Nebraska Day 1 and 2

Right after school let out, we loaded up the brand new van. We had to get as far as we could on our longest roadtrip yet. The plan was to leave by two o'clock and get as far as Cheyenne on Day 1. To be honest, there wasn't a lot of adventure. We enjoyed seeing the pronghorn that are ever present in Wyoming, and Dax spotted a bald eagle, but mostly, we just drove. We only took a few pictures at a restaurant called Penny's Diner in Rawlins. We listened to part of a Little House book, read scriptures, and talked. The boys watched a movie and listened to music. Even though it was over 400 miles, it didn't seem too bad!

We were all happy to be out of the car and eat!

We are ready for this new adventure!

Day 2 was a lot of driving, too. Basically, we drove across Wyoming on the first day, and Nebraska on the second day. We even decided to let Mark drive a bit, but as soon as he took the wheel, we entered a construction zone with very narrow lanes. He did great, but he was ready to give it up pretty soon! Luckily, we did have a few more fun stops and sights to see. We started right in Cheyenne looking at the Big Boots. They are a unique art installation located downtown. We didn't spend too long looking at them, but we enjoyed them for a while. Then we headed east.

We loved this mural in Cheyenne!

The Big Boots were 8 feet tall!

We enjoyed looking at the different murals on them.

Everyone loved this pony express rider!

On the long drive across Nebraska, we only made two stops. The first was at the world headquarters for Cabela's, which Mom wanted to see. We went in and looked at the animals, but we all thought our Lehi Cabela's was a little better. A little after noon, we stopped at a nice shady rest area and had a picnic lunch. It was quite pleasant, even though we only stopped for about 30 minutes. 

We like checking out all the Cabela's.

Seth takes the best pictures.

This picnic area was the perfect spot for lunch. We lucked out.

Finally, we made it to Winter Quarters. We had plenty of time to see the small Visitor Center there. It was run by sister missionaries, who spend the first months of their missions guiding tours before they go off to other parts of the country to proselyte. Our boys were pretty quiet, but we enjoyed learning about the two years spent in Nebraska along the Pioneer Trail. Since we didn't know a lot about this history, it was really interesting for us.

The Mormon Trail Center was a fun pioneer spot.

This was Brigham Young's travel case.

We grabbed a quick dinner, and then changed for the Winter Quarters Temple. Mark, Dax, and Dad had an appointment for baptisms. It was a tiny temple, but a member of the Temple Presidency spoke to us before we did our baptisms. That was pretty cool. By the time we got finished, Mom and Seth had checked into the hotel a cross the river in Iowa, so Seth can always remember that he got to this state first!

Mom and Dad love visiting new temples.

The boys were so excited to do baptisms in the Winter Quarters temple.