Two out of Three Ain’t Bad

Greg continues his tour of Nebraska, gets a little cold, a little muddy, and discovers some great amenities!

To recap from my last post, I stayed three nights at Fremont SRA in Nebraska.

April 30th looked like this when I arrived.

May 1st looked like this.

The wind was blowing from the north at about 30 mph so I spent the day reading in my car. Miserable.

By the next morning the winds had stopped so I was able to check out the campground. There are 20 sand pit lakes here that provide a myriad of fun options.You can power boat in three of the lakes and fish and paddle in all of them. Swimming is allowed in four.

You can barely make out my trailer sitting all by it’s lonesome in the middle of the photo. Here is a closer look.

Crowds were not a problem. I imagine when it warms up they will appear because there are 168 campsites here, many on the water.

Just picture in your mind the green leaves on the trees, the blue sky, and kids frolicking on the beach while the coals get hot for a nice summer dinner.

Reality is the muddy roads I encountered leaving.

And I mean muddy!

I sure hope Glenn does not see this picture…

I arrived at Eugene T. Mahoney State Park as the sun broke through the clouds.

Which dried the mud on the trailer so it did not look as a bad.

With the weather being so unpredictable and it being temporarily sunny, I walked the 149 campsites. Which was a good thing as I never saw the sun again while I camped there. There are two campgrounds here, Little Creek and Lakeside. I really liked #52 at Little Creek, which is non-reservable.

The Ranger said that wildlife abounds behind the campsite.

The best reservable site is #129 at Lakeside.

Right behind the campsite is a little inlet so you basically have a whole peninsula to yourself. I camped on the other side of the inlet, another great spot, #110.

You see that building on the right? That is one of the amenities that they have here, a marina with paddle boat rental. And that is not the only one.

This is Nebraska’s premium campground, with a gazillion things to see and do. I will take you on a brief tour, heading counter-clockwise from my campsite.

Owen Marina on Baright Lake has a convenience store, ice cream parlor, fast food service, and an outdoor eating area in addition to the boat rentals.

And birds.

Next stop is Century Link Lake.

This is the main fishing area, a ten acre lake with two piers.

Nearby is the Peter Kiewit Lodge.

It has 40 guest rooms, a restaurant (which has a breakfast buffet Mon-Sat and brunch on Sunday), a gift shop, and a game room. It also has free wifi which I put to good use.

Then comes the Aquatic Center, complete with a giant pool and waterslide.

That’s not the waterslide, this is.

I drove past a playground,

A theater,

And an observation tower.

Continuing on I passed the stables.

They have both trail rides and pony rides available.

If you would rather swing some clubs or practice putting you can do that as well.

Last up is the Activity Center.

That giant open area contains the ice rink in the winter. They dismantled it because, well, it is supposed to be Spring by now.Inside is Valentino’s, which offers pizza and lasagna, and a rock climbing wall among other things.

Did I miss anything? Well, they also have tennis courts, a softball diamond, hiking and biking trails, an arts and crafts center, disc golf, and a sand volleyball court.

Oh, and if you are not into camping and the lodge isn’t your style, they offer 54 cabins as well.

Back at the campground there is a neat waterfall trail just across the road.

Pretty impressive, huh? Not your everyday State Park. But what impressed me the most was the delivery service. Valentino’s will deliver pizza to your campsite. I had to verify that so I gave them a call.

Let’s see:

Pizza? Check.

Heater borrowed from neighbor? Check.

Netflix on tablet? No check. Signal to weak.

But hey, two out of three ain’t bad.

Regards, Park Ranger