Busy Monday, June 27

Today's 'To-Do' List

• Clean 
• Put things away from the trip
• Lunch with Peter
• Write this Blog
• Divide and freeze hamburger, pork and chicken

Menu

• Spaghetti
• Grilled Pork w/Baked Potatoes & veggies
• Chicken & Salmon w/rice & veggies
• Hot Dogs -- Sides to be determined
• Pizza
• ??
• ??

This Week's 'To-Do' List

• Work - Myself & Peter M-F
• Thursday - 4-5 Brielle has an appointment
• Saturday - Babyshower for one of my friends
• Saturday - City Fireworks 
• Sunday - Local Park Firework

Last Week

Alright so last week the girls and I were on our road trip. Since my camera didn't want to sync to my laptop I'll go all the way back.

Friday we were on the road as I said so Saturday we went to the Lewis and Clark Welcome Center that is a part of the National Park system. Online folks said, "It's one hallway and you can get through it in 30 minutes." Well it is apparent they didn't even watch the video let alone do all the activities in that one hallway because we were there for nearly 4 hours. 

Location: Omaha, NE

I took a lot of photos here but to put it blunt I took a lot of photos everywhere! 

This is the hallway. 

I'm going to try and keep my photo selection down because I don't need to put over 200 photos onto this I think you'll get the idea. 

Again, this is the 100th Anniversary of the National Park System. There are also several sites that if you can't go there in person you can take a digital tour of them and even have access to the Junior Ranger program where you can mail in for it. 

The LCNP actually had an outside garden area too where it had wild plants that Lewis & Clark came across and described in their journey to find the passage to the west. 

It is amazing how they took this journey and how they were able to communicate what had been the country's original goodwill towards the Native Americans. 

The story of Lewis & Clark is not just one of their journey but of America's endless curiosity and pure intentions at the beginning. It is also the story of all those that took this journey with Lewis & Clark. The expedition would have long failed before they got anywhere without Sacajawea. So especially for those with girls this is a great part of history for them because a woman with a newborn traveled with these men across what is now the United States and helped them in so many ways which in my opinion should be an inspiration for working women today. 

Moving along....
We made it to South Dakota on Saturday and it was a bit of a rough trip because my grandfather is 90 and while I love him it did seem we clashed quite a bit but I tried to stay as neutral as I could during those times because the last thing I wanted to do is argue. Though I did get shouted at quite a bit as he would get riled up. It is what it is. 
We did have some fun during the trip though and swam down at the park lake and went to Storybook Land and the girls did paintings at the public library (which I never did get a picture of I'll have to do that later).We went to twistcone and we had a fun time at my cousin's home with his wife and little girl and my aunt and uncle. The girls got to ride on ATVs and give me a heart attack. The kids seemed to have fun most of the time and that is what matters. Oh and went to the little zoo and petting zoo they had also.

Friday, we left South Dakota and made the drive to our next destination. Homestead National Monument.

Location: Beatrice, NE

Oh goodness what can I say about the Homestead National Monument? It really felt like we were driving to the middle of nowhere!
Beatrice is an old community and you get that feeling when you start driving into it and it has some gorgeous churches we were only able to drive by. An old style downtown a little ran down like most older towns.

We had to drive out of town and another few miles to get to the National Park.
It is a beautiful building my pictures don't do it justice because I didn't get a good picture of the other side with a view of the prairie. Homestead NM is built on the site of the first homesteader. It has trails through the countryside and if you walked the perimeter path it would be 3 miles!
They have information about farming but also about the impact on the Native Americans as cities were getting over populated so the government came up with this to push people to the West but also increase farming production.
It talks about the reasons for the dustbowl too which was such an avoidable disaster.

It talks about how this westward expansion really caused industry and technology to push forward as people needed many things but also the inventiveness of the people living out there who were too far from town or did not have the money to always buy things so they would often find new uses for old items that may not be able to serve their original purpose any more.

There is so much information in this place and stories of homesteaders. They even have a place that if you have stories about homesteading relatives you can have your story recorded and put into the archives.

Well those were the major highlights of this past week. I'm trying to make plans to go to at least one more National Park this year so hopefully that all pans out.

I never liked American history until I started really being able to interact with it so it's not just for the kids this also for myself because I have gained such a greater appreciation for things since I started having us go to the National Parks and really interacting with them.

Fun Fact: Did you know the Homestead Act of 1862 did not end completely until 1986, for most of the country it ended in 1976 except in Alaska where it continued until '86.
I'm not sure about anyone else but I didn't know that and it came as a shock to me when we learned that there.