Campground Review:
Eugene T. Mahoney State Park in Nebraska is on the Platte River off Interstate 80 about halfway between Omaha and Lincoln. I will preface the review stating that the review is receiving four stars primarily because of the amenities at the park. The campgrounds themselves are fairly basic. There are areas to tent and park your RV within the state park. The RV campground has about a dozen full hookup sites and the rest of the campsites have electric hookups. There is not much room between the sites, so you do feel that you are stacked on top of the other campers. There is a wait list for the campgrounds much of the year. We were able to score a walk-up thankfully. The site does have water fill stations and a dump station. Their shower house is also decent enough.
But, as I said you are not coming here to hangout in the campground. There is something for everyone at this state park. They have hiking on paved and un-paved trails, which we utilized both. There is an activities center for kids to make different arts and crafts. They have horseback riding, a theater, paddle boating, parks, minature golf, etc. During the summer you can have fun at the big water park they have on site. They also have cabins and lodge rooms available for rent. The cabins book quickly, and can get pricey at around upwards of $400 a night during their peak season for one of the newer cabins. The lodge houses a decent restaurant with some great views of the Platte River.
At the main activities area they have a massive indoor play area for kids. This building also houses their new and extremely fun 40ft. climbing walls. Outside this building during the winter they have a covered ice rink and they also produce their own snow for the sledding hill. All-in-all it is a nice place with plenty to do onsite.
Product Review:
As a Ranger for The Dyrt I occasionally get to test products. While out at the state park we got the opportunity to test out Banner & Oak hats. https://bannerandoak.com/
My boys and really appreciate good hats. We found the Banner & Oak brand hats to be really exception hats.
The hats my sons wore were the Banner & Oak Eagle and the Banner & Oak Sierra. These two hats were made in the United States. I wore the Banner & Oak Switchback which was not produced in the United States.
All three hats are really quality hats. The stitching is tight around the sweatbands and the bill, which is usually a sign the hat will last a long time.
The mesh used for the back of the hat appears to be an older heavier duty mesh. This mesh reminds me of the mesh found in older hats, or the hats of my youth. I still have a couple of these hats, so this is another good sign of lasting quality.
The overall designs of all three hats are really just cool. They look cool and they feel cool, and I am really surprised by how much I like the flat billed hat, since I usually cannot stand them. The boys and I are really impressed with the construction and feel of the Banner & Oak hats!
