7th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War

January 29th through February 1st, 1998

Lake Lucerne
There was plenty of snow and ice on the ground and eaves for the 7th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War. There was some cold, too.
Lake Lucerne
The snow cover on the lake was almost a foot deep. There seems to be nobody staying at Timber Shores this weekend.
Lake Lucerne
Our first attempt at a fort form created a block of snow 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long. It took much of the day to create one wall. We've got to small up this form in the future
Lake Lucerne
Duck's on Friday. The shrimp dinner with soup and salad bar was a good option . There are a few different selections for the starch, but potato pancakes are the only real choice. Yum.
Lake Lucerne
The four forts were finished, for the most part, on Saturday.
Lake Lucerne
The war started around 7:00 PM on Saturday night.
Lake Lucerne
The pictures lie. A ten minute exposure makes it look like quite a melee, but there was rarely more than two rockets in the air at the same time.
Lake Lucerne
Still, two rockets reported close enough to have our ears ringing. There was also a shoulder shot. Altogether, it was a most pleasant experience.
Lake Lucerne
Sunday morning's stick pick-up has been called many things, none of them pleasant. Plus it snowed.
Lake Lucerne
Some of the shots actually hit forts. When hundreds of rockets are fired this is bound to happen.
Lake Lucerne
The one thing that every Lake Lucerne Annual Bottle Rocket War needs is snow. Without the white stuff, snow forts are not possible. We had plenty of snow this year. Almost too much. The deep snow, combined with the slush layer beneath it, made walking almost a chest grabbing cardio event. It was a good thing we had all that fried food at Duck's. We'll be back in a few weeks to pick up a few more sticks and down a few more shrimp.


-Nemo claims he'll be fine, just give him a minute.