After leaving Iowa....the land of the corn....we headed to our next stop in Lincoln, NE. Our drive through Nebraska took us right through Omaha and I read that a stop at one of their great butcher shops was a must. I guess Ohio gets the corn but Nebraska is known for their beef. We ended up going a little crazy with our shopping and purchased steaks, ribs, chicken, buffalo and sausage. Our small freezer is packed!
It was Labor Day weekend, so we decided to stay put for 3 nights at Pawnee State Recreation Area. Mary had told us about this place as she and Ty had stopped here on their way out to Idaho last fall. It was a very nice campground on a lake. Turns out it was the opening weekend for the University of Nebraska's football team and every camper (except us) had out Go Red flags and anything else red they could decorate their site with. We felt so out of place that while at the local grocery store, we purchased a couple of T-shirts so we would fit in.
On game day, we decided to go to the college and walk around. They have a really beautiful campus and we fit right in with our new shirts! It was very exciting to be there and see all the fun activities taking place. We ate lunch where of course all TV's were tuned to the game. The Huskers won by a land slide!
During our stay we visited American Beverage Equipment (ABE). We had purchase all our brewing equipment from them when building Whiteside Brewing Co. Bob worked closely with a woman named Amanda. Amanda and her very competent team designed the system you currently still see at WBC. It was so much fun to have her tour us around their facility.
Amanda ended up inviting us to join her family to attend their local AAA baseball team (The Saltdogs) game. They won and there was a fantastic fireworks show after the game!
Our weekend in Nebraska was really fun, but time to keep on with our journey towards Idaho and the big wedding! On our way to our next stop, I had read about The Golden Spike Tower. This is taken from their website, "From a top the Golden Spike Tower's two observation decks, you'll watch the action as the crews of Union Pacific Railroad sort and connect over 10,000 rail cars a day on two classification hump yard, with nearly 120 bowl rows and 400 miles of tracks." It was a very interesting place and I was worried I might have to leave Bob there! :)
After leaving The Golden Spike Tower we left Nebraska and entered into Wyoming! Our next stop was at a place called Medicine Bow National Forest. This was another place Mary had told us about and it did not disappoint! We camped in a "campground" which was really just spots they designed OK to camp. Our site was beautiful right near a stream and no nearby neighbors other than a few cows that grazed on by! We took some amazing hikes with Scooby and also just enjoyed driving along the scenic roads, some paved and many not paved! We also really enjoyed the 2 days of not having any cell service. It's amazing how relaxing it is to put the phones away and we realized we need to do this more often even when cell service is strong!
We are back on the road and our next stop will be Jackson Hole!