At this point, it doesn’t matter how long Mark Brunk and the guys have been lounging at Clinton Lake.

Out here, on Memorial Day weekend, time didn’t matter much. Just ask him how long he’s been here.

“About that long,” he said, scooting up the leg of his shorts to expose a pale thigh.

The rest of his body – and those of his buddies – were ultra red. Candy apple red. Red-red.

Earlier Sunday, Brunk and his friends piled into a mammoth truck and became one of the estimated 1,600 vehicles to drive into Clinton Lake’s parks and campgrounds since Friday afternoon.

People packed the man-made beaches and boat ramps at Lake Perry as well, making the outdoors their primary stop this holiday weekend.

Brunk and his buddies brought personal watercraft, loads of beer and Koozies, ready for a weekend of relaxation out by the water like thousands of other swimmers, boaters and campers from around the area.

Alexis Blankenship, 3, demolishes her sand castle Sunday afternoon at Clinton Lake. Alexis and her family celebrated Memorial Day weekend by camping, swimming and barbecuing.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” Justin Day said, while sipping a Koozie-concealed Bud Light. “But it’s windier than hell.”

Yes, the wind took some of the fun out of jet skiing Sunday – the choppy, gray waters made a somewhat dangerous pastime even riskier.

By about 4 p.m., their jet skis were docked on the rocky shore, and they had half-filled their beer case with crushed aluminum cans.

“This is what it’s all about,” Day said.

Down the road at the Clinton Lake Marina, Mike Burns’ day was just getting started. The Overland Park resident and his pals were clad in sunglasses and swimsuits, parked in the comfortable bucket seats of his boat, a VIP Vixen.

Near the front of the boat, by Amanda Cooper’s feet, cases of beer dripped sweat in the midday heat.

The marina was packed Sunday, with boats coming and going, the people aboard them yelling wildly, making plans to meet on distant lake shores. Nearby, a dozen ducks seemed oblivious to the racket.

Standing in the Vixen, Burns pointed to a nook far across the wide, shimmering lake. That’s where they’re going, he said, a place he compared to the Lake of the Ozarks’ famous booze-bastion, Party Cove.

But it is really a Party Cove, Clinton Lake-style?

“Tonight it is,” Burns said.

But getting into the cold, sudsy stuff wasn’t the only item on the agenda this weekend. In boats and on campgrounds, parents and kids grilled hot dogs and splashed in kiddie-pools, enjoying the semi-official start of summer.

Brett Walthall had a whole pack of friends and family around his campsite all weekend. They reserved their spot early Thursday, and except for a brief stint, they haven’t left yet.

“We’ve been camping, fishing, swimming, you name it,” Walthall said.

Walthall went to the lake with Melissa Wood and her children, who needed the break from the everyday world of television and video games, she said.

“The kids had the cabin fever going,” Wood said.

Plus, Wood said, the time out in here put the kids back in touch with nature, something that isn’t always easy at their home in Lawrence.

They chopped wood today – getting ready for fires tonight – and now her son, 14-year-old Dillon Allen, was learning how to grill a hot dog for the first time.

“It’s nice to just get out of the house,” Wood said. “It can be a learning experience.”