Memorial Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Memorial Day this year we ventured out to visit Ash Hollow State Park. This site was a popular resting spot along the Oregon Trail. It is a little hidden spot covered with Ash trees, fresh water, and basic necessities. Thousands of pioneers crossed the Windlass Hill ridge to enter the hollow. Apparently, the journey was quite treacherous as the wagons had to navigate along the top of the ridge then descend down a very steep drop, legend says a winch was used to lower wagons down one by one. The site is about 70 minutes east of Sidney, in a little piece of green heaven (at least this time of year). We stopped at a Mom and Pop gas station/restaurant for lunch. I think half the population of Llewellyn was there for lunch as well. The State Park boasted a small museum and a 15 minute video. We hiked down the steep trail to check out the closed cave and then the natural spring. The kids were pretty wimpy walking back up the trail. We need to hike more. Death marches. A mile away from the museum is a cute little rock school. Down the highway a couple miles we stopped to hike to the top of Windlass hill. The view was magnificent! The kids enjoyed picking up Juniper berries and admiring the small wild flowers along the path. Everett was getting tired so I ended up lugging him up and down the hill. He was very worried about our van. He could see it at times down below in the parking lot. I think he was more worried about getting his binky back. We could literally see the wagon ruts trailing along the top of the ridge and the ruts created by thousands of passing pioneers. Pretty darn cool.

Lake MacConaughy was several miles away so we checked it out before heading home. The kids enjoyed wading in the cold water and whacking the sand with large sticks. On our way home we stopped at Dairy Queen for ice creams. I was ecstatic this DQ had butterscotch dipped cones. Yum! We drove right into a yucky storm cell that started several tornadoes and dumped hail on several surrounding towns. We lucked out, missing the hail and most of the rain on the drive home. The weather was hot and humid with temps in the 80s, we got home to temps in the 50s. Crazy Nebraska. Thanks to Justin for suggesting this little trip. It was a fun family trip!