Johnson Lake, Nebraska

We drove for two days with the over-night stay in Des Moines, and decided that if we found a spot we liked in Nebraska that we'd camp for two nights, take a day off with the baby. Russell did some good research and found a campground by a lake that wasn't too far off the route. We rolled in on Thursday afternoon and decided then and there that we'd stay a for a couple of nights. It was beautiful! As we pulled into the gate the cottonwood trees were bursting with foamy fluff, which looked for all the world like a summertime snowstorm in the late day golden sunlight. We rolled in with the sunshine sparkling off the waters of the lake, and found a nice little spot to set up our tents a little ways off from the RV's.
As we were setting up we quickly discovered the only downside of the Johnson Lake area - mosquitoes! There were swarms of them, and none of our granola-crunchy 0-Deet bug repellents really worked. We kept having to reapply, and they were particularly interested in Orion. He kept getting bitten on his face because I couldn't put the repellent near his eyes, and he didn't wave the little beasts off! We scrambled to get the tents set up and get him under cover, but boy did they get him good until then. All of us, really. Fortunately the damn things aren't actually as bad as the big zebra-striped ones we're accustomed to in NC; the bites aren't as big and itchy. In any case, I've never been more happy with my screen house tent. We usually use it for shade and rain cover, and it acts like our 'living room' in the camp set up. We downright hid out in it during the evenings when the bugs were bad. Luckily, they weren't as bad the second night because there was a bit more breeze!
We mostly just lazed around our camp, took a few nature walks and photographed plants. We went to the lakeside a few times, but it wasn't really warm enough to swim for a long period of time. We encountered some rainy weather while we were there, which made for good sleeping but not the best beach going! It was a really beautiful spot and we were glad for the rest, for sure. Orion had a great time rampaging around in our tents and playing around outside. It was a good stop!