The brainstorming began when we had some friends over for a grill-out dinner. The guys were talking about boats. Guys in the South like to talk about boats--either the one they have or the one they want. It's pretty normal down here. This love of boats (and I don't mean sailboats or yachts or even cruise boats, though we'd all like those, too) might earn us the label "redneck" in other regions. Bring it on. We like boats. And beer. So they guys were talking about boats and, before I knew it, they were talking about dates to reserve a boat at Pickwick Lake. We'd bring coolers of, well, beer, and I guess some non-alcoholic bevs for the kiddos, and we'd just Be on a boat all day. Our buddy Steve actually bought a boat recently (garnering the supreme jealousy of the other guys), so he and his family would meet us down there. Four families. A lake. And beer.
The nerd part of our family comes out in the next segment of this weekend adventure plan. As an elementary school kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. Frankly, who didn't? They had the Young Astronauts Club at school and, most important, there was the classic movie Space Camp. Watched it over and over again. I recently introduced it to my kids on Family Movie Night--they were also smitten. For fun, I googled Space Camp to see how much it would cost to ship my kids there next summer. In the process, I found the Website for the Huntsville (AL) Space and Rocket Center, where I'd been as a child. And their upcoming exhibit was..get ready...Star Wars! Aw, yeah. We were 100% there. Our little Alabama weekend would be perfect. Boating on Saturday, Jedis on Sunday.
We rented a 12-man pontoon boat and a tube. Since most of our cargo would be under the age of 10, we figured we could squeeze a few extra bodies on. Initially, we had three families (6 adults and 8 kids). Coolers with the requisite beer and juice boxes and water. Sunscreen. Cameras. Stylish wide-brimmed hats. As we tried to meet up with Steve and family, we found only certain locations in the middle of the lake with cell phone reception. Finally, we reached them. Their boat had experienced technical difficulties. What's four more, huh? Awesome! So we picked up them up at another dock, two more adults and two more kids. That's 8 adults and 10 kids total. It was remarkably perfect. We'd anchor the boat and let everyone swim in the lake. We docked on the shore for a picnic lunch and more swimming. The kids took turns being pulled behind the boat in the tube. Fantastic day with fantastic friends!
We drove on to Huntsville that night and enjoyed the Space and Rocket Center, gettin' our nerd on, so to speak, on Sunday. Pictures with storm troopers, building our own droids a la RD2, a C3P0 movie, a defying-gravity ride, rockets and shuttles up close. Loved it, loved it, loved it.
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