Mattmiller Vaca -Nebraska Tour - Part 2

After leaving Sidney, we spent a lot of time on the road between stops.

Our first stop was at some Buffalo Bill place I think, but it was a very tiny museum with a giant backyard all behind a giant book store. They were mowing the back yard so we couldn't really look at any of the things back there, so we spent a couple minutes looking at the history stuff, and then most of the time was spent waiting for the girls to pick out which book they wanted. :)

Our second stop was also in North Platte. It was the Train Museum. They had a retired steam train that they turned into a museum. It was pretty neat to look at. At that same place they also had a number of animals within some fences, that people could feed. Plus a number of loose peacocks that just roamed the park. It was kinda neat and the girls loved it.

This is what they used to ride to check on the tracks...the pick up trucks

these days look much more pleasant.

Feeding the llamas

getting more food!

albino peacock

Kylie jumped up to throw over a piece of food just

as I went to take the picture.

After our stop in North Platte, we headed North to go to the Halsey Ranger Station to drive by and see the forest's nursery and see the fire tower there.

Heading up!

Going down

On a search for the perfect pinecones.

At the end of day 2 we tried to squeeze in one more place. Smith Falls State Park.
The girls were looking forward to seeing a waterfall all day long. :)
After being mildly confused as to where on earth this waterfall was, we eventually found it and were surprised at how neat it looked.

the girls trying to catch up to those of us who went ahead.

Smith Falls

Sidney sat down and proceeded to just stare at it.

Mike had to reassure her that we will come back and try to

camp there this summer....

She then thought we were going home right then to pick up our camping stuff, and

set it up. She wasn't too amused to find out that he meant later this summer, not later that night. :)

The falls and creek  go out to this big river.

It was pretty late after we got done there, so we grabbed a quick meal and decided that we needed to just stay in Valenting that night. So we did and drove home to Chadron on Wednesday. We ate lunch there and restocked our bag so we could head up to SD to start our adventures there!

Mattmiller Vaca -Nebraska Tour - Part 1

Since Mike's parents came out to spend a whole week with us we decided to take a tour of the western panhandle of good ole Nebraska. (is it just me, or does everyone else also pronounce it as Nebraaaaaaska? I can't not do it.)  :)

Anywho..... We went West to Fort Robinson, then South to Scottsbluff, then down to Sidney and spent the first night there. We went East to North Platte, and then North to Halsey then to Valentine and ended up with an impromptu stay in Valentine. Then finished the NE tour the next day heading home. That same day we restocked out suitcases and headed up north to SD to stay a couple nights in Keystone.....but I'm anticipating this vacation to pan out to about 4 blog posts....

I took a RIDICULOUS amount of photos over this one week time span.....so I'm just saying... Be Prepared for large quantities of photos over the next few posts....

SO......Here we go.


The second day his parents were here, we went to Fort Robinson since they were having their free open house day.

It was cold. :/

But we learned a lot and the girls had a fun time just not being home!

Sidney brushing up on her mammoth history

one of two mammoths stuck together by their tusks

digging for bones

trying not to freeze during our lunch break

listening to the stories told during the horse drawn tour of Ft. Robinson....and.....

trying not to freeze! I'm so glad I snagged that blanket out of the

car before we hopped on the wagon!

Our strong wagon pulling buddies

playing checkers with grandpa later that day......it was really really close,

but Kylie pulled out a narrow victory.

Once we started our full on vacation on Monday, our first stop was at the Agate Fossil Beds.

After our stop there, we headed down to Scottsbluff. Our plan was to do to the zoo there, but due to lots of recent rain it was flooded and shut down while they tried to clean it all up and let the water from the river recede.
We went and hit up Scotts Bluff instead and managed to not get rained on.

(not Scott's bluff)

(also, not Scott's bluff)

If you look just left of the middle, there is a really bright spot.

While we were at Scottsbluff, the sun was shining down on Chimney Rock.

The Bluff!

Sidney didn't appreciate the wind and the mild sprinkles that

were starting when we were up on top

The coming rain

Look! Wildlife!

And Look! It's carrying wildlife!

It was pretty neat watching this little guy run off with a mouth

full of food. :)

After Scottsbluff, we headed East to Chimney Rock. It was sorta raining, so that wasn't too pleasant, but we learned some more things while touring their museum.

Not sure if you can read this or not....Sorry, if you can't.

View of it from the highway

learning about balancing out what to take

with you on the Oregon Trail. Don't want to make

the wagon too heavy, or have it be too light and

not use potential space.

The path the Oregon Trail took through Nebraska

a view of Chimney Rock from their museum. It got dark and

cloudy when we got there.

Sleepy lady with a bandaid....she is not coordinated enough

to run in her flip flops.....

Reading one of the new books she picked up in

one of the museums...She got a few new books

during the trip and was typically done reading it

within a day of purchasing it. :)

Our leaders on the adventure. :)

We ended our first day of the trip down in Sidney, Nebraska.
We went and checked out the Cabela's there since their headquarters are in Sidney. They also have an elephant on display in their store....the girls loved it, but I think they were more impressed with the polar bear that was on display. :)

And, of course, I had to find a city sign to plop our Sidney down in front of.
And she graciously played along with momma's antics. :)

Despite being ridiculously sunny that morning, I think it's an

adorable photo. :)

(The black Nebraska sign says 'the good life', if you can't

quite make it out.

That was the first day of our vacation and part 2 of the Nebraska Tour will be written soon. I promise.

:)