A ROAD TRIP TO NEBRASKA
Ron and I, accompanied by Maggie and Gypsy, left on the two-day drive to Sumner, where brother Scott lives, the Wednesday
before Memorial Day weekend. The Wallace side of my family has a family
reunion every two years, and this was the year for it. Being retired,
traveling over holiday weekends is now possible.
Flagstaff, Winslow, Holbrook, Sanders, Houck, AZ
Gallup, Thoreau, Grants, Albuquerque, Moriarty, Santa Rosa, Tucumcari, Logan, NM
Dalhart, Stradford, TX
Guymon, Hooker, OK
Liberal, Meade, Fowler, Minneola, Bloom, Bucklin
Mullinville, Kinsley, Sanford, Rush Center, La Crosse, Liebenthal
Schoenchen, Hays, Plainville, Stockton, Glade, Phillipsburg, KS
Alma, Holdrege, Elm Creek, Miller, Sumner, NE
We arrived without incident Thursday evening, greeted by brother Scott and his dog-pack, Sophie, Lilly and Daisy. The first order of business was to give Maggie a poo-bath, as she'd been delighted to indulge in an aromatic roll in a field we'd stopped at for a break. Not a cow in sight, but she had no trouble finding the inevitable leavings.
Uncle Dwane, who lives a couple of blocks from Scott, joined us and we all trooped over to our favorite (and only) Sumner eating place, Tub's Pub, for dinner. The food at Tub's is delicious and plentiful.
Nebraska is both central and daylight savings time, so we enjoyed dinner at 9:00 pm-in broad daylight! It was quite disorienting.
Friday Scott worked, and Ron and I made a run to Kearney, about 20 minutes away, for food and a Cabela's visit. Nebraska is the home state of Cabela's and has the original store in Sidney as well as stores in Kearney and Omaha. Being Ron's favorite store, how could we resist?
That afternoon we made our first visit to St. Patrick's cemetery. Scott wanted to make sure the mowing had been done to his satisfaction before Memorial Day. He takes a great deal of comfort in caring for the grave sites of Laurie, our parents, and our other relatives resting there.
Saturday morning Scott made potato salad and I made 7-layer salad to take to the family reunion. We met our family in Kearney for a pot-luck and visit. We have lots of cousins, but not having seen them much as adults, I had to be introduced again. It was a pleasure to see everyone and chat. Several of us had brought old family pictures, and we enjoyed reminiscing and story-telling. My cousin Deb and I are very close in age and spent a lot of time together as youngsters. We are hatching a plan to spice up the next reunion with a banner, some posters, maybe t-shirts...we'll brainstorm more closer to the date.
Saturday afternoon we took the Memorial Day flowers to St. Patrick's for our parents and Laurie.
This was Ron's first visit to Nebraska, so Sunday we decided on a day-trip loop drive that included some state parks. Like much of the east and mid-west, Nebraska is mostly arable land and has been farmed since the mid-1800's. With all that luscious land used for highly productive farming, only pockets are left for recreational purposes. Nebraska has 87 smallish state parks and recreation areas, almost all of which are developed to some degree, and many with lakes that are stocked for fishing. Here's a bit of history on "Interstate Lakes", which often include developed camping. This is some excellent planning ahead!
When I-80 was built, the easiest and
cheapest route was the flat, wide-open
Platte River Valley. Building the
highway along the river was a challenge
because of high groundwater levels and
because there were no hills to provide
fill material. Wherever road builders
needed fill for an overpass or roadbed,
they took it from the valley floor.
Groundwater soon seeped into the
borrow pits.
Knowing this would happen,
engineers and fisheries biologists
collaborated to ensure that the pits were
dug with fish and anglers in mind. The
result was the creation of more than 50
clear, deep and productive fishing
waters now known as the “I-80 lakes.”
Forty of them are open to the public.
Ron and I chose a route that included stops at the town square in Broken Bow as well as Victoria Springs and Arnold State Recreation Areas.
Broken Bow, a town of 3500, had this attractive gazebo in the square
surrounded by these cobblestone streets
and the ambiance of a quintessential small mid-western town on a Sunday.
Victoria Springs had cabins, a nice campground and a lot of history. In the early 1900's, the Springs were touted as a health resort and a bath house was built with a capacity of 600 baths per day. People came from all over the world for the healing powers of the natural waters. Spring water was also bottled and sold (hopefully taken from upstream of the baths!)
The grounds themselves were gorgeous
and included the historic cabins of the original settler as well as a schoolhouse.
We went on to Arnold State Recreation Area, but as it was being extensively renovated, it was a drive-by only.
My cousin Deb and I wanted to spend a bit more time together, so she agreed to meet Ron, Scott & I on Monday for lunch and a visit to Crane Meadows Nature Center near Grand Island. The Platte River is a flyway for sandhill cranes and other migratory birds, and there's a massive influx of birdwatchers each spring during migration. It's described this way on the NebraskaFlyway website:
"The arrival of the cranes on Nebraska’s Platte River—and the millions of other migratory birds that visit each spring—is one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on the continent."
Our visit was after the migration, and being a holiday the visitor center was closed, but we enjoyed walking through the grounds.
I'll help out with the sign: "Celebrate Nebraska"
Though we missed the birds, we did interact with a different sort of Nebraska wildlife: TICKS!
Our walk was through grass and low trees, both havens for the pesky critters. We each picked plenty off our shoes, socks and pants before we headed home. Each of us also found several or more attached to our bodies upon intimate inspection later. When I asked Deb, she said the one in the middle of her forehead driving home was particularly distracting!
Because we checked early, none of ours were any bigger than this:
When I-80 was built, the easiest and
cheapest route was the flat, wide-open
Platte River Valley. Building the
highway along the river was a challenge
because of high groundwater levels and
because there were no hills to provide
fill material. Wherever road builders
needed fill for an overpass or roadbed,
they took it from the valley floor.
Groundwater soon seeped into the
borrow pits.
Knowing this would happen,
engineers and fisheries biologists
collaborated to ensure that the pits were
dug with fish and anglers in mind. The
result was the creation of more than 50
clear, deep and productive fishing
waters now known as the “I-80 lakes.”
Forty of them are open to the public.
Ron and I chose a route that included stops at the town square in Broken Bow as well as Victoria Springs and Arnold State Recreation Areas.
Broken Bow, a town of 3500, had this attractive gazebo in the square
and the ambiance of a quintessential small mid-western town on a Sunday.
Victoria Springs had cabins, a nice campground and a lot of history. In the early 1900's, the Springs were touted as a health resort and a bath house was built with a capacity of 600 baths per day. People came from all over the world for the healing powers of the natural waters. Spring water was also bottled and sold (hopefully taken from upstream of the baths!)
We went on to Arnold State Recreation Area, but as it was being extensively renovated, it was a drive-by only.
My cousin Deb and I wanted to spend a bit more time together, so she agreed to meet Ron, Scott & I on Monday for lunch and a visit to Crane Meadows Nature Center near Grand Island. The Platte River is a flyway for sandhill cranes and other migratory birds, and there's a massive influx of birdwatchers each spring during migration. It's described this way on the NebraskaFlyway website:
"The arrival of the cranes on Nebraska’s Platte River—and the millions of other migratory birds that visit each spring—is one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on the continent."
Our visit was after the migration, and being a holiday the visitor center was closed, but we enjoyed walking through the grounds.
I'll help out with the sign: "Celebrate Nebraska"
Though we missed the birds, we did interact with a different sort of Nebraska wildlife: TICKS!
Our walk was through grass and low trees, both havens for the pesky critters. We each picked plenty off our shoes, socks and pants before we headed home. Each of us also found several or more attached to our bodies upon intimate inspection later. When I asked Deb, she said the one in the middle of her forehead driving home was particularly distracting!
Because we checked early, none of ours were any bigger than this:
Monday evening Scott realized we'd not been to the cemetery on Memorial Day itself, so he and I made the 10 minute drive and paid our quiet respects.
Tuesday Scott was back to work, so Ron and I drove to Kearney to see the tourist sights there. The Museum of Nebraska Art has some high quality art, both permanent and rotating. When I originally looked at this painting, I thought it was titled "Sumner Nebraska", which is where Scott lives. Hey, it could easily have said that! No comments about failing eyesight! What it really said was "Summer Nebraska", but by that time I really liked the painting, so here it is:
Wednesday was the day we planned to start our trip home. There was a LOT of tornado activity in the weather forecast, so we chose a more westerly route and successfully avoided the storms, though not the terrible wind across Kansas.
Sumner, Eddyville, Lexington, Elwood, Arapahoe, NE
Norton, Hill City, Wakeeney, Trego Center, Ness City, Jetmore, Dodge City, Copeland, Sublette, Satanta, Moscow, Hugoton, Rolla, Elkhart, KS
Boise City, OK
Dalhart, TX
Logan, Tucumcari, Santa Rosa, Moriarty, Albuquerque, Grants, Thoreau, Gallup, NM
Houck, Sanders, Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff, AZ
No comments:
Post a Comment