Showing posts with label nebraska. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nebraska. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Nebraska campsite
Here are some pictures of our campsite in Nebraska... It was so gorgeous. I was able to sleep through the night except for a brief period when the pack of coyotes nearby began to howl and yip. Thankfully I slept right through the visit from the raccoons, who sniffed around our tent and turned over a few things on the picnic bench looking for scraps.
Runaway Cat
I forgot to mention... I lost the cat. She's been such a sweetheart in the car, so quiet. I forgot she was even there. When the door to the car is open she doesn't try to bolt out. So, I stepped out into the parking lot Pioneer Village to take a picture. I stood there with the door open for about 5 minutes before I hear Mateo yelling at me, "CORAL! CORAL! The cat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"Thankfully we caught her quickly.
So, yes, she back safe with us, but I was shaking and on the verge of tears for awhile after that.
-CB
Monday, May 3, 2010
Nebraska - May 3, 2010
Despite the excessive comfort of our Inn bed, I happened to wake up on the wrong side of it this morning. First, those damn senior citizens in the breakfast room took the last of the coffee, and when after I ask for the carafe to be refilled and the housekeeper returned with a fresh pot, even those who had already had a cup pounced on it before I could. It was also very cramped in the breakfast room. Did you know that 25% of our population is obese? Not just overweight, but obese. Furthermore nothing was labeled with the containing ingredients, which sets my anxieties reeling. I told you I woke up on the wrong side of the bed!
We had only just crossed into the state of Nebraska the previous day, so my conservative guess was that we’d make the farthest western Nebraska state park by late afternoon. Boy was I wrong! We didn’t even make it that far driving 70+ mph on the highway by 6pm. We settled instead on Enders Reservoir and Recreation Area. I have to say that despite my groaning about how much I hated Nebraska, Enders is beautiful. We found the absolute perfect camping spot over looking the lake. There are two covered picnic benches, a super clean BBQ and lilacs scent the air. Seriously… we’re surrounded by the only hills in all of Nebraska which are covered in pine trees, scrub brush and lilacs. Even with the sound of the occasional traffic on the nearby Route 6, it’s peaceful here. The most beautiful spot we’ve stayed. The wildlife is also abundant. Looking across the lake you can see the fish jumping. There is a young bald eagle (doesn’t quite have his full head of white) who lives in a tree just a hill away. And as I typ
e this there is an owl hooting. I’m feeling relaxed after our brown rice pasta & salad dinner, but I’m curious to see if the Nebraska wildlife is going to scare me in the middle of the night. I learned from the Nebraska Wildlife and Parks Association that mountain lions live in the area, along with a whole host of interesting animals.
Looking back on the day, I have to say it wasn’t entirely boring and spiteful as I felt it was at the
time. Nebraska is definitely a farming state. The fields are flat and stretch for miles into the horizon as far as your eyes can see. There are some interesting old silos and corn co-ops. There are stretches along Route 6 where there are nothing but communities so small they can’t be called a town but a township. The Google maps gave us directions without road names, just “0.2 miles turn left, then right, then left and left.”
There are also a lot of cow farms, which are heartbreaking. You can smell them miles away and see just a black-brown dirt patch ahead and know it’s a cow farm. The animals are caked in mud and clearly rely upon corn feed for nutrition instead of grass. Even the smaller “free-range” grass fed cows are confined to a relatively small space—kind of like our cat at the moment.
I feel a little bad for kitty. She’s confined to the car for most of every day. But she doesn’t complain. In fact, she’s gotten quite lazy. When I wake her from a nap (she's just irresistible to play with sometimes), she looks like an old man with her fur all messed up and her belly sucking in for a twisted stretch.
It was a mostly nice, clear, sunny, breezy, cool day: mostly in the 60s. Tonight it is supposed to get down to 40 degrees. I better cuddle into my sleeping bag now and hopefully wake up on the right side of the tent tomorrow.
(I'll upload/add pictures to this entry in a few hours... check back soon!)
-CB
We had only just crossed into the state of Nebraska the previous day, so my conservative guess was that we’d make the farthest western Nebraska state park by late afternoon. Boy was I wrong! We didn’t even make it that far driving 70+ mph on the highway by 6pm. We settled instead on Enders Reservoir and Recreation Area. I have to say that despite my groaning about how much I hated Nebraska, Enders is beautiful. We found the absolute perfect camping spot over looking the lake. There are two covered picnic benches, a super clean BBQ and lilacs scent the air. Seriously… we’re surrounded by the only hills in all of Nebraska which are covered in pine trees, scrub brush and lilacs. Even with the sound of the occasional traffic on the nearby Route 6, it’s peaceful here. The most beautiful spot we’ve stayed. The wildlife is also abundant. Looking across the lake you can see the fish jumping. There is a young bald eagle (doesn’t quite have his full head of white) who lives in a tree just a hill away. And as I typ
e this there is an owl hooting. I’m feeling relaxed after our brown rice pasta & salad dinner, but I’m curious to see if the Nebraska wildlife is going to scare me in the middle of the night. I learned from the Nebraska Wildlife and Parks Association that mountain lions live in the area, along with a whole host of interesting animals.Looking back on the day, I have to say it wasn’t entirely boring and spiteful as I felt it was at the
time. Nebraska is definitely a farming state. The fields are flat and stretch for miles into the horizon as far as your eyes can see. There are some interesting old silos and corn co-ops. There are stretches along Route 6 where there are nothing but communities so small they can’t be called a town but a township. The Google maps gave us directions without road names, just “0.2 miles turn left, then right, then left and left.”There are also a lot of cow farms, which are heartbreaking. You can smell them miles away and see just a black-brown dirt patch ahead and know it’s a cow farm. The animals are caked in mud and clearly rely upon corn feed for nutrition instead of grass. Even the smaller “free-range” grass fed cows are confined to a relatively small space—kind of like our cat at the moment.
I feel a little bad for kitty. She’s confined to the car for most of every day. But she doesn’t complain. In fact, she’s gotten quite lazy. When I wake her from a nap (she's just irresistible to play with sometimes), she looks like an old man with her fur all messed up and her belly sucking in for a twisted stretch.
It was a mostly nice, clear, sunny, breezy, cool day: mostly in the 60s. Tonight it is supposed to get down to 40 degrees. I better cuddle into my sleeping bag now and hopefully wake up on the right side of the tent tomorrow.
(I'll upload/add pictures to this entry in a few hours... check back soon!)
-CB
Omaha - May 2 & 3, 2010
We've made it to Nebraska. We checked into the La Quinta Inn in western Omaha city. Yesterday evening we checked out the "Old Market" of downtown Omaha. It was a neat shopping and eating district with old brick buildings and brick roads.
Mateo and I went to the Upstream Brewing Co for dinner. I had, of all things, pizza and he had a strip steak which looked delicious. We also got a sampler tray of their 12 different home brews.
The atmosphere of the town is great... Omaha is a modern city, but the roads are wide and clean and it feels really safe. The city elegantly combines old brick buildings, old stre
et lamps and old sign 
text painted on buildings with modern mini-skyscrapers, parks with modern sculpture and exciting musical events.They played Flogging Molly and a local band that sounded like the Dropkick Murphys back-to-back on the local radio station.
Today, after having a good night's rest in one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept on, we are going to visit the Omaha visitors bureau and an anatomy exhibit. I think we plan on camping tonight at the far west part of Nebraska, just before the Colorado border. I found a seemingly cute, small state parks with Nebraska's last/only working water-powered mill, Champion Hampton Mill.
-CB
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