Nebraska 2023 Trip Report (Days 7 through 9)

Written by ceddammit

By now, you may be wondering why I picked this time of year to do my Nebraska trip, what with the low temperatures and the bone-chilling wind. The answer: The Great Crane Migration. The sandhill crane is a huge bird, standing as tall as five feet. Despite their size, they take off, fly, and land quite gracefully. Their mating dance, on the other hand, is one of the goofiest spectacles nature has to offer. Every spring, hundreds of thousands of these birds take a break from their migration along the Platte River in Nebraska. It is this spectacle that brings me here at this time o’ year.

My strategy for this day was to drive across the Platte River (preferably using a bridge) then follow farm roads generally eastward, while staying as close as I could to the river. The first place I spotted cranes was at a pond about 100 yards from the gravel road I was on. Check out deez boids:

Sandhill cranes tend to coagulate in large flocks during their layover in Nebraska.
I think that thing in the background is the crane mothership.
Man, this venue really packs ’em in!
Arrival of three more
When ya see ’em on the “beach” , they almost look like flamingoes, don’t they?
Despite their size, these birds are not flightless…
…which I guess means they’re flighty(?)
This trip has confirmed something I already knew – I need a longer zoom lens.
They’re starting to disperse into the grass. Guess that means it’s time to go.

So it was that I moved on, further east along the river. It wasn’t far at all before I found myself at the Rowe Sanctuary. There were plenty of cranes flying low overhead, but the ones on the ground or in the river were all too far away to get good pictures. Thus I give the following shots of airborne cranes:

Coming in for a landing
Teeming masses of giant birds fill the sky.
Have you ever seen so much biomass in the air?
Here they come…
…and there they go.
More airborne biomass

At the beginning of this trip, I mentioned that Nebraska has fewer tourist visits than any other state. So, as I was driving along the farm roads looking for/at cranes, it occurred to me that many of my readers may have no idea what Nebraska looks like. People who have driven across the state on Interstate 80 will tell you it’s completely flat, and there are no trees except right along the river. A few days from now, you will see that’s not true. But it is true of the part of the state where I grew up. In fact, the state’s name was derived for the natives’ name for the Platte River: Nebrathka, – which means “flat water”. This is an accurate name for the river, which many folks describe as “a mile wide and an inch deep”. With this in mind, let’s start with a pic of the Platte River:

As you can see, the Platte River truly sprawls out across the flat bottom of its valley
This pic shows the flatness, but doesn’t give a good sense of the vastness.
This pic does a little better at showing the vastness of flatness, but there are too many trees.
Now THIS is what I envision when I think of Nebraska.
I did manage to find some hillage (Hillary?) at the edge of the river valley.
Found a dying building, too.

I kep’ driving slowly alongside the river for another few hours. I saw many more cranes, but couldn’t get as close as I had to that first flock this morning, so I didn’t get any more crane pics. Eventually I crossed the river and ended up at the Crane Trust Nature & Visitor Center, which was in the process of closing by the time I got there. But their bison didn’t care that it was closing time…

American Bison (scientific name: Bison bison). Seriously.
This guy seems to be longing for the days when bison drove trucks all over the plains.
I’m no wildlife biologist, but I’m guessing this is a yearling.

From here, I hopped on the Interstate and headed back to my base of operations in Kearney, before meeting up with about eight relatives for dinner. A good time was had by all. Then, sleep.

NOTE: After telling you the crane mating ritual “is one of the goofiest spectacles nature has to offer”, I couldn’t just leave you hanging, so here’s a link to a video that was NOT made by me.

During the years I lived in Colorado, I was asked by multiple Coloradans whether Pioneer Village is a worthwhile place to visit. If you’ve traveled across Nebraska on Interstate 80, you probably remember seeing billboards advertising Pioneer Village, if only because of the sheer volume of said billboards. Well, I’m here to tell ya…well, that’s not actually why I’m HERE. I’m HERE because I…well…what the Hell am I doing here? OK, never mind that, but YES! Pioneer Village is all it’s cracked up to be, and more! They have approximately a dozen historic structures that have been moved to the grounds, and a dozen more buildings that have been built specifically to display their massive collection of antiques and artifacts pertaining to just about every aspect of daily life (carriages / automobiles, typewriters / word processors, bicycles, shaving kits, medical supplies, furniture, clothing, radio / TV, stoves / ovens, dishwashers, toys, and MUCH more). And each type of item is arranged in chronological order. For example, they have a horse-drawn streetcar, followed by a cable car, followed by an electric trolley. Remembering from my childhood just how massive this place was, I set aside two full days to explore Pioneer Village – and brother, I needed those two full days, even though I forced myself to move more quickly than I usually do in museums. As I’ve said before, I don’t normally take photos inside museums, but I encountered a few things here that demanded I photograph them. The following is the tiniest taste of day one of my Pioneer Village visit:

Entrance to Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska
Their trolley car is not from Nebraska, yet I knew instantly knew where it had come from…
…y’see, I used to live half a block from Whedbee, which ain’t exactly a common street name.
So it’s very likely that this very trolley car was ridden by people who lived in my old house!
Here’s what Pioneer Village had to say about it.
Thrilled the steam-powered carousel is still there; disappointed it’s been taken apart for restoration
The steam engine that originally powered the carousel
Art deco!
They have a huge collection of salt and pepper shakers, including these beauties.
Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska

When the museum closed for the day, there was still plenty of sunlight, and I thought I remembered Minden having a pretty cool-lookin’ courthouse. Minden is the seat of Kearney County, while Kearney is the seat of Buffalo County. Both the city of Kearney and Kearney County are named after Fort Kearny, despite the different spellings. Confused yet? If so, enjoy these photos. If not, enjoy these photos…

Kearney County courthouse in Minden, Nebraska
The white domes give this courthouse a unique look…
…but what I remember are the Christmas lights.
Cool old building across from courthouse
Minden had an opera house? …the Hell?
Minden’s “opera house”
Another funky/cool building across from the courthouse
Downtown Minden, Nebraska (15 March 2023)

The next day I went back and “finished” Pioneer Village, taking even fewer pictures than the previous day. In fact, the only pics I have for you are these three photos of their VideoDisc display:

Does anybody other than me remember these?
VideoDisc player with a disc inserted / sticking out
Example of a VideoDisc, standing on a stack of other VideoDiscs

After leaving Pioneer Village (again), I headed to my cousin’s house, to have a good home-cooked meal and to meet the world’s most ball-obsessed dog. Tune in again for my voyage into western Nebraska, which (believe it or not) is in the Mountain Time Zone.

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