July 26, 2011 Grand Island, NE

“O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay” for tennis is played and our wash is done again. And a fine job folding, Clark and Lewis! After getting up at zero a.m. to beat the heat, John and I play tennis at the high school courts here in Grand Island. Then we head back to the hotel, have breakfast, and do our laundry. We finally make it out the door around 1 p.m. for lunch and sightseeing.

If only they actually folded laundry!

Our sightseeing goal of the day is the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. We enter the impressive visitor’s center and ask a bunch of questions to a helpful volunteer. When was Nebraska admitted to the Union? How did the slave state/free state play into its statehood? What native Americans lived here? And so on and so on. Museum volunteers should run when they see us coming. The most important question, why do people live here when it’s so frigging hot, humid and buggy in the summer and so frigid in the winter, goes unasked.
Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer

We head outside to visit their pioneer village. It’s kind of like a prairie version of Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. There are actual houses and shops from the late 1800’s and historical re-enactors. We walk through lovely gardens and even run into a friend or two of Lewis’s.
"But I'm not fluent in duck," sighed Lewis.

Moving along we go into the one room schoolhouse. John, Clark and Lewis are attentive pupils.
Looks like someone got left back a few times

Clark and Lewis examine the day's schedule while President Garfield looks on

Then we take a couple of pictures at the bank and the printer’s because my father was a banker and one of my grandfathers was a printer.
She was only a banker's daughter...

"I'd like a print version of my blog, please."

As you can tell by the pictures, I am beginning to wilt. It is really hot out and humid besides. And I am getting attacked by mosquitoes and flies. I tell John to look at the rest of the outdoor stuff by himself and I head back to the visitor’s center. John follows about 20 minutes later. Being outside is difficult but being in the tiny shops and houses is unbearable.

We do our dinner shopping for the evening, take a swim in the pool, hobnob with the other guests during social hour, and settle down for a little TV watching. We need to be up early tomorrow because we’ve learned from one of the other guests that many of the bridges across the Missouri River are still closed due to flooding. We may need to make a lengthy detour to get to Kansas City tomorrow. We have enjoyed our time in Nebraska a lot. According to the internet, the state motto of Nebraska is ” Equality before the law.”. We think it should be “Really friendly people, really big salads, really cold restaurants.”

SYTYCD is a hit with everyone around here

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