The Explore All 50 States Project
Let's Go!
If you'd like to find out what life was like in 1897 and don't have a time machine handy, you can do what we did and visit the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. We entered this wonderful historic village and explored all the hands-on exhibits. What I loved was that each exhibit had some terrific senior citizens in historic dress ready to show us lots of cool stuff. You could just tell how much they … [Read more...]
I was really sad to read that the Weaver Potato Chip Factory just closed costing 70 folks their jobs. Weaver's had been around for 76 years-and that's a long time. They had their ups and downs during hard economic times but with an infusion of some new investment money they were making progress turning the company around. Sadly just as they were getting going, their Nebraska potato supplier sent their much … [Read more...]
The Nebraska State Capitol Building is a complete standout and one of my all time personal favorites and definitely wins the award for most decorative. It is completely unique unlike any other I've seen and I absolutely love it. While it does have a dome with I guess what you could call a rotunda, it's atypical in it's height and shape-the building itself is 15 stories high. Done completely in the art deco … [Read more...]
Boys Town is the home for wayward youth made famous by the Spencer Tracy movie of the same name. A home for wayward youth is not a place I normally bring my kids when we are sightseeing, but the story connected with this place is so inspiring and the visitor center is so emotionally powerful I just thought it was really important for us as a family to check it out. You’ve surely heard the expression, “he’s … [Read more...]
The Henry Doorly Zoo is really nice zoo with various indoor and outdoor environments to explore which really worked out for us as a torrential rainstorm unleashed just as we headed in. The zoo is divided unto different climates such as rainforest, desert, temperate etc. As you wander through each one you can take in the various creatures and critters who make it their home. As an interesting side note, the rain … [Read more...]
Without offending any natives, let's be honest, Kansas is not somewhere that ranks as a hugely popular travel destination. But for those curious to explore, Kansas offers a multitude of interesting opportunities to find out what makes the heartland of America such a special place. In our minivan, our journey took us to Wichita, Topeka and across the state up to Hollenberg and Lebanon where we stood in the … [Read more...]
Wow did I really come to appreciate the United States Postal Service after a visit to the Pony Express Museum. So back in the day, if you were a pioneer in the heartland, your mail was delivered by Pony Express-meaning it was transferred from rider to rider over hundreds of miles on horseback to get to you. The riders were young men—17 to early 20’s—who would ride for 2 days and then change horses at different … [Read more...]
My kids and I have been to quite a few space museums but the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center is definitely our favorite right behind NASA in Houston. What we loved most was that the exhibits were really informative because they were easy to understand-that goes a long way, especially when you are traveling with kids. As an American I had absolutely no idea that our space programs was started here by a German … [Read more...]
If you cut the US in half, top to bottom and side to side, you would end up here at the Geographical Center of the United States. As we followed the signs we ended up in the middle of someone’s cornfield. There’s a marker to commemorate the site so be sure to snap a picture just like we did to prove you were there! … [Read more...]
Visiting the Brown Vs. Board of Education National Historic Site was by far one of the most incredible and moving experiences we have had on ANY of our trips. This is the only national park named for a court case—the landmark case that ended legal segregation in public schools. Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, is not the only site where the story of Brown v. Board of Education can be told. There were … [Read more...]
