Bennett Springs Family Weekend 2017

I had a Friday off and Heath had half a Friday off and our plans went all over the place until a few days before and then we decided to head to Bennett Springs. Thursday Heath took the girls to Karate while Peanut and I loaded up the van.

We also grabbed a pizza and then loaded everyone in and rushed out. Pops had left that morning and fished all day. We got in right around dusk and made a quick trip to the state park office to get fish permits and look around a bit. Then we went to the hotel got a few beers and checked out the 2 hotel rooms. Heath, Bean and I took a small room with 1 bed and Peanut and Pumpkin shared the other bed in Pops’s big room. We had an early morning so got to bed once we settled in. At 6am I knocked on their door and they were up and getting ready. We headed over to the park and got some donuts and cofee/hot chocolate.

Then at 6:30 the alarm bell went off and we tossed our lines in.

We stayed in our first spot about an hour moving around a bit and seeing lots of fish but not catching anything. So we moved around some with no better success.

Then Pops found a spot and caught a few he let the kids pose with.

Then Peanut got one of his own.

We fished for about 3 hours but that was all we caught. It’s crazy because you can see all the fish swiming right around your hook and not biting it.

Before we left the room we had started a crockpot of sausage, potatoes, eggs and cheese and we rolled up some burritos for lunch. Then Pops, kids and I checked out of the little hotel room and set up sweet campsite down by the Niangua river.

You can barely see it but the river is about 10 feet off the back of the tent.

Once camp was all set we got all ready for floating on the river.

Heath was back at the hotel working a half day remotely and once she was done we got our 6 person raft and took off down the river.

The raft was nice

but the water was great.

We went a couple miles then pulled over and had a nice lunch in a shady dry creek bed.

Then we floated another couple miles down.

Like any good float trip we ran out of time and had to paddle at the end to finish in time and we ran out of beer before we got to the end. So once back to the hotel and campsite we hit up the Sand Bar and Grill for drinks, onion rings and wings.

The hotel also had a pool and even though we had been in the spring and river all day we decided to hit up the pool.

We stayed for hours and had a blast. The kids worked on diving and their strokes and really impressed Heath and I with how well they did in the deep water.

We were in the pool so long that when we got out Bean’s hair turned green.

It was like 8pm when we got out and got the girls showered in Pop’s room. We had tossed a pork loin in the crock pot earlier and pops had added some green beans so it was perfect when we got out. We ate late dinner and then the girls and I all headed to the campsite. It was dark and the girls were exhausted and fell right asleep.

Heath and I set up camp chairs overlooking the river and had a couple beers before bed. Once everyone was up we headed to a little restaurant in the park and got breakfast.

Then we walked around the hatchery and fed the fish.

We showed Heath and Lily where we fished.

Then we went back and got all the stuff out of Pop’s hotel room and packed up all our gear at the campsite. Pops headed home and the rest of us got on our swimsuits and walked down to the river. Heath and I took it easy.

The kids had watergun fights.

caught fish

and crawdads,

and rode down the river with me.

Eventually we ran out of time and had to dry off and get ready to drive home. On the way we stopped by the actual spring where 50F water comes out of a hole 80ft deep and starts the spring.

This spring runs through the state park and then dumps into the Niangua river just before our campsite. Then we drove home and stopped for lunch and decided it was so fun we should make a point to do it once a summer.