Wagons Ho! Day 4

 Day four started at 5 AM when the peacocks outside our door started screeching.  If you have ever heard a peacock you will know what I mean.  That's why in the olden days they used them as watch dogs.  Every time I would almost drift back to sleep, one would screech again.   Finally gave up and decided I would take a shower while everyone else was sleeping.   The water had a lot of sulfur in it and I didn't know it but the smell ( I had to hold my breath while sticking my head under the shower) like rotten eggs had permeated the whole place.  That got Dan up.

Finally drug the kids out and both insisted on showering.  Dan and I talked and decided rather than spend another night here we would see what we wanted to and head south and look for a room there.  This is the place.  It was nice but notice how steep the stairs are!  Two sets of them One to each bedroom upstairs.  We went to breakfast and what a disappointment.  I kept trying to remember that she wasn't expecting us.  She made an egg casserole with onions, celery, carrots, sausage and  yuck peppers!  Sliced watermelon (Dan doesn't eat watermelon) and warm juice.  She asked if anyone wanted toast and I jumped on that like a chicken on a June bug.  We told her we decided to move on and she seamed ok with that.  She warned us that the badlands could have rattle snakes and scorpions and to watch where we walked and sat.

Her is Dan using his Ninja skills to check for critters.  The only one we saw was a little rabbit.

This is the sod house at the park.

Some of the rocks in the distance and that white line kind of in the middle is the goat path you walked on.  Not too bad here.

More of the pretty rocks.  It was a nice day.  Hot but nice.  One of the two times I sweat on vacation.

I did not go here.  Conner and Dan were very nice to help me down the steeper parts of the walk.    The trails kept going  up sometimes gradually sometimes pretty steeply.

There was one place ( a ravine) that it took Katlin, Conner and Dan to get me across.  I was glad they didn't leave me there to die!

Some of the cliffs or buttes.

A watering hole.  The only water we saw in the whole park.

One of the toadstools formations.

This is the end of the trail.  Yes I did have to come down that steep little path but I made it.  We were all glad to get back to the car and some cold drinks.   It was fun and I would recommend it to anyone in the area.

Next we went just a few miles to the Hudson-Meng Bison Bone bed.  It was a place where they had discovered  over six hundred bison had died together.  They are unsure how.  There were three hypothesis.  All had followed each other over a cliff, The Indians had driven them over the cliff or I think the third cause was disease. We went back to Crawford and stopped for lunch at Jan's Bar B Que pit.  It was recommended in a guide book but Dan said there couldn't be any good Bar B que in Nebraska.  He not only ate his words but the brisket too.  It was very hot but there was a breeze so we sat outside to eat.  Then on the road south and towards home.  Our next stop was Alliance and Carhenge.

This is modeled after Stonehenge in England but made with cars.  Pretty cool huh?

A closer view.

They also had some other sculptures.  This is a spawning salmon..  The sad part of this is all the graffiti on every thing.  It really detracted from the whole thing.   Guess some people don't care about others property.

On we went toward Bayard, where we were going to do a covered wagon ride and they feed you steak.    This is chimney rock.  It was one of the landmarks the pioneers used in the travel west.  It is supposed to be the half way point from St Louis to California.

Here is the wagon ride.  It was pretty short about 15 minutes and the driver was a tad grouchy.  We should have waited for the next ride when all the kids were done.  He did have some interesting information and asked us if we wanted the whole
pioneer experience.  Of course we all said yes so he told us to get out and walk.  None of the real pioneers rode they all walked.

We had to be at this place at 6 for the wagon ride but then they didn't start cooking the steaks until 7:30!  We just sat around for an hour and a half.  Most of the people used this time to  have a few beers.  Sometimes more than a few.  I guess that they were waiting for everyone's money to run out.

This is the grill they used to cook the meat.  Everyone thought it was pretty good.  Mine was a little (ok maybe more than a little) over done.  You got a big boiled potato and some really good green beans and at the table was a loaf of homemade bread.  It was a good evening.  They also gave you a homemade ice cream.  They were just starting to move to the fire to sing songs and roast marshmallows when we made our escape.  It's not like we had never done that before.  We had wanted to get a motel in Bridgeport which was only 15 miles from the covered wagon place but none had a pool and Miss Katlin threw a fit so we drove to Scottsbluff and stayed in a Comfort Inn.  It was after 9 by the time we got back to the motel and Dan made both Katlin and Conner get on their swim suits and go and get in the pool because if we had to go the extra way he was going to make them use it whether they wanted to or not.   And they did not.  Watched a little Wildman or Hillbilly Hand fishin can't remember which and went to sleep.  I warned them I was going to sleep hard that night and everyone prepared with ear plugs.  I guess I didn't let them down.  This ends day four.

Wagons Ho! Day 3

We got around a little early this morning and left the old Stage Coach Inn about 8:30.We were driving secondary roads today and hoping for some pretty scenery.

The first thing we saw was Lake McConaughy.  We drove over the dam and it was pretty impressive.  You can see in the bottom right hand corner the water coming out of the hydro plant.  On the other side of the dam were pretty beaches.   The lake is the biggest in western Nebraska.

Although on secondary roads we made good time and were ready for a cold drink when we happened on this place in the middle of no where.  We went in to look around and Conner thought he saw the biggest dog in the world.    That is probably the second most talked about thing from him.  Too funny

 Driving on we saw this longhorn steer and he decided to pose for us.  Stayed just that way until we were done taking pictures.

Finally made it to Gordon and stopped for gas.  The attendant told me the cafe next door had really good Indian tacos.   An Indian taco is made with fried bread on the bottom and then all the taco stuff on top.  So we went there for lunch and she was right but they also had the biggest gooiest  carmel rolls.  We didn't see them until we were paying so we got 4 to go and man were they good!  We drove around for a little while  but finally found the Tri State Old Time Cowboy Museum.  However it wasn't open.  There were some numbers to call so Dan called them and they said someone would be there by 1PM.  We sat in the park and waited.  It wasn't too bad although it was close to 100.  The guy finally came and we looked through all the saddles.

There was a whole wall of brands.

And a sign to explain what the brands meant.

 A whole wall of cowboy hats.

A display of different kinds of barbed wire.   We spent some time there.  Dan wanted to take some pictures of the saddles.   Then we headed off for the high plains homestead our stop for 2 nights. We were all looking forward to it because we were all to have our own beds.  And it came with a big cowboy breakfast.

But before we got there we ran across another museum. (Every town in Nebraska has some kind of museum)  this one was the Museum of the Fur Trade.  It had rooms of guns and furs and indian clothing with lots of extensive bead work.   Outside was an Indian tepee.

with three little Indians in it.

Another sod house.  They were every where! There was a trade room where the Indians trades buffalo  robes for  goods.  1 robe for a knife, 1 robe for 5 yards of cotton fabric, 3 robes for a medium blanket, 5 robes for a gun.  

One our way again to Crawford.  The scenery was really changing now.  Lots of buttes.  Made it there in good time.  found the J & J saddle shop and Dan talked for a long time to the owner.  He was a very nice man who had a really bad stutter.  But we found out his wife played fiddle and so went into his  home a the back of the shop and saw her trophies and heard him play some music.   We ate supper at a dive restaurant and did a quick tour of Fort Robinson.  

One little butte on the way to High Plains.  We had to take a one lane gravel road for what seamed like 50 miles but was probably only 15.  When we got to High Plains I went into the restaurant and was asked if she could help me and I explained I had reservations and she asked if it was for supper and I said no to spend 2 nights there.  She then went to get the owner.  She said she didn't have any reservations for me.  And I said she better have because she had cashed my check.  She went and looked some where else and found my reservation but she had already given the room to someone else.  She was very apologetic but that didn't help us.  One 

of her waitresses said her mother had a B&B close by and she would have room for all of us and that they were coming to supper at High Plains and we could make arrangements then.  She gave me a check for the amount I had paid.  and we waited for these people to finish their supper.  We did look around.  I had told Dan I wanted to get a close up look at some buffalo and lo and behold they had some buffalo.

It actually was really nice there and we looked around and then sat and waited and waited and waited for all most 2 hours.   Every one was kind of bummed but tried to stay positive.

Katlin and Conner trying out the old time school while we waited.  Finally she came for us and we followed her to her house, more miles on a one lane gravel road.  When we got to her place she showed us a little two bedroom house and said the couch made a bed and she had a roll away for the 4th person but she also had a loft apartment in the barn that we could look at. So we went to look at it and Katlin fell in love with it.  There were 2 loft beds up some very narrow stairs and a bed down stairs and a couch that made into a bed.  It was also 97 degrees in there.  She turned on the air but it took forever for it to cool off.  They did finally get us a fan and that helped.  It was cooler outside than in the apartment. We stayed up and played cards till about 10:30 waiting for it to cool off.  Dan and Katlin took the upstairs bedrooms because I didn't think I could do the stairs(they were pretty steep) especially in the middle of the night.   Conner got the couch and  we settled in. It was midnight before I could go to sleep because of the heat.  Tomorrow is another day.  This ends day three!

Wagons Ho! Day 2 Part 2

 After we left the cookbook place we headed to Fort Kearney Museum and our Glass Bottom Boat Ride.  They had some critters to watch as you waited for the boat.  Lots of coy fish.  Look like they had been well fed.

I can't remember what this bird was called.  it was a common bird but a very colorful one.  They also had peacocks  and turkeys and guinea hens.  

Here is the glass bottom boat.  Dan thought it would be a really cheesy thing cause it only cost 4 dollars to ride but it was really cool.  The Captain of the boat tossed out some fish food before we left and the fish just followed us all the way around the lake,

There were some big cat fish in the lake.  It was a fun ride and the Captain was very informative.

After the ride it was time for lunch and we headed to the Whiskey Creek  Grill for lunch.  The food was good but the best part was Katlin and Conner got a summore package and got to roast marshmallows at the table.  I think they both thought it was one of the coolest things they got to do on vacation.  Besides they shared and the summores were really good.  After lunch we headed to the Platte Valley Saddle shop for Dan to talk shop but they were closed. so we didn't get t do that.  We headed out to Ogallala  and our next stop.  The time changed about 4:00 and we gained an hour.  Yea!

This is the pony express museum.  The building was an actual pony express station and the guy there was very knowledgeable.

This is a picture of a  mochila.  It is the covering that held the mail.  It just slipped over the saddle of the rider.  We learned they riders only had 2 minutes at each stop before they were on their way again. The company enlisted young, thin orphan boys because the job was so dangerous. The company issued each boy a knife, gun and a Bible when they were sworn in but later the riders did away with the knife and gun.  They also wore red shirts.  A couple of girls sneaked in to be riders. But not many.

 On to our motel in Ogallala.  We stayed a a best western Stage Coach Inn and although the room needed a little updating the beds were awesome.  We went to Front Street  restaurant for supper.  We were early for our reservation so we looked around for a while

Took some snap shots. And decided we still had time to go see Boot Hill before supper

I think there is more than one Boot Hill in the West but this was ours for this trip.  It was quite a hill for me.  Lots of steps but made it to the top and got some pictures.

This was the only grave that had flowers on it but the info we read said the remains had all been moved to another cemetery.  We went back to supper which was ok but nothing to write home about and were going to stay for the stage show but it cost another $40.00 and I was too cheep.   We went back to the motel and swam and the kids were thrilled because it was a ten foot pool and we were the only ones in the outside deep part.  Watched a little Swamp Wars and went to sleep. This ends day Two

Wagons Ho! Nebraska here we come! Day 1 & Day 2 Part 1

We left July  11th a little late. Was suppose to be on the road at 12:30 but we didn't get Conner picked up until about 1:15 but we made really good time and stopped for supper at Cracker Barrel in Lincoln.    I hadn't found a map of Nebraska and thought I had a map of Iowa in the car but did not.  Dan does not like Nigel so was trying to watch carefully all the road signs.  We may have had a couple of small detours but I did pretty well.  I found a good map of Western Nebraska at the archway.  It had all the towns and all the sights but no mileage :(.  But we got there and home all in one piece.  Then on to Kearney  for the night at a Hampton Inn. The kids were too tired to swim so we just laid around and watched Mountain Man and some other equally stupid show.  Up in the morning to view Kearney  Our first stop was the Great Platte River Road Archway

They had real people in period costumes who greeted you and  showed you around.  Every one got ear phones that told the story.  You rode an escalator up and it looked like you were going to get into a covered wagon.

It was pretty cool.

Dan is helping push the wagon up the hill.  He's so nice.

The whole museum told the story of the westward expansion from the gold rush to the Mormons.

It then got more current with the trains and stage coaches.  Here is a camping venue with the first motels.

On to the drive in movies.

And the road side diner.   It was very interesting and the museum goes across the 4 lane interstate highway.   They also have an outside area with several exhibits.

First you cross a 1914 bridge and the fish were so hungry.  Dan ran back to the museum for some fish food and we spent a long time watching them scramble for the food.  It was a real feeding frenzy.

We finally ran out of food and moved on. There was a pow wow arena and a Pawnee garden ( which looked pretty good for as dry as it was out there).  Then on to the earth lodge.  there was and intern there to answer questions and it was pretty cool inside,  and cool temperature wise too.

On up the hill to the corn garden and dos house. We found lots of sod houses in Nebraska.

I wanted to snatch the quilt off the bed but wasn't sure how to get it away with out some one noticing.   The souse was really small and I can't imagine a family living there.   We went back inside to get some souvenirs and cool off a little.  then headed out to the Trail Blaze Maze

You got a passport and had to punch a time clock to start your time.  As you can guess I was left in the dust.  The idea was to go to each of the four corners to the tower and there was a paper punch there that you punched your passport with and then moved on to the next one.  As you can see from  the picture it was pretty big.  I made it to the first tower and got my card punched and headed to the next.  Got to it and punched my card and from there it went down hill.  I could not get to the next tower!!  I walked  round and round in circles for what seamed like a long time. In reality it was only about ten minutes but there was no breeze in the maze and I was getting tired.  Conner was the winner at 9 minutes with  Dan close behind at 10 minutes and Katlin shortly after that.  Dan took pity on me and came and led me out.  I think because I had the car keys but not sure.   Everyone but me thought it was great fun.
  From there we went to Morris Cookbook store.  They were supposed to have over printed cookbooks at at a cheep price  and you were suppose to get a free cook book but the free cook book was a 4 page pamphlet and the prices although reasonable were higher than they were advertised to be.   Katlin and I found a few things and paid and tried to get Conner and Dan's attention but they were deep in a discussion about buying a roll of paper for a dollar.  I guess we interrupted there negotiations and we never heard the end of it the rest of the trip.

Katie and Zane's shower

We went to Katie and Zane's shower on Sunday afternoon.  None of us were sure we could sit outside in 100 degree heat but God is good and it was cloudy and cooler and we were able to be outside .  They had some good food but we didn't know it was a lunch so I had already eaten.  Did have some snacks and lemonade.  There were a lot of people there but no introductions were made so not sure who they all were.

And of course we were segregated.  Her family on one side and Zane's on the other.   Her side outnumbered ours!

She got a lot of nice things and seamed very appreciative of every thing she got.  Glad to be home before it got too hot.  Next is the wedding.