Chadron State Park

... I have to say that although the sculptures were impressive, they were nowhere as big as I was expecting. Took the obligatory photos, and walked some of the way around the very pristine paths that went right to the edge of the rock face with the
Presidents above. In case you're wondering the 4 presidents in the sculpture are: Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt & Thomas Jefferson. On the way out we asked some other tourists to take our photo as a ...

... parks wildlife loop road. We also wanted to check out what was going on with the buffalo that had been rounded up last week. I'll let the photos tell the story of what's happening with the buffalo.

If you should ever find yourself in this part of the country we would recommend both Custer State park and the Norbeck Byway ...

... We saw a few more on their own. Bent over eating at the grass. The buffalos didn't care about us and they didn't react to us or our car. They just kept doing what they were doing, eating. As we continued to drive in the eastern horizon, dark shadows were coming up. It was a whole herd heading south. They walked in the warm sun. We read that in the grasslands had mineral naturally accuring in the plants ...

Fort Robinson is a great State Park; it is probably the nicest one we have stayed at. The scenery here is amazing, the Fort is not a stereotypical one with palisades etc, but rather a cluster of buildings, which have been well maintained since the early days. Since the State took them over as a state park, they have become a great place to visit and learn of the history.

During our visit we really enjoyed the museum, one of the best we have seen ...

Surprising places are everywhere! Heading to Nebraska with not much of an idea as to where to go and what to see we drove and found a surprising amount of interesting things to see and wonderful, generous people to meet.

Our first pit stop was Agate Fossil Beds National park. It's a fairly new National Park in North Western Nebraska that highlights prairie lands and some fossil remains that have been found (bones appear to be our theme this ...

Our next stop was Fort Robinson. We stopped in Chadron, ate, got a room and got back on the road. We went to Fort Rob to see the marker for where Crazy Horse died. Crazy horse is best known for beating Custer at Little Bighorn ...

To break up the 4 hour drive up to Fort Robinson, Nebraska, for the big Witte Family Reunion (my dad's, mom's side of the family), the three car caravan stopped of in Lusk, Wyoming for chilli dogs and milkshakes. My 5 month old niece thought it was her time to shine and was really working the crowd making us all laugh. I then jumped in the car with my dad and we had some good quality father-daughter time, before all the madness ...

Day 32 We awoke to another beautiful morning. Today's adventure will take us into NW Nebraska. Our goals are Courthouse and Jail Rocks, Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluff. All three were landmarks for the westward migration. The going was so slow that when they did finally see the rock outcroppings it was a joyous occasion. In Wagon movement they could be seen 3 day out. We found NW Nebraska to be quite ...

... the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail a little further on. I stopped a while at the visitor center then onto the Gullies Overlook and the Pinnacles. What a day. I even saw a veritical rainbow that went straight up in the distance.
I was back to civilization when I reached Grand Rapids, stopping at the Ruchmore Mall where I got a late snack and picked up a book, groceries at the Kmart-supplies for the next few days as I would be ...