Dustin chose this year's vacation and wanted to go to western Nebraska. He had never really been much past North Platte and had never seen so many things right here in our home state. It's incredibly odd for him having grown up in and lived in north central Nebraska his entire life and never traveling a couple hours west. We did it and now it's something we can check off the list!
We left Monday, June 17th and headed west. We stopped in North Platte and ate at Penny's Diner right off the interstate. I was a little unsure about it as it didn't look all that nice but when we saw several state trooper's vehicles in the parking lot I felt much better knowing that they know the good places to eat. I didn't get any pictures of the place but the food was great and I would definitely return!
We stopped at the Buffalo Bill Ranch museum where my sister used to be a tour guide and went through the house, barn, and outbuildings. Then we went over to the Golden Spike Tower to see the trains.
We were really not impressed at all as it was kind of like, look, the world's biggest rail yard. You're done.
So we were lucky enough to find out about Cody Park and headed over there.
They had all these live animals which the kids loved! And we all loved this albino peacock!
Donkey
This guy was feeding the deer, which the kids thought was super cool.
We also went on a couple trains they have there.
After North Platte we drove through my old town, Hershey, and looked at all the spots that brought back many memories for me. It was definitely a blast from the past!
We went on to Paxton and had supper at Ole's. Kyler was scared to death of the animals at first but then got used to them. Sorry for the kind of freaky eyes in the picture below--cell phone pic and it was kind of dark in there.
While we were waiting for our food Dustin went and bought a couple pickle cards from a machine at the bar. A little while later a man walked up to the machine and was getting some. Grace said, "Look, he's getting some cucumbers too!" Took us awhile but we finally made the connection! Love that she knew pickles were made from cucumbers and the way her little mind works!
We spent the night in Ogallala as planned. However, the hotel that we had booked had signs saying their pool wasn't working! Luckily they let us cancel and we switched to a different hotel with a working pool. Grace even made friends with a motorcycle group that was driving through from Michigan to California.
The next morning we left to head to Chimney Rock. We drove around Lake McConaughy since Dustin had never seen it before. He was shocked at it's enormous size!
A couple hours later (or so) we made it to Chimney Rock!
We also loved all the rattlesnake signs! Made Grace kind of nervous but we never did see any the whole time out west.
The history behind Chimney Rock is very interesting and had such significant meaning in history but all in all it was a rock that we looked at for awhile and then headed back in the car. Not sure how impressed the kids were but now we can say we were there.
From there we headed to Alliance. After lunch we made the obligatory stop to Carhenge. I had been there before, but again, it was new for Dustin.
The kids got a kick out of it and Grace kept saying that the cars were "old school."
Kids wanted their picture with the dinosaur there.
After this we went to Dobby's Frontier Town. Okay, so everything we saw online stated that this was just like a Pioneer Village and the kids would get real life experience of what it was like to live in the frontier days. They would get to do hands on activities and everything. We planned to be there for several hours.
Well, ONCE we found it (and we almost drove right by) we were so confused as it was deserted. We re-checked the hours online and it gave the hours we were there. There was no one there! It was just a bunch of old houses kind of in a semi circle with a tiny bit inside like a doctor's office, jail, etc. It took us a whole half hour to just walk in the buildings, look, and then walk out. There was nothing else to do!
So word to the wise--don't ever go there! Waste of time!
So there we were, stuck in Alliance at about 2 in the afternoon with nothing left to do for the entire day!
We went to our hotel and checked in and spent the next couple hours swimming. Luckily, that's probably more what the kids wanted to do anyway. It was nice and relaxing and just wonderful not to be sitting in a car!
We asked the front desk staff that evening where a good place to eat would be. We try to avoid chains when on vacation so we can enjoy more local foods. The lady asked if we liked Italian. Of course we said yes and were really getting excited. She told us there was a really great Italian place just across the street--Sam and Louie's! We started laughing and said, "No, we don't want fast food." She proceeded to tell us that it wasn't fast as it took about an hour and a half to get the food. We denied and were told about a local pizza joint, Papa's, and the Homestead Diner.
We weren't quite hungry yet and there was a storm coming so we ventured downtown first and went to Central Park and their fountain.
The kids really enjoyed watching the fountain and we spent a good amount of time watching all the different sprays the fountain did and walked around the park there.
After, we went to Homestead Diner only to find they weren't open on Tuesdays. That left us with Papa's Pizza. We found it but it looked like an old, run down gas station type place with about two seats. We just went in, ordered, and had them deliver.
On our way back to the hotel we decided to get drinks for our pizza and for bedtime. We stopped at two gas stations and could not find everything we needed at either one. They would either have pop and no milk or all alcohol and pop and no milk or milk and no variety of pop! We finally went out to the big interstate gas station and were able to get what we needed!
We got back to the hotel and our pizza arrived just as we did. It was actually really good pizza! Thank goodness!
The next morning we got up and asked the front desk about the route to Agate Fossil beds. They told us about this really great country road that was maintained really well. So we took it. Yes, we got there. It did lead there. But the definition of maintained in western Nebraska is definitely not the same as anywhere else in the world! It was pretty nasty and Dustin only drove about 45 miles per hour on average. We crossed about 15 cattle guards and it was quite the trip. We were thankful we didn't break down out there because there was no cell phone service for a bit and there was NOTHING! It was definitely a creepy feeling and almost something out of Deliverance or Wrong Turn!
We got to Agate and did the little tour thing. The kids completed an activity and got certificate and badges as honorary park rangers which they thought was pretty cool. We didn't hike all the way out to the mounds where the fossils were buried as it was several miles and we didn't want to do that with two young kiddos. So we did the half mile walk out to the creek.
You can see the kids up on the walking path. We saw some wildlife and the most interesting thing while out here in western Nebraska was the antelope since that's not something we get to see in eastern Nebraska. The two mounds behind the kids is where the fossils came from.
This concluded Agate so we went on to Fort Robinson, our last big thing of the trip!
It was a pretty drive getting there and we got there about lunch time. We first signed up for the chuck wagon cookout that evening and were told to come back and check at four to see if enough people signed up. We then went and ate at the restaurant there.
It was awesome! The food was good and they were huge meals for a low price!
After eating we did a little walking around while we waited for it to be one o'clock for the pony rides.
We actually started on the stagecoach which was really enjoyable for all of us!
Right after the stagecoach ride the driver gave the kids pony rides! It's what they had been waiting days to do!
We walked around some more and learned a lot from the museums. We were shocked to find out how much history was there and all the different things the Fort was used for including an Olympic equestrian training center, a dog training center, where they held Native Americans, and also a POW camp during WWII.
We also found a room in one of the buildings for some photo ops:
This is one of my favorite pictures!! Just cracks me up with their faces!
We got the kids some shirts and then checked on the cookout. Turns out there weren't enough people signed up so that was a no go. We were actually pretty glad as the kids were EXHAUSTED and cranky and we were able to just head back to the hotel while they slept in the car. We, of course, did some swimming that night.
We also ate at that Homestead Diner. The food turned out to be really good but we were kind of mystified as the place closed at 7pm. Seemed a little early to us for a restaurant to close that early in the evening.
Just another example of the weirdness of Alliance, Nebraska.
This picture I took along the way really sums up what western Nebraska is in my eyes:
While it's beautiful, it's also quite desolate. I am quite sure I would never want to live out there. Like, ever, ever, ever!
On the way back home we did stop back in at the Cody Trading Post in North Platte for the kids to get some souvenirs. They love their new guns and they haven't broken yet!
I was so glad to get home. This was a long vacation filled with TONS of driving. I'm glad we did it and can say we did it but I don't expect a return visit anytime soon, especially with little kids!
