/ FAMILY / PLAY PIONEER Discover adventure on the wide-open plains. Start at Scotts Bluff National Monument in Gering by becoming a Junior Ranger. To earn a Junior Ranger badge, kids are challenged to explore the site’s prairies and bluffs like early pioneers, complete an activity booklet and take an oath to protect our country’s parks. Want to keep their pioneering spirits high? Visit the Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters in Omaha to learn the story of the Latter-day Saint pioneers’ Western migration. Consider a free guided tour as you watch films, enjoy interactive exhibits and view a primitive log cabin and covered wagon. Explore more of the historic pioneer settlement by visiting the Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple or Mormon Pioneer Cemetery. In Kearney, a giant arch spanning Interstate 80 tells the story of adventurers who traveled the Great Platte River Road through Nebraska. The Archway is filled with displays and dioramas so life-like, you’ll feel transported back in time. Watch a Pony Express rider switch horses, a buffalo stampede, ’49ers on their way to the California gold fields and more at the attraction’s interactive exhibits. You can almost feel the fire and grit of the pioneering spirit at Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island. Explore this complex of buildings to discover PHOTO THE COURTESY OF INSIDE ARCHWAY, NEBRASKA TOURISM KEARNEY collections of Native American and Old West memorabilia, teepee replicas, bison that lived and grazed on the land, train cars from the 1800s and more. History buffs will be pleased and kids and adults alike will enjoy the opportunities to get hands-on. Step up to the bar at the Crystal Palace Saloon and order a drink—pink lemonade and milkshakes for the kids; maybe something stronger for the adults. You’re in for an Old West shootout and show resurrecting the days when Ogallala was a rough-and-tumble town full of cowhands, cattle barons and drifters—and the Crystal Palace was at the center of it all. Paleo Play Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Harrison Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park, Royal AGATE FOSSIL BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT, HARRISON Dominating a wide, empty landscape are craggy cliffs. Inside those cliffs are bones—one of the most complete Miocene mammal sites in the world, in fact. Welcome to the Agate Fossil Beds in Harrison. Hike the trails of the dramatic landscape to spot the fossils. DICKINSON FOSSIL HERITAGE CENTER AT ASHFALL, ROYAL Where prehistoric animal skeletons are preserved in volcanic ash, watch experts at work and ask all the questions you want. Start with, “Unearthed anything lately?” and you might be surprised at the response—paleontologists have recently discovered rhinos and three-toed horses onsite. VisitNebraska.com 25
Nebraska Official State Travel Guide The Official 2019 Not-At-All What You Thought State Travel Guide: Page 29
