Ponca State Park

Three weeks ago we decided to take our new blue station wagon on a road trip to get a feel for it's gas mileage.  If you're not a Facebook friend, here is a picture of my new ride which gets us about 23mpg and seats...wait for it...EIGHT! Seven fit comfortably with 5 in the back, as pictured and 2 in the front, but there's an extra seat between the driver and passenger in the front and we have used it several times already.  Normally, it's perfect for the kids and me with space to haul around library books and groceries.

We thought of getting designer plates that read UGLYWGN.  I'm sorry if you like the look of the Ford Taurus in the late 90's.  I have always hated these bubble cars and sworn that I would never be caught dead behind the wheel of one of these hideous things yet, here I am and I do love it  because I can't see how ugly it is when I'm driving it.

We drove across the river to Iowa and up the scenic loess hills byway to Sioux City, where we ate dinner and crossed back over to Nebraska where we thought we'd take a look at Ponca State Park since we were so close.  I have always wanted to go there since hearing about it during college.  (They use constructed wetlands for the treatment of wastewater and I was going to do my graduate research on constructed wetlands, studying the residential system at the Rogers Memorial Farm).  Anyway, we thought it was nice enough to warrant a camping trip, which we went on two weeks ago.

We had a nice time and only wish we'd packed the kids' bikes so they could whiz around the campground loop.  The mosquitoes were pretty bad because of the flooding Missouri River and lovely cool - albeit slightly wet - weather, but we bathed in DEET and didn't come home with too many bites; the fact that it was nice and cool and we wore pants and sweatshirts most of the time helped on that front, too.

I had to write down something that I overheard Stephen telling Michaela so that I wouldn't forget it.  Stephen was warning Michaela about a particular "trail" that went down a steep hill behind our campsite.

"Michaela!  Don't go down there!"

"or you might slip."

"and fall."

"and DIE!"

"like I did yesterday."

The kids enjoyed splashing in the Missouri floodwaters along one of the paved roads.  We hiked the Bloodroot Trail; spent some time thinking that the Old Oak Tree (which was a sapling 24 years before the Mayflower landed) did not look that old; looked out over the flooded Missouri at three states (NE, SD, IA); ran circles around the "Towers in Time" sculpture/fountain; and hung out in the Education Center, which had a lot of pretty cool stuff in it.

I think it would be fun to come up for the Father's Day Fossil Hunt weekend if it is a drier spring or to visit in the fall after the mosquitoes have had a chance to die out.