We left for our trip to Nebraska on a Friday afternoon, changing planes in Denver into a TINY little puddle-jumper that took us the two hour flight to Kearney. Arriving, I remembered the little airport from when I brought Mark several years ago … not only just one gate, but literally just one room! We called to the Ramada to ask for the shuttle to pick us up (it was about 9 pm), and they said that the shuttle was already there, waiting to pick up the pilots! So we hopped in the little van for the 15 minute ride. We checked in at the front desk of this rather large hotel, and when asked whether we wanted first or second floor, Jim said “we just want it to be FAR from the noise!” … pointing towards the blaring disco music coming from the lounge. The girl laughed, and said she’d be sure to put us on the other side of the hotel. Then, she pulled out a map (we need a MAP to get to our room?) and started demonstrating which pathways we’d need to follow, pointing out where to turn left and where to turn right … “how large could a hotel in Kearney, Nebraska actually BE?” I wondered. It was when she pointed out that we’d have to maneuver across the entire “Fun Dome” that I really became suspicious. What was she talking about?
Anyway, we picked up our really voluminous luggage (we each had two huge duffles, filled with sub-zero sleeping bags and long underwear and fluffy jackets; Jim had an immense backpack filled with as much camera equipment a person could ever want; and I was stumbling along with a huge wheel-less suitcase containing the 500 mm camera lens that Jim had rented – worth $6,000, mind you, if we broke it or lost it) and started out on our trek.
When we got to the “Fun Dome,” we were incredulous. It was a HUGE courtyard surrounded by the square outline of the buildings of the hotel, and was completely closed over with a dome. In the middle of the room was a swimming pool, with winding rivers and bridges, and against one wall was a large fake rock waterfall. The “grounds” were covered with Astroturf so that it really did appear to be outdoors, although all the planting areas were just filled with dirt -- no flowers. Next to the pool was a large structure that looked like a tree house, with a bar on top. What a crazy place! And not only was it cavernous and loud, but it was PACKED! There were tons of kids in the pool, and outside each room that fronted onto the Fun Dome, there were large tables with groups of about 15 to 30 people, chatting, drinking and eating food from coolers, while myriads of kids wandered in and out of the rooms and bounced on the beds, screaming and laughing. We figured out that this was the place where everyone in Kearney spent their Friday nights!
After depositing our bags in our room (king size bed, T.V., huge mirror against one wall), we came back to the treehouse bar and had a drink. We were surrounded with girls dressed up to the nines (to go to the bar inside the Ramada Fun Dome?!) who were flirting with the boys, and everyone was drinking. What a scene. Horrid watered down drinks, too. Yum.
Back in our room, we tried to sleep, but it wasn’t all that quiet (even though we were far from the lounge). We could hear the kids running around, and they often went up and down our hall. At one point someone pulled a fire alarm. We just tried to ignore it. But … well, I didn’t get much sleep.
In the morning we packed up, dragged and manipulated our luggage back across the Fun Dome (deserted at this hour), to get our rental car and go out for a nice breakfast. The rental car office was in the Ramada (that’s how we chose the hotel) and the girl who filled out the paperwork was quite friendly. I asked if there were any bakeries or coffee shops where we could get a little breakfast, and she thought for a moment before saying “no, not really … but the hotel serves a very nice breakfast, they even have a waffle maker in the back … and then, there’s a Perkins down the street, too, that’s fine.”
We figured that since there wasn’t anything really CUTE we’d just as soon eat in the hotel, so we wandered into the restaurant … and noticed that it was rather skuzzy and only a few tables had people sitting at them … and those people were rather skuzzy too. As we were standing there debating whether this was simply TOO gross and depressing, a young boy with a runny nose came up to the continental buffet and SNEEZED right into the tray of pastries. I thought I was going to throw up!! We simply turned and RAN out without any further discussion.
“So, where was that Perkins?” Jim asked. We drove the few blocks to the restaurant, and it was actually just fine. Sort of like a Denny’s, although the clientele were several sizes larger. Pretty amazing how many large – I mean REALLY large – people there were in Kearney.
Then, we were off for our adventures of the day. We didn’t have to be at the Audubon building until 3:45, so we had decided to see some of the sights. We found out that there are essentially three sights in Kearney: (1) Pioneer Village [more about that later, as we went the following day], (2) the Archway Monument, and (3) Cabela’s Sporting Goods store. Jim told me that Cabela’s was the world’s largest sporting goods store, or something like that, and suggested that we go there to see if we could get some cool new boots or gloves or other equipment. I was thinking it would be like REI, only bigger … aisles and aisles of tents and sleeping bags and backpacking gear and kayaks and bicycles and soccer balls and running shorts. I mean, “sporting” means SPORTS, right?
Guess what? There is another definition of the word “sporting.” And it has to do with tracking down innocent animals. It was really shocking, and horrible, to be surrounded by aisles and aisles of guns and ammo and camouflage … I do think it is rather hypocritical to insist that killing little animals with submachine guns is SPORTING.
Anyway, to get down off my soap box, Jim wasn’t expecting the hunting connection either, so we didn’t spend too much time there. I did find a pair of running shorts, thank goodness.
Then it was on to the “Great Platte River Road Archway Monument.” This is a museum that is built on a large bridge over the highway, and tells the story of the American pioneers. It is described as “an interactive adventure that pays tribute to the pioneers who passed through this region of Nebraska on their way West” (most wagon trains stopped at Fort Kearney for provisions). The museum describes the pioneering spirit and the courage of the emigrants. And, it was a really nice museum! They provided us with headsets, and we listened to a docent explaining all the dioramas as we walked up and over the highway and back, through many rooms representing a chronology of US history. It was quite tastefully done – recognizing, for example, that there were already OTHER people living on this continent before these wagon trains arrived, and that they were NOT well treated by the newcomers. And, they gracefully apologized for the tragic loss of the buffalo. But the stamina and the bravery of the little families traveling in these tiny wagons across thousands of miles was described quite well. Jim and I recently read a very thorough journal of one of the 49ers coming across the states (a book called “And the World Rushed In”), and so it was really great to see photos and revisit all the places we’d read about. I got so emotional about it … I wonder if I’m the first person ever to CRY in the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument.
After the museum, we wandered around “downtown” Kearney for a bit (several shops along one street), and stopped in a coffee shop to fill our thermos with Chai tea. Then, it was off to the Audubon Rowe Sanctuary center! SO exciting!!!!! We only had two adventures along the way … first, Jim decided to take the back roads and we had to back track several times as we ended up on dead ends that weren’t really shown on the maps. So then we finally decided to go the straight and narrow way along the highway, but then when we took the required exit the road was blocked by a herd of cattle! We were biting our nails … and waited and waited behind the cattle being driven along the road at cattle speed … and arrived at Rowe at 3:43, two whole minutes early!
The Rowe Sanctuary has a new interpretive center, built from straw bales, and it’s really gorgeous. It’s right on the side of the Platte River, and you can even do some bird watching out of their huge picture windows. The gift shop has lots of t-shirts and books (yes, we bought some stuff the next morning!). We told the volunteer workers that we were ready to go to our photo blind, and they told us that we needed to wait … the one guy who was in charge of getting people out to the blinds would come find us. Well, we were getting rather anxious as the sun wasn’t getting any higher as the day wore on, and we wanted to be sure to get OUT there so we could take some photos before dark! Of course, the birds don’t actually come to the river until the end of the day, but I was so fired up about getting out to the blind that it was hard to wait.
Finally it was our turn, and we loaded up our gear on the little flat trailer that they pull behind a small ATV. I sat on the back of the ATV, and Jim sat on the trailer (and pulled the tarp over his head, since the exhaust smelled so bad and mud was splashing all over him).
We drove along a trail beside the trees on the side of the Platte, and after a mile or so, we pulled through the trees to the riverside.
Wow! There was our little home!! It was a plywood box, about 7 feet wide and 4 feet deep, and between 3 and 4 feet high (the roof sloped up towards the rive)r. Inside was a rug on the dirt and two little wooden stools, and there were 5 tiny window openings in the plywood, three out the front towards the river, and one on either end. And that was it! The Audubon guy helped us lug our gear into the blind, and handed us a bucket with a plastic bag liner, and then after we crawled inside, he closed the door with a latch, and then pulled a tarp over the top and back. We were in for good!
We scrambled to arrange our gear, setting up the two major cameras and the video camera, and sitting on the stools. We figured that we could spread our tarp and bedding later, when we’d gotten enough photos of the birds. We waited for an hour or so … it was calm and quiet, no sounds of any kind, just the view of the river and our small talk.
And then, we heard some cranes. They were in the distance, but coming closer. A high pitched trilling wafted towards us. And then we saw them. A huge skein of birds against the sky, all of them trilling to each other.
Soon, more and more skeins were visible, and some of the birds began to land in the river near our blind. The sun was setting, and we could see the long undulating lines of birds against the golden orange sky. More and more lines filled the air, and the sound became boisterous. More and more birds began to land near us, dropping their feet as they descended, using them like speed brakes to slow their motion. With a graceful flaring of their huge wings, they would touch down.
Imagine! Being surrounded by cranes … tall elegant birds, with a wingspan of 8 feet and long thin graceful necks … Delicate small faces … grey feathers all over, with only a small splash of red on the top of the head.
Trilling and trilling, more and more birds arrived. Soon there were hundreds in the lines overhead; soon there were hundreds in the river in front of us. They were strutting to and fro, dipping their heads to each other, calling to each other. Most were in family groups of 3 or 4, with the two parents and one or two juveniles. We could hear the juveniles as their trilling call was quite higher in pitch and broken – just like a young boy whose voice was changing. And these young birds still have some rust color in their wing feathers.
As the birds would strut, they would poof up their bustle – tail feathers still drooping but with a flounce behind.
And then, they began dancing! Birds trying to attract each other, finding mates … leaping into the air, with outstretched wings, dancing and prancing.
The sound had become thunderous, the birds everywhere. In the river, in the skies. There were thousands by now. It was getting dark and cold, but we were enchanted. We took photo after photo, and I held the video camera until my hands seemed frozen stiff. Eventually we couldn’t see well enough to take any more photos … but the SOUND was still there! Calling, trilling, louder and louder.
By now we were quite cold, and we started adding layers of clothing. I had on two pairs of long underwear and a pair of pants lined with fleece; two pairs of wool socks and Ugg boots; two turtleneck shirts over a silk undershirt. And yet I was getting cold! So I put on my jacket and fleece hat, and we began to make our beds. This required moving the camera equipment to the back of the hut so that we could spread out the tarp. On top of the tarp we put our two backpack mattress pads, which barely fit side by side, and then our two sleeping bags. Once that was all settled, we had some nuts and cheese in the dark (no lights were allowed, so that we would not bother the cranes), followed with a few sips of water and tea and a candy Easter egg. I think that technically, we were supposed to wait until morning when the bunny could have theoretically delivered the eggs, but I couldn’t wait that long. Then, we settled down to bed.
I was lucky enough to borrow a sub-zero sleeping bag from a friend, and as I climbed in I was excited about being able to take off my jacket and still be warm. I had put on gloves by now, too … and had to keep them on all night, along with the hat. Each time I tried to remove one of them, I got too cold. But the problem that I had with the sleeping bag was that it was too tight. It was a “mummy” bag, and so I couldn’t bend my legs inside. I fall asleep at night on my tummy, with my legs bent and my feet up in the air (don’t ask me why – it’s a very strange thing, I know, I know, but it seems to be the only way I can fall asleep!). So this was a disaster!! I couldn’t bend the whole thing, bag and legs, because it was too slippery to stay up like that. So I was stuck. And I felt claustrophobic. But if I tried to unzip and give myself more moving room, I was frozen. SO. I actually slept very little! The only good times were when I managed to wake Jim up to complain to him. Then I felt a little better. J
BUT, the sound of the cranes was magnificent. They were calling each other and talking all night long; a bit quieter in the early hours, but never quite still.
It was a sublime orchestra.
I was honored to be surrounded by these marvelous creatures.
Before dawn, the cranes began to talk louder, and we got up to put on our contacts and to get organized for more photography. We clambered about the blind, with the bottom half of our bodies still in our sleeping bags. The coldest moments were when we got out to use the bucket … in the dark ... wouldn’t want to miss, or to knock it over! And it was a bit precarious and painful, perched on the thin edge of the plastic.
We watched the sky through our little windows as it began to lighten, and felt jubilant to see the beginning of the day. What a thrill! As sunrise approached, we watched the cranes waking up. They ruffled their feathers and preened, danced and leaped about. Eventually each crane family would take to the sky to find breakfast in the corn fields. They would leap up from the river in large groups, and then organize into a skein and fly off … sometimes directly overhead our blind … calling and calling. Fantastic!!
We watched them for hours, the sunlight glowing on their feathers. There were romantic moments – Jim even got a photo of a couple mating. And the strutting and head bobbing and social interactions were fascinating to watch. I particularly liked to watch them parade along the river, carefully picking up each foot and primly placing it back into the water as they strode along.
By 9 am there were still quite a few birds milling about and trilling to each other. We had been watching them for hours! Suddenly the last birds all took to the wing, shrieking as they flew away. The Audubon ATV had appeared from the trees, and the sight of a human was apparently frightful. The volunteer, a different guy from the one who had brought us out there the night before, removed the tarp from our blind and opened up the back door. We crawled out and STOOD UP to stretch! Yeah! The fellow laughed when he mentioned that he’d almost not come to let us out … he’d thought that only three blinds had had photographers placed in them the night before, and after he’d gone to those three, he was going to quit for the day. Then someone in the main building asked him about the fourth blind …
I would have hated to have had to break our way out of the plywood box!
Anyway, back at the visitor’s center we used the actual toilet (that was a luxury) and washed our hands in warm water, and had a nice cup of coffee. Then, after purchasing T-shirts and sundry gifts, we said good bye to the Rowe Sanctuary. Until the next time! With a 600 mm lens!
Off to the Pioneer Village we went. This was the last of the three important sights to see in Kearney. In fact, we loved it! This was a museum built in the 1950’s by a local man who had become wealthy through development of a new kind of plastic for shrink-wrapping, and wanted to “give back” to his community by building a monument to the pioneering spirit. What an amazing monument he built!
Here’s the description from their website: “The largest private collection of Americana anywhere. The Pioneer Village complex comprises 28 buildings on 20 acres housing over 50,000 irreplaceable items of historical value, restored to operating order, arranged in groups and also in the chronological order of their development. There are 12 historic buildings around the circular "green". There's a Frontier Fort, a real honest-to-goodness Pony Express Station, an Iron Horse, and a home made of sod. There's a general store and a toy store, chock full of all the goods from yesteryear. An original art collection including 25 Currier and Ives prints, 23 Jackson paintings, and the largest single collection of Rogers statues. You can ride a priceless steam carousel, see 17 historic flying machines and marvel at 100 antique tractors. See a 1902 Cadillac and a 1903 Ford, both designed by Henry Ford, plus 350 other antique cars, all displayed in their order of development.”
And there’s even more! One of the buildings is a land office, and when I got inside and read about it, I cried. So, not only did I cry at the Archway, but I cried at Pioneer Village. You can imagine, by the way, how much I cried watching the cranes. But that goes without saying. Anyway, back to the land office. The man who build Pioneer Village, Harold Warp, was one of 12 children. Their parents were both from Norway and had come to America in their teens and met here. His father decided to go to the local land office to get his homestead grant, then took his horse and buggy to get his bride, drove 20 miles through the snow to a church to get married, and then settled down on their land. When Harold wanted to build this park, he BOUGHT the actual land office and moved it, sod brick by sod brick, to this site. He then went to buy the CHURCH where they got married, and moved that too! I was crying my eyes out. What a sweet man!!
We really enjoyed all the old planes and cars and horse-drawn buggies (I was thrilled to see a real “Hansom cab,” – just like the ones in the Sherlock Holmes stories we are currently reading!). And we really enjoyed wandering though building after building of historical objects. Many of the displays included people dressed in period costumes with whom we could interact, and we watched a woman spinning yarn and bought a hat that she’d made on a loom from her hand spun yarn.
It was just incredible, how MANY things we saw.
I began to get hungry so we decided to go to the motel restaurant on the site, to get a quick bite to eat. We forgot it was Easter Sunday! And everyone in TOWN had decided to go to the same restaurant – it was a “smorgasbord,” all you can eat, for $8.95. Amazing how inexpensive it was, as this included all kinds of meats too. Well, in fact, it mostly included meat. It was so bizarre … really horrible food, but SO many people were there, many of them all dressed up in their finery with their little girls in their Easter Sunday dresses and white hats … and yet they were at this dumpy little motel. And everyone was really BIG. There wasn’t too much for ME to eat … some canned (!) carrots and beans, heated up, and mashed potatoes (with TONS of butter and salt included) … one of the “salads” consisted of whipped cream, marshmallows, and fruit cocktail!!!!!!! That is a SALAD?! Wow, I was missing California cuisine.
But, that was it for our trip … soon we were back to the Ramada to return our car, then shuttled to the airport for our small plane flight to Denver, and our big plane flight back home. What a GREAT trip!!
