In August my mother and I will be going north to Nebraska for the eclipse. We’ll either see it in Auburn or Beatrice.
The last two years we have taken car trips around Kansas, our home state. We saw Big Brutus, the earthmoving machine. We saw the Sternberg Museum of Natural history, St. Fidelis Basilica, various county museums, the Eisenhower Museum in Abileme, and the Seelye Mansion, also in Manhattan. Oh, and the salt mining complex, and the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, and the Garden of Eden in Lucas. Several other little sites and roadside attractions.
We thought about doing the same thing in Nebraska. We’re not talking here about major tourist attractions. While those are fun too, we like the quirky roadside attractions, like humongous balls of twine. And like I said, little county museums I’ve found, can be fun.
So, if we were to go gallivanting around Nebraska for two to four days, what fun stuff might you recommend?
Seriously, I can think of the Strategic Air Command Museum, Boy’s Town, and a museum in Grand Island that’s having an eclipse party. You can also visit Carter Lake, which is technically in Iowa even though it’s surrounded by Omaha, but overall, there’s not really a whole lot of “fun stuff” in Nebraska.
I’ve been in every county in Nebraska at least twice, and I never had any trouble finding anything interesting to see. It’s all Nebraska out there. If you just want to see “attractions”, go and see “attractions” close to home. It doesn’t matter if an “attraction” is in Nebraska or not.
Nebraska has a National Forest, without a single natural tree in it. Drive across the Sand Hills, which is totally different from any place elxe you’ve ever been… There are people who live there. Stop the car and get out and talk to them.
When my father was an infant his parents moved to Nebraska as my grandfather, a minister, could take a small church in the country. The church has been moved to Crookston, but in the second grade my dad went to school in Valentine. Up until then he’d been in a one room school, and he said he was awed by seeing so many desks(at least twenty!) in the same grade.
I vaguely recall there being a tree outside Ogallala.
Best advice I ever got for NE, from Nebraskans from Hastings and Beatrice, is to stop for gas when you see a gas station, even if you’ve still got over half a tank.
OK, I’m just guessing about that, because Nebraska is one of only 6 states I’ve never visited. But I spent a fair amount of time in Kansas when I was younger, and I’ve driven across South Dakota, so I’m interpolating here. But damned if I’ve ever been able to think of a reason to visit Nebraska.
Golden Spike Tower in North Platte. You look out over Union Pacific’s huge rail yard. That part of Nebraska has the heaviest density of freight train traffic in the US, as seen especially along US 30 (rather than I-80 slightly to the south). I like trains, but went to the tower with people not especially into trains and they seemed genuinely fascinated too.
That’s the only ‘tourist stop’ we made there on a cross country drive, but also stopped in a tiny town for lunch besides one night at a motel in Kearney. I thought the scenery was beautiful in its way, especially along the small roads coming down from South Dakota. Overall we quite enjoyed visiting Nebraska.
I drove through Nebraska about 35 years ago. Stopped in a small town named Sidney and had breakfast at a place called “Mom’s”. My kids still have nightmares about that place. Someone had written in the urinals “Pee here, not on the floor!” My daughter swears she saw rats peering out at her.
I was in Omaha many years ago and was quite impressed how they linked the “Heartland of America Park” beside the Missouri river to the downtown… There was an extension of the park that went right into the downtown area with fountains and flowing water. Also, just south of there was the Howard street area (not sure what to call it) that has open air markets and restaurants.
The Fort Cody Trading Post in North Platte is a must-visit for any road tripper. The main attraction for me was the miniature Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Well, that and the 2-headed calf.
Yeah, I know the one you’re talking about - the one with the tall corn, right? But really wouldn’t they be better off spending their time looking at that other corn field?
I’ve never been to Nebraska, but I was in Colorado once and I had the best steak I ever ate. The waiter said that the restaurant bought all corn-fed beef from Nebraska.
So based on that, I recommend you track down a steak joint that serves local beef and indulge.
