Tuesday 4-14-26 Wakonda State Park & Having Fun

 

Wakonda Lake

During the early hours of the morning we had a rain front come through. At one point it rained very hard. The morning temperature was 66 degrees and it got up to 89 degrees. It was a muggy day. 

Larry woke up at his normal time of 5:45 and did his morning routine. I got up at 7:15, I wasn't in any hurry because we weren't going hiking. I got dressed and we had breakfast. It wasn't a big breakfast we shared a bagel with cream cheese and a shake. Then we went for a walk around the campgrounds before it got too muggy and hot. We walked around for an hour for 3 miles. We walked to Wakonda Lake Campground, which was about 1.5 miles away from our campground. We walked to the entrance office and kept walking straight. The road led us to Wakonda Lake day area. It was a beautiful day area with a ramp and rental store of kayaks. There was a nice dock where the rentals are on season, not today. A little further down the road there was the picnic area, beach and shower house. The picnic tables were under the trees and had a view of Wakonda Lake. While walking we saw remains of cement structures, they were from open-pit mining in 1924. Next we walked around Wakonda Lake Campground. It had 13 full hook-up sites, two were being occupied. They did a great job of making the campground. After walking around the campground we walked back to the Minnie. By the end of the walk we had walked for an hour for 3 miles. We were hot and sweaty.

Remains of the open-pit mining

Wakonda Lake Campground

Cool birdhouse (two layers with holes and a roof for the birds to perch and use)

Flood lines of Boulder Lake (yellow 1993, green 2008 and red 2019)

Fun facts rom the internet: Before Wakonda was a state park it was a source of deep glacial gravel deposits used for road surface. Beginning in 1924, the Missouri Highway Commission contracted private companies to perform open-pit mining on the site, removing over 26 million tons of sand and gravel by the late 1980s. The excavation process left behind six lakes and piles of  sand that eventually developed into a rare sand prairie. In 1960 Wakonda State Park was established after the state highway commission transferred 273 acres of the mine land to the Missouri State Park Board.

As you walk, hike or drive around the park you can see the lakes, which are: Boulder Lake, Granite Lake, Jasper Lake, Agate Lake, Wakonda Lake and Quartz Lake. It's a beautiful park with a lot of trees.

Most of the day we spent hanging around the Minnie because it was too muggy to walk around or sit outside. We  have power so we kept cool and relaxed under the air conditioner. 

Everyday Larry gets an e-mail from Book-Bub and E-eeader on free or bargain e-books. He loves getting these, sometimes he will buy and download the book. Sometimes they're free or sometimes he has to pay $.99, $1.99 or $2.99. These applications introduce him to authors he wouldn't normally know about.  

Have fun reading

We're also a member of the Houston Library and they have a program called Libby, where you can check out books and videos. Today Larry saw a book on Book-Bub that interested him, he looked the author up on Libby and found other books by the same author. Libby is just like a library, you check out a book and after you finish reading it you check it back in. Some books have a waiting list and they only have a couple of copies. It's a great for people who read a lot and it's free. We don't live in Houston, we live in Belton but the Houston Library still lets us join and use Libby. We have added them to our yearly donation list.  

I played my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 37 minutes and 17 seconds, which put me in 21st place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

When I was playing games I continued reading A Stranger In The Kingdom by Howard Frank Mosher. 

After dinner I did my 3 miles walk around Boulder Lake Campground for an hour. I did 14,500 steps today.      

Woodpecker pecking on a power box