If Kansas welcomed us with open arms, then Nebraska gave us the cold shoulder. When we left Crater Lake last year, we traveled through Nebraska on our way to Kentucky and it was the first place we encountered the fresh snow of the winter. Nebraska, on this trip back north; decide we liked it so much the first time, it wanted to try snow again. We were “treated” once again, to a few days of the lovely white stuff (and the accompanying cold).
We stopped by Hastings, Nebraska to see the birth place of the Mr. Kool-Aid man. A hero from my childhood, Kool-Aid was a “soft drink” that my Mom would buy for us.
Lake McConaughy lured us onward. Anything with the name McConaughy should be checked out. And the lakes with its wide sand beaches were very sexy . . . . . until it snowed. We actually camped at Lake Ogallala which is Lake McConaughy’s smaller friend (just below the dam). It was a beautiful area and we used it as a base camp for visiting the small town of Ogallala. We saw a huge numbers of Sandhill Cranes and pelicans moving through the area. The Petrified Wood Museum was also incredible. Twin brothers spent years collecting petrified wood pieces and sawing them in to tiny pieces to make sculptural pieces. The museum also has a great collection of art pieces and petrified items. The petrified pine cones were beautiful and my favorite.
Nala loved the snow and cold; I did not. It was lovely in short bursts but I was definitely not up to hiking/outdoor activity, in this kind of weather.
On the first “warm” day, we moved on to the Scottsbluff area and Chimney Rock. The landscape was inspiring to me. But I couldn’t help but think of the first settlers watching these rock formations looming in the distance and how disheartening to must have been to know they would have to travel through or over all this. Chimney rock is the most mentioned landmark in all journals and dairies of the westward movement pioneers. It is on the back of the Nebraska quarter.
As our parting glance of Nebraska, we stopped at Carhenge. It’s a quirky homage to Stonehenge.
Thanks for checking on our adventures. We hope to see you next week and we continue our trek towards Montana.
