One nice hot day we took our grandkids to the Omaha Zoo…

Often touted as the best Zoo in the country, or even the world, Omaha’s Zoo is filled with interesting get-close type exhibits. Under the dome are animals in daylight exhibits and another section underground, with nocturnal animals.

Lots of monkeys in the park!

Lots of Scarlet Ibis and White Stork…

This Turtle liked gazing at bright blue fish as much as I did.

Of course, after a hot afternoon at the zoo, one needs a bit of ice cream…

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We finally got a maiden voyage in our little camping trailer. Jeanne and Steve met us for a couple of nights near Nebraska City. It was HOT but fun.

Nebraska City has a cute old downtown area, and a bit of history… by 1867 Nebraska City tried hard to become the Capital City of Nebraska. Omaha had been the capital of the Nebraska territory, but held that position “through shady parliamentary maneuvers, bribery, and at times even by physical intimidation.” Nebraskans had had enough. Besides that, the Platte River divided the state in half, and most folks lived south of that river. The side that Omaha wasn’t on. When it came to selecting a capital, it was obvious that Omaha would loose its status… but they weren’t going to give up graciously. To kill the vote to loose Omaha’s status, they got a “Poison Pill” amendment passed which required that the new capital city would also get the state university, agricultural college, prison, and insane asylum. (Who in their right mind would want all that?) The city should also be named “Lincoln,” after the recently assassinated president. They were sure the southern sympathizers below the river would never accept that. They did. Nebraska City was considered too big, and possibly too much like Omaha. The town of Lancaster was chosen… with a population of only 60!

There were more than 60 in the campground where we spent a couple of days!

The license plate of the rig that pulled in next to us was “SNNDOC.” I was pretty sure that ment a medical officer on a nuclear submarine. So, shy as I usually am, I asked about it. Met Darren and Julene, and heard fun stuff about his time on nuclear subs. Steve was curious about the longest time he’d spent underwater. He said 92 days! That’s a long time! I guess the subs can stay under for a lot longer, but maybe the people they stuff in the subs would have a problem with that. [If I’ve spelled your names wrong, tell me and I’ll fix it!]

Steve and I went to the Kregel Windmill Factory, located in downtown Nebraska City. The Kregel cousins started making windmills in 1879, and operated their factory until steel rationing at the start of WWII forced them to focus on repairing existing mills.

The windmills at the beginning were made of wood. When transitioned to metal windmills, they branded them “Eli,” for a Lutheran preacher and friend who had passed away.

This shop is left somewhat like it looked in the 1930’s. They claim to have produced 2,000 windmills, all with the machinery in the building now. While they were popular in the area, compared to the 7 million produced across the country, they made approximately 0%.

The building is crammed with fascinating heavy machines… most all driven by belts from an overhead shaft. I think this shaft was originally powered by a gasoline engine, but possibly steam. In the 1920’s it was updated to an electric motor.

Here the belts run a huge metal lathe.

The cash register dates from the early 1900’s. It still works, and is used today.

The system of belts and pulleys is really intricate. There were provisions to throw the belts on or off any piece of equipment, without stopping the main drive. Some of the belts were made of buffalo hide – stronger than typical leather.

Here’s a table saw with a sliding table, a technique that some consider modern and clever today.

This is a huge blade, used to cut metal sheets. The upper jaw looks so heavy it might weigh half a ton! It cracked at one point, and the factory tried to keep it going by forging the strange metal snake draped over the upper jaw.

This lathe was from the Civil War period:

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A Lewis & Clark museum is just outside of town. Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark were tasked by President Thomas Jefferson with mapping the massive Louisiana Purchase that he’d just bought the year before. Jefferson really had no idea what all he’d signed for, and France had no real idea what they’d just sold!

Lewis and Clark set out to map the Missouri River in the spring of 1804, with a crew of 40 men. They had three main boats, and below is a replica of the largest. Recreated from original plans and notes from the expedition, it is 55 feet long and a bit over 8 feet wide. (Incidentally, dimensions very similar to our narrowboats in Scotland and Wales.) The majority of their trip was upriver, and they had to row, pole or pull the boats upriver with ropes from the bank. That boat looks heavy!

Here you can see Meriwether and Steve!

The museum has lots of the expected info about the expedition, but also and unexpected, real life sized Alaskan Mosquito. OK, maybe they really aren’t 3 feet tall, but they make up for it in ferocity! I guess Lewis & Clark felt the same way about their flying friends.

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We celebrated the 4th of July like most Americans; with Food, Family and Fireworks! And particularly festive deserts! Yay!

The night of the 4th was spent with Jeanne & Steve, one of their daughter’s families, and our daughter and her family. What fun to watch gorgeous fascinating fireworks!

Lincoln seems to go crazy with fireworks… with lots of folks setting off displays that seem as big as city governments do elsewhere.

Early evening fireworks against a still blue sky.

We basically had three families together burning up money setting off fireworks, so we got to see quite a variety of impressive and explosive shows!

Our 4th party was graciously hosted by Josh and Crista at their beautiful home:

Kevin said this one was specially for Cherryl – it spun around, making sparks, light and noise, then opened up a little birdhouse with a small bird inside!

We saw plenty of huge fireworks nearby…

But I think this is my favorite picture:

Here’s a couple more overhead shots…

We left for home about 10:30, but it was a bit tricky driving, since every neighborhood was setting off stuff in the street. Once home, we had more displays like this one, right across the street. A nice ending to a great 4th… and to this blog!