This has definitely been the summer of last minute travel plan changes, but I’m learning so much about going with the flow and embracing change! A few weeks ago the kids and I were supposed to go to Ohio to visit family and ended up having to cancel last minute. We were all disappointed as we had plans to visit friends on the way there and back, not to mention all the family we weren’t going to get to see. So instead of canceling the entire trip, we decided to add on some fun stops and head north to see friends in St. Louis anyways. Since we have been to see St Louis before, we decided to stop and see some things on the way there and the way home rather than spending all of our time in the city (and mark off states 35, 36, & 37 for the four of us together).
We drove through Oklahoma and Kansas with picnic stops for lunch and dinner along the way. Our first overnight stop was in Nebraska. We arrived just after dinner and checked into our hotel overlooking nonstop fields! The view was fantastic, and other than one big rig, I don’t remember ever staying somewhere where you didn’t see cars and roads in every direction! We woke up and grabbed breakfast on our way out of the hotel, heading for the Lewis and Clark Expedition Museum in Nebraska City, Nebraska.
This was a fantastic stop and while we only intended to spend an hour or so, we ended up spending the whole morning. We watched a documentary explaining the Lewis & Clark Expedition and then explored the three-story museum. There were canoes, a full size keelboat replica, and even a keelboat game that they could steer and try to keep from crashing (we failed miserably)! After exploring the museum we hiked to the overlook so we could see the Missouri River and then made our way to see the Native American earth lodge on the other side of the property.
We finished our visit with a picnic in the parking lot and then crossed the state line into Iowa with a visit to Waubonsie State Park. We had the park pretty much to ourselves as we hiked the Ridge and Bridge trails from the Overlook where we could see for miles! This park allows for hikers, horseback riders, and camping. The kids decided we should come back in the winter when they allow snowmobiling!
Next time we want to explore the other half of Kansas and Nebraska. There are several places in both we would like to visit and friends who we were close to that we missed out on seeing! More trips are definitely in our future!
