Happy Easter everyone. Just attended a virtual church service and, like many of you, I'm now back at the kitchen table trying to be socially responsible and stay inside. It's driving me nuts.
I'm a fourth-generation Nebraskan who has now lived 600 miles away from home (it will always be home) for almost 25 years. Normally, I'd be in Lincoln for Easter and already planning my many trips back to God's Country this year, but everything is on hold right now. I find myself daydreaming a little bit about all the great places I have found in the state and wishing I could just hop in the car and go. I'd rather visit the Sandhills than go on a cruise. Anyway, with apologies to Julie Andrews, these are a few of my favorite things ...
I grew up mainly in Omaha so, like a lot of others, was not very well versed on what was out there in the rest of the state. A business meeting at Fort Robinson in 1986 really started to open my eyes, and I later had a job that required me to travel the state extensively. I've had times when I've seen the Pine Ridge, Scotts Bluff Monument, Chimney Rock, flocks of Sandhill cranes, the Arch and state capitol all in the same day.
In 1996 I tried a case in Harrison, the county seat and only town in Sioux County. If you don't know, it is over 60 miles west of Chadron yet still in Nebraska. I stayed at the home of the local attorney. He lived north of town on a massive ridge that dropped into canyons running into South Dakota. In the evenings, we sat on his patio with a telescope and watched the dynamiting on the Crazy Horse monument, which is lit up at night (or at least was then). His home was so remote that one year when they were away, it burned to the ground due to an electrical fire. There was no one around to notice the blaze and call the fire department. It's since been rebuilt. By the way, at the time, the District Courtroom in Harrison still had a 48-star flag and the local bar had hitching posts to tie up horses. We impaneled the first jury in the county in around 40 years.
The Valentine area. I try to go that way with my bicycle at least annually to ride the vastly underutilized Cowboy Trail. My favorite stretch is from Long Pine to Valentine, where I often go days seeing only 1-2 other people. I've stayed in the historical lodge on the main street of Bassett or camped four miles north of Valentine, and two years ago a mountain lion crossed my path while I was riding near Arabia Ranch (I turned around and went back the other way). There are mile posts along the trail marking the distance from the original trail head at Fremont. At 254, way off of Highway 20 between two hills, two springs bubble up, form a creek and head off northeast toward the Niobrara River. The only other sound is the grass gently swaying in the breeze. I have stood on the bridge there for hours, trying to soak it all in. It is an amazing spot.
By the way, the bars in Valentine are really hopping during the summer.
My family moved to the Plattsmouth area and lived there for many years. In the summer I will walk/jog the county roads between town and Beaver Lake, east of Highway 75 along the Missouri River. Don't laugh -- it's spectacular. Steep hills, thick woods, perfectly straight rows of corn that go on forever. There are huge, sheer bluffs near the Rock Bluff town site (long gone) directly above where the river flowed until channelized in the 1930s. Lewis and Clark camped there and, in 1915, the area was excavated by Harvard archaeologists who found a treasure trove of artifacts. An amazing, basically unknown area.
If you've never eaten at the Sandstone in Burwell or stopped at the bar in Arthur, you haven't lived.
Massacre Canyon west of McCook gives me goosebumps. The stark memorial perfectly conveys the gravity of what happened there. It's easy to be around those canyons, close your eyes and imagine it happening all over again.
There's so dang much more -- Ashfall, downtown Omaha, Indian Cave, climbing Courthouse Rock, the state parks off Highway 12, the forest at Halsey, canoeing the Platte or Elkhorn rivers during a wet year. Once in your life, stand on Kingsley Dam on a clear summer evening, look to the west and watch the sun set over Lake Mac.
Everywhere I go, I find the local Catholic church to grab a prayer and find the high school track to slog around for a couple of miles. Those adventures are another whole post.
Thank you for indulging me.
PS. Mods, every time I post, a little blue set of binoculars shows up and I get a ding every time someone responds. I have tried to turn this feature off to no avail numerous times. I'd appreciate it if you could help me out.
I'm a fourth-generation Nebraskan who has now lived 600 miles away from home (it will always be home) for almost 25 years. Normally, I'd be in Lincoln for Easter and already planning my many trips back to God's Country this year, but everything is on hold right now. I find myself daydreaming a little bit about all the great places I have found in the state and wishing I could just hop in the car and go. I'd rather visit the Sandhills than go on a cruise. Anyway, with apologies to Julie Andrews, these are a few of my favorite things ...
I grew up mainly in Omaha so, like a lot of others, was not very well versed on what was out there in the rest of the state. A business meeting at Fort Robinson in 1986 really started to open my eyes, and I later had a job that required me to travel the state extensively. I've had times when I've seen the Pine Ridge, Scotts Bluff Monument, Chimney Rock, flocks of Sandhill cranes, the Arch and state capitol all in the same day.
In 1996 I tried a case in Harrison, the county seat and only town in Sioux County. If you don't know, it is over 60 miles west of Chadron yet still in Nebraska. I stayed at the home of the local attorney. He lived north of town on a massive ridge that dropped into canyons running into South Dakota. In the evenings, we sat on his patio with a telescope and watched the dynamiting on the Crazy Horse monument, which is lit up at night (or at least was then). His home was so remote that one year when they were away, it burned to the ground due to an electrical fire. There was no one around to notice the blaze and call the fire department. It's since been rebuilt. By the way, at the time, the District Courtroom in Harrison still had a 48-star flag and the local bar had hitching posts to tie up horses. We impaneled the first jury in the county in around 40 years.
The Valentine area. I try to go that way with my bicycle at least annually to ride the vastly underutilized Cowboy Trail. My favorite stretch is from Long Pine to Valentine, where I often go days seeing only 1-2 other people. I've stayed in the historical lodge on the main street of Bassett or camped four miles north of Valentine, and two years ago a mountain lion crossed my path while I was riding near Arabia Ranch (I turned around and went back the other way). There are mile posts along the trail marking the distance from the original trail head at Fremont. At 254, way off of Highway 20 between two hills, two springs bubble up, form a creek and head off northeast toward the Niobrara River. The only other sound is the grass gently swaying in the breeze. I have stood on the bridge there for hours, trying to soak it all in. It is an amazing spot.
By the way, the bars in Valentine are really hopping during the summer.
My family moved to the Plattsmouth area and lived there for many years. In the summer I will walk/jog the county roads between town and Beaver Lake, east of Highway 75 along the Missouri River. Don't laugh -- it's spectacular. Steep hills, thick woods, perfectly straight rows of corn that go on forever. There are huge, sheer bluffs near the Rock Bluff town site (long gone) directly above where the river flowed until channelized in the 1930s. Lewis and Clark camped there and, in 1915, the area was excavated by Harvard archaeologists who found a treasure trove of artifacts. An amazing, basically unknown area.
If you've never eaten at the Sandstone in Burwell or stopped at the bar in Arthur, you haven't lived.
Massacre Canyon west of McCook gives me goosebumps. The stark memorial perfectly conveys the gravity of what happened there. It's easy to be around those canyons, close your eyes and imagine it happening all over again.
There's so dang much more -- Ashfall, downtown Omaha, Indian Cave, climbing Courthouse Rock, the state parks off Highway 12, the forest at Halsey, canoeing the Platte or Elkhorn rivers during a wet year. Once in your life, stand on Kingsley Dam on a clear summer evening, look to the west and watch the sun set over Lake Mac.
Everywhere I go, I find the local Catholic church to grab a prayer and find the high school track to slog around for a couple of miles. Those adventures are another whole post.
Thank you for indulging me.
PS. Mods, every time I post, a little blue set of binoculars shows up and I get a ding every time someone responds. I have tried to turn this feature off to no avail numerous times. I'd appreciate it if you could help me out.
