Nebraska City & the Big 7-0!

My trivial trivia:  Harry S. Truman was President when I was born, and I was born on his birthday, May 8, 1951. Today we celebrated my 70th birthday in Nebraska City, Nebraska on the Missouri River near the Iowa border.

 Lewis and Clark were first to note that the area around present day Nebraska City would be an ideal site for a future city during their expedition to explore the west from 1804 to 1806.  We started the day at the Missouri River Basin Lewis & Clark Visitor

After a stop at the Kimmel Orchard and Winery, we drove over to the Arbor Lodge State Historical Park and Arboretum. 

The 52-room neo-colonial house began in 1855 for J. Sterling Morton, originator of Arbor Day and Secretary of Agriculture in the 1890s under President Grover Cleveland.

We didn’t tour the mansion this trip but we did another time we were here.  Elegant!

Trees were a central interest of J. Sterling Morton. He imported trees from all over the country in order to test their suitability to create windbreaks and otherwise break up the monotony of the great plains. The house is surrounded by 270 varieties of trees and shrubs, including gardens, apple orchards, and acres of oaks, maples, chestnuts, and pines.

Sights and places along the road.  Pretty country.

Nebraska City has Streets and Corsos, not avenues!  What is up with that?!

We don’t recall seeing corsos anywhere else in our travels.

 

The Kregel Windmill Factory Museum is really interesting.  This was our second time to visit!  We were impressed at how well informed the young lady who gave us our tour is!

Birthday dinner was the BEST Gyros and homemade tzatziki sauce I have ever had in my life from the Downtowner Casual Cafe!  When we walked in at 3 pm we found out they were closing but we could get take-out.  We started to leave but I had already read reviews and knew the cook is a Greek with rave gyro reviews!  Eating at home and calling it a day was perfectly fine with me!

We are trucking south now on Sunday heading to Branson, Missouri, our home away from home!