Our Vacation Part 1: Minden, NE

We left on October 13th at 7 a.m. just like we had planned. I wasn't sure that was going to go over real well with either one of us because we are not morning people at all! But I think we were both so excited to get our vacation started that we were up and ready to go by 7 a.m.

We took back roads all the way down to Yankton, SD and then stopped for Breakfast. The place we stopped at had a 50's style type theme so we felt right at home (we usually have supper on Friday nights at the 2nd Street Diner here in Madison which also has a 50's theme). We ate a awesome breakfast and then off again we went. When we stopped for gas at around 12:20 or so we also ate some sandwiches we had packed (so that was lunch). We got to Minden, NE at around 2 or maybe a little earlier (I can't remember).

Pioneer Village is HUGE!! There are over 30 buildings that you can tour through. They close at 5 p.m. so we really had to truck it around to get to all the buildings we wanted to look at. I think we got through 20 some of the buildings before they told us it was time to close. Jeff had been here before quite a few years ago and so I had (I was 6 months old so I don't remember it at all). It was a very neat place to look around in. They have TONS of stuff from back in the late 1800's to the present. It was neat to see how they lived back in the 1800's and what their houses were made out of (sod...can you imagine). There also was a neat school house you could tour. I can't believe they taught all grades in one big room like they did.

It's amazing how many old cars and things they could get in one building.They had carriages, wagons, planes, cars and even train cars in one building. Some of the buildings even had 2 floors in them and each floor was equally packed!! Here is a picture of just some of the cars and planes (look at the ceiling in the picture) they had on display in the first building we toured.

One building had a bunch of snowmobiles in it so we made sure we got to that one because Jeff couldn't wait to see them all!! I think if he could have he would have taken all those snowmobiles home with him!

It's amazing just how far we have come since the "Little House on the Prairie Days" as I referred to them the whole time we looked around Pioneer Village. Jeff and I both really enjoy looking at things like this. It was very educational and very fun!

After we left Pioneer Village we went back to Kearney, NE to our hotel. We stayed at the Best Western and it was pretty nice. We went out to eat at Ruby Tuesdays for supper. Of course that was delicious. Then we went to the first Cabela's ever built. Everyone told Jeff that he was going to be disappointed with Kearney's Cabela's because it's so small compared to the one in Mitchell, SD. Boy they weren't kidding! It was pretty small but Jeff found some hiking boots so that's all the matters! After shopping for a little bit we went back to the hotel and relaxed looking forward to our next days journey to Estes Park, CO!

Our Vacation Part 2: Estes Park, CO will be posted on Monday. God's blessings to you all!