Ashland RV Park, Ashland, Nebraska
Now Isaac . . . went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” “He is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. ~ Genesis 24:62-67 And so begins the next phase of God’s promise to save the world through Abraham . . .
Let’s begin with a new picture of our new baby!
Not that we’re partial or anything . . . .
Dark and dreary weather met us this morning. Heavy clouds blanketed the area, and spotty drizzle and/or mist descended from them. At least until after lunch, when we began to see glimpses of blue sky behind puffy white clouds.
We drove about thirty minutes to the Pioneers Park Nature Center to begin our day. They’re supposed to have buffalo and hiking trails, and being as how we planned on visiting a couple of museum-type places as well, we thought it best to get in a good walk. It was an okay place. Certainly not something we’d drive a half hour just to see. They have six female buffalo who spent the morning lying along a fence line like chocolate drops spaced out on a conveyer belt.
They have a nice Visitor Center with two knowledgeable women working inside. And there’s plenty of hiking (and biking) available.
Despite the weather and not too awfully interesting trails, God still managed to unveil some wonderful surprises! Like the fact that while most things don’t photograph so well on days like this, flowers excel. 😊
And we saw a muskrat (as per one of the women in the VC when we told her what we’d seen). Unfortunately, due to a pesky red-winged black bird, we didn’t get a picture of it. The bird dove down right at the crucial moment and chased it away. It seems the muskrat was gathering leaves, etc. for a nest.
They have no spring or anything to feed them, except rain, so at times, they get pretty dry.
Sometimes completely.
I think it was just focused on the critter in the water for some reason.
Okay. So here’s what Blaine and I have determined as of June 28th. That was not a muskrat. I did some research, and muskrats are only about 10” long. This was much bigger than 10”. After looking at a few pictures online, we’ve decided (because we’re such mammal experts, ya know) that it was a river otter. Potato, Patato. It was there – – regardless of what it actually was. 😊
Do you know the capital of Nebraska? Do you know the difference between ‘capital’ and ‘capitol’? Well, the capit‘a’l of Nebraska is Lincoln. Inside the capital town of Lincoln, Nebraska is the capit‘o’l building. The English language is just crazy sometimes!
The capitol building is by far the tallest building in town. At 400’, it towers over everything else. It was the tallest building in the entire state until 1969, when the Woodmen Life Tower (478’) was completed in Omaha. Since 2002 when the One First National Center (634’) was also erected in Omaha, it is now third.
It was designed by New York architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in 1920 and was constructed of Indiana limestone from 1922 to 1932.
The Nebraska State Capitol is often known as the “Tower on the Plains,” and can be seen as far away as 35 miles. It was the first state capitol to incorporate a functional tower into its design. In 1976, the National Park Service designated it as a National Registered Historic Landmark, and in 1997, the Park Service extended the designation to include the capitol grounds, which Ernst H. Herminghaus designed in 1932.
If you ride the teeny elevator to the 14th floor (only two, or possibly three can fit!), there’s a rotunda surrounded by four observation decks that offer views of the city of Lincoln from 245’ above the ground. Because all the other buildings are dwarfed by this tower, it seems much higher than that.
While the Iowa capitol building was decorated much like a cathedral and was bright and gorgeous inside, we felt it was the stonework of the Nebraska capitol that was most impressive. All the little alcoves, long hallways, vaulted ceilings and less light give it a feel like you’re walking around in the catacombs of giants. Still, everything was very impressive.
I turned it sideways and did a panoramic picture from the floor to the ceiling. : )
It’s good no one else was out here at the same time.
Right here in the middle of town, in the middle of a neighborhood. Nice!
I did not like that, Sam I Am!
We titled this one, “Chairs in a Hallway”. : )
He was the governor during and after the Civil War. 1861-1867
I chose him because he was governor the year Blaine and I were born – 1959-1960.
You know, we’re from Ohio and neither of us have ever visited our own State Capitol. We’re going to have to rectify that soon!
From there, we went searching for the Sunken Gardens. It’s ranked #1 on Tripadvisor for Lincoln, so we thought we should at least look for it, although we weren’t expecting much. It’s free, and it’s the beginning of summer, so we didn’t know if anything would be blooming. Boy, were we wrong! I don’t know that I’d rank it first, but it was a beautiful place to visit!
These girls are sure hard on themselves! : )
Last, but not least was The Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed. A place I knew Blaine would probably enjoy, so I suggested we go. They consider us seniors, so we got in for $10 each. We were expecting it to be like every other museum of its kind – a few cars, a few stories, a room or two. My, oh, my! This was nothing like we’ve seen anywhere else!
I’ve included a very small sampling.
You can thank me later. . . . : )
Note to who’s attention it’s addressed to. That’s the part I liked.
Room after room was filled with all kinds of racing cars (except NASCAR, which we found very strange!), the soap box derby, car parts, toys, pedal cars (and other vehicles) for kids, lunch boxes, record covers . . . they even had a small display honoring New York City cabs! Doubly strange to not have NASCAR represented.
We never knew there were so many different kinds!
Do you remember banana seat bikes with tall handlebars??? We sure do!
You should take a minute and zoom in to look at them!
We spent 2 ½ hours in here! And towards the end, we skipped a few things, just because we were tired of doing the museum saunter.
One of the displays Blaine was most interested in was the small one they had for “The Green Monster”. Why, you ask? Because the owner, Art Arfons is a native of Springfield, Ohio. Not the one by Columbus, the one near Akron. The one near Green and Uniontown, where we grew up.
at the Bonneville, Utah salt flats.
I know. You’re looking at this picture and wondering why it would have the name “Green Monster”, right? It’s because his first one ever made was painted with leftover green John Deere paint. Some announcer called it a “green monster”, and Arfons kept the name for every car after that.
So who is this guy?
Arthur Eugene Arfons was the world land speed record holder three times from 1964 to 1965 with his Green Monster series of jet-powered cars, after a series of Green Monster piston-engine and jet-engine dragsters.
Born: February 3, 1926, Akron, OH
Died: December 3, 2007, Springfield Township, OH
Busy day! Tomorrow we’ll rest. I’m getting my haircut in the middle of the day, so that leaves little time to play.