The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument

Oct. 16^th, 2012

By Bill

This is the archway Bill has driven under many times.  The exhibits and displays are in the archway.

I don’t know how many times I’ve passed under the Archway Monument, but after watching “What about Schmidt” I resolved I would not miss the next chance to see it.  After all, I’d stopped to see the “Five Legged Cow”, why wouldn’t I want to see a monument to the westward expansion?

This is the sign telling us it was at the Next Exit --- we got off the highway really fast!
I was trying to finish watching my Beth Moore downloaded video.  Perfect timing!

The entrance

Well, we stopped, enjoyed!

An escalator takes you to the archway with all the displays.  Bill stayed behind to take a picture of me on it but by the time he had the camera focused I was at the top.  LOL

One of the scenes depicting a regular occurrence of the pioneers burying
 someonethey lost along the way.  That had to be so hard.

An example of the things they had to leave behind along the way to lighten their load!

I highly recommend it to any of you who are heading west.  You can’t miss it. It is OVER the road if you’re on I-80.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

OMAHA, NEBRASKA

 

I forgot to mention that last night when we arrived at the KOA it was really dark.  Bill had called ahead and the lady said she would leave the site information in a box on the side of the building.  We were really having trouble seeing (they keep it dark in these campgrounds you know) so we weren’t sure where the pull thru campsite was.  Bill finally just stops the vehicle and says I think this is it.  I really feel like he just stopped in the middle of the road but he got out and looked around and assured me he was pretty sure we were ok.  I should know better than to second-guess him on this stuff because he is like an expert but I kept thinking all night that someone was going to rap on the door and tell us to “Get OUT of the road”.  Well, as I said I should know better and I apologize to my husband for doubting him for even a minute.  We did have a quiet night, no rain, no one at the door and good sleep.  Thank you God!

As soon as I was up and functioning we got ready to leave for the zoo.  We were both looking forward to the day, the weather was turning out perfect.  So even before the crack of noon (our normal “start the day” time) we arrived at the Henry Doorly Zoo.  Since I talked about “Ruby” the little red scooter that Bill bought off Craig’s list, got repaired and spruced up, thought I would have him take a picture of it and post it.  I mean the guy went to a lot of work and invested a lot of time in it so I want to show it off.  Seriously without this blessing we would not be on this trip and not going to the zoo today!

Zoos have always been a big thing in my family.  It is one of the few places I remember my parents taking us to when we were children.  The Toledo Zoo is a really nice zoo and that is the one we became members of year after year.  When my children were young the zoos started doing this “Reciprocal” thing and you could get in free (or half price) at other zoos that participated when you were a member of one.  So every year we went to the Toledo Zoo and at least one other one.  Every vacation we took included a zoo.  I mean really they were inexpensive and they have them everywhere.  And who doesn’t love the zoo?  God has such an incredible imagination and sense of humor.  And the variety!!  I love to see the animals and watch their antics and know that God did this for us.  Awesome isn’t it??   

Jason got so tired of zoos when he was in his teens we practically had to drag him there (it was a family outing and he was going).  Now, it is so entertaining to see him take his girls to the zoo every other week or so.  It takes on a new feeling when you watch it through the eyes of little children.  Bill and I take the opportunities we can to tag along with our kids and our grandkids whether it is in Detroit, Toledo, or Nashville.  It’s always fun.

I think Bill has been to the zoo more since he met me than in all of his life before, maybe not.  So when Suzanne, who we met at the Winterset Festival of Covered Bridges, told us about the Henry Doorly Zoo, we immediately thought we’d have to do that.  We need to send her an e-mail and tell her how much we appreciate the advice.  It is a great zoo, one of the top ten in the country.  We really missed having our grandchildren there but enjoyed watching the little ones that were there.  (We are making plans to kidnap a few of our grandkids in the near future for an RV trip – it’s ok Moms and Dads, we will only keep them a couple weeks and we WILL return them!)

This gorilla was right up by the glass where we were!

This zoo has a wonderful Gorilla exhibit!  We must have spent about an hour just watching the gorillas.  They certainly have an attitude.  There was one that was 9 yrs old and really playful.  He kept running up to the window and rolling around and then he would hit his palm on the window.  There was a little girl about 4 who was laughing hysterically, enjoying his playing with her.  He even would repeat taps on the glass (which I know you are not supposed to do, it wasn’t me!).  They are very entertaining.  That was probably my favorite.

This one definitely had an attitude!

This one walked quite a distance away and sat down to enjoy some grass, later he jut layed down and put his hand over his face!  I think he was the grand daddy!

Bill thoroughly enjoyed the Lied Jungle 

The Macaws of the Lied Jungle

The Lied Jungle was really like walking through a jungle with the vegetation, vines, waterfalls, humidity, and animals.  They really did a great job on designing this attraction.

These were real vines that the kids could hang on or swing on!  Cool!

 

The Aquarium had live sharks and upside down jellyfish for the highlights.  This was another favorite of Bill's. The touch zone was closed (What do they think this is, fall?) which would have been disappointing for the little ones but there was a wide variety of exhibits and aquatic beings.  The neatest thing, there was an area that looked like it was a pond of fish and sea life but was really just a light show on the floor.  The neat thing was that if you walked or jumped on it the fish would swim away and the water would ripple.  Something like the “Fluid” app for iPhone.  It was pretty cool.

This is the "Fluid" pond.  It really is cool!

T

The zoo had a geodesic dome called the Desert Dome that encased a, yes, desert! It was like walking through a desert, sand dunes, cacti, animals, birds, snakes, lizards, etc.  It was done very well but the smell and the heat had us going through it fairly quickly.

All in all I would say all of their exhibits were done very well, it is a nice size (we didn’t quite cover everything) and has many, many animals and things to see.  I believe the children’s area was one of the nicest I have ever seen but we just glanced through that at the end of the day.

The Butterfly Exhibit Entrance

Aren't these benches adorable, they are placed all around the Butterfly Exhibit.

We took a ride on the “Skyfari” which was really a lot of fun.  All in all it was a great day.  We recommend it to anyone who is passing this way or just wants a fun destination.  Vacations can be just about the zoo you know? You can see them on the right.  They covered quite a bit of the zoo from the air.  Good views!

Not sure if you can see this monkey was walking the rope with a baby on his back to a little island in the middle of the pond --- there were other monkeys hanging out there.

BEARS, BEARS & BEARS

Can you see this polar bear has his paws over his face??

This is a large globe floating on a cushion of water.  There was a continual line of kids that enjoyed moving it around.  It was really intriguing.  Different. 

Heading out tomorrow, still going west on I-80.  Not sure what we will find for our next adventure on the way, but I know something cool will come up.  There is always something unexpected around the next corner.  Blessings to all our family and friends.

Miss you but having fun!

WINTERSET, IOWA

MADISON COUNTY COVERED BRIDGES

SATURDAY 10/13/12 & SUNDAY 10/14/12

As we were driving to Winterset our plan was to set up and then maybe go out in the Terrain to check out some of the bridges.  We had seen a few signs along the way with arrows directing us to different ones.  However, after the fiasco of finding a place to camp and set up we were both too tired to do anything else exciting.  We hunkered down and watched of all things, an “Alfred Hitchcock” movie.  Bill has this DVD set that had never been opened so we brought that along for some light entertainment.  Too funny!! The first one was rather long and really dated but we enjoyed it none-the-less.

Our first night here it bucketed the rain (as Nina would say) along with lightning and thunder.  Some of it was a little too close for comfort and it was definitely extremely noisy.  It didn’t make for a very restful sleep but we were glad to wake up to the skies trying to clear.  We took our time over breakfast and getting ready for the day to let the weather continue to clear and then headed for the “Winterset Covered Bridges Festival”.

There was a luncheon at the Methodist Church fellowship hall, which was highly recommended.  The food was very good with every kind of homemade pie you could think of.  Bill took his dessert but fell in love with this coleslaw/peas/honey roasted peanuts/sesame seed dressing concoction.  He made sure to get the recipe from one of the ladies before we left.  Okay, small group, be prepared for the next time we host.  LOL

We met some nice people from around Omaha who advised us to take time out to go to the Henry Doorly Zoo, said it was maybe the best zoo around but was definitely rated in the top 10 of the country.  Well I love my zoos so it is on the list   Nice people.  Suzanne gave me her business card to e-mail her once we have seen it and let her know what we thought. 

John Deere Ice Cream Maker.  It was actually working throughout the whole day providing ice cream for sale.  Bill and I did resist the temptation but did stop to watch it a couple times.

Some of you know that the physical side of life has been hard for me for a long time but since starting my new treatment I am not allowed to get tired (not sure what to do about waking up tired….LOL) or do any physical exercise.  Not supposed to get my heart rate up (that can happen walking across the room some days) and it takes medicine and rest to overcome this pesky virus.  SO…..going to the zoo, Greenfield Village, shopping, or any activity that takes more than getting in and out of the car is not possible.  In lieu of this problem and our desire to go and do and see, Bill found an electric cart on Craig’s list for an amazing price, took it in for two new batteries and Voila!  I don’t particularly like using it, I like to walk, but it’s the only way I am going to get to go anywhere and have some fun even though it’s not on my terms.  The grandchildren love taking turns riding with me, beats the stroller or wagon I guess.  It is scarlet and gray (anyone thinking OH IO?), we have named it “Ruby”. 

One of the groups that provided continual live musical entertainment throughout the day.

Because of “Ruby” we were able to be out and about the town of Winterset to enjoy the festival.  The weather was very obliging.  I always thought it would be nice if God decided to have it rain between the hours of midnight and 6AM (kind of like the dew-thing, you know) and that is pretty much what happened during our stay in Winterset.  The sun wasn’t exactly shining the whole day, more in and out, but the rain held out, the temperature was 70 degrees and we had a great time.  There were many booths selling food (yummy junk food mostly), crafts, jewelry, woodworking, weaving and the like.  There was live music playing throughout the area the whole day.  We sat and enjoyed some good gospel music and later a little Johnny Cash.  Beautiful fun day.

Hogback Covered Bridge --- It was really windy ... the little girl in the picture was on our bus tour.  She was a cutie!

Roseman Covered Bridge, 1st stop on our tour.

Well this is the county and the festival for the “covered bridges” so we had to take advantage of the bus tour.  A school bus that was very bumpy and jerky.  The lady was probably in her 70’s (I thought she looked a lot older than me anyway, LOL), and was originally from the area.  She had so many stories to tell. I kid you not, she did not take a breath (or a drink of water either that I remember) the whole 2 hours.  She was delightful and very proud of her heritage and hometown.  At first I was disappointed that we were only going to see 4 bridges (I had heard that there were 20) but after all the jostling and the distance between each one and the similarity of them, I was happy that was it.  Only one of the 4 we saw actually allowed traffic through and there was a weight limit on that one.  2 of the ones we saw had been moved off main routes and placed elsewhere.  Madison County was one of the few that made their bridges with a flat roof.   I find I prefer the peaked roofs but we thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

Cedar Bridge -- the only one we saw that could be driven through although there was a weight limit!

This was an old one room schoolhouse for all ages.  We got there too late to go in but we could see pretty well through the windows.  The thing that surprised us was that it was open from the mid 1800's through the 1950's.  Hard to believe people born just a little before us attended school this way.  (Are we getting old or what?)

Saturday night was another night of heavy rainfall but the thunder and lightning were held at bay…..it was another rather noisy night but we woke up to some sunshine.  Blessings!  Sunday morning we attended the Winterset Community Church.  Nice service, good lesson …. But boy did we miss our Bristol Road Family!! 

They already have over $2million worth of memorabilia from John Wayne's movies donated by just one person.  They plan to have the museum open next spring and are very optimistic of the success and variety of items that will be on display.

After church we stopped by to take a picture of the “John Wayne” statue.  Winterset is the birthplace of John Wayne and they have a tour of his home there.  We opted out of that but took a drive to Clark’s Tower.  Beautiful, beautiful drive through the trees with all the fall colors and the sun peaking through. The tour bus lady had told us that last week the colors were so brilliant but the reds had pretty much disappeared this week.  That must have been breath-taking because I found this little side trip a highlight of our stop over.  

The Clark Tower!

The home of the Delicious Apple!

Should I come up there????  It was worth the steps, the view was gorgeous!

Cutler Dunahoe Bridge - the only one we saw with a peaked roof.  I think I like this one best!

Sightseeing over, headed back to the motorhome to pack up, hook up and head down the road.  Still heading west, Rt 80 towards the Grand Canyon. 

Late start so we didn’t make it too far and guess what we came upon?  Yes, Omaha, Nebraska, home of the Doorly Zoo.  We are going tomorrow --- weather forecast high of 73 and no chance of rain.  Should be a quiet night here at the KOA Campground and a perfect day for the Zoo tomorrow.  Bill has “Ruby” all charged up and ready to roll.