woke up around 7:30 and played some tennis. He enjoyed pickle ball and is trying to get into tennis. I'm a hack, but still make him run up and down the court. After winning a straight set and another game, he had a long enough sprint work out for the day. Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.

In the afternoon we grabbed lunch out and went shopping for some things we've been hunting for. I got some boots, the girls got some clothes, and DS struck out on finding a hiking backpack.

On the way back to the CG, we stopped at the mini golf course in the SP. It's a cute course with each hole themed to something in the park. I swear we took a picture together, but cannot find it. After golf, we drove around the park a bit more and stopped at the observation tower that overlooks the Platte River.




We got back to the CG and I went with DS to the nearby lake for some dusk fishing. He didn't catch anything, but we had a nice chat and enjoyed the view.




The flag in the picture is in front of the lodge at the SP. The park has 40 rooms at the lodge, 60 cabins, and 148 total campsites. With all of the other amenities, it is quite a SP.

On to the next post...

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Thursday, June 5

DD and I woke up early and I took her to the field house at Offutt Air Force Base so she could swim some laps. Our next stop is for a swim meet for her and she hadn't practiced all week and wanted to loosen up. I hit the treadmill in the meantime.


She wasn't briefed there would be pictures and she was huffing and puffing too. On the way back to the CG we picked up donuts for the crew (I had to get something for burning 900+ calories). We enjoyed our fat pills and got cleaned up for the day.

We drove into downtown Omaha and grabbed lunch at a local restaurant. Nothing too crazy, but edible. Then we went over to the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge. The bridge straddles the Missouri River and there is a nice park on both the NE and IA sides.




After our brief trip to IA, we went back to the camper for a few hours. We laid low and had a light dinner before heading to our evening activity, an Omaha Storm Chasers game. The Chasers are the AAA club for the Royals and they played the Iowa Cubs.







The Chasers didn't turn in a stellar game. They gave up 6 in the 4th alone. The weather was near perfect, but some nagging sprinkles chased us off in the bottom of the 8th when the score was 8 or 9 to 2. We felt pretty confident the home team wasn't going to win.

We got back to the CG around 10 and packed up a little bit to head out in the morning before turning in.

Friday, June 6 - Sunday, June 8

We left Eugene Mahoney right when we wanted at 9:30. We had to time our check-in time in Topeka, KS and DD's warm up time for her swim meet session. We also grabbed another Runza before leaving NE.

We arrived at the CG just a few minutes at our check-in time giving DD plenty of time to get to the pool.

Saturday we had a slow morning and then got DD over to the meet at 12:30. Then we grabbed dinner and retreated to the camper.

Sunday we packed up and headed over to the pool for the final session. We got home around 5 and had to run out to the jungle that popped up while we were gone. DW needed to pick cherries before they started rotting. My job is to lift her up in the tractor bucket so she can get the high branches. She picked 35 lbs of cherries tonight. It's going to be canning time soon.



DS mowed about half the yard and we unloaded the camper and started the laundry.

It wasn't the most exciting trip ever, but it was just the ticket we needed to reconnect and unwind from all of our hustle and bustle so far this year.