To Scottsbluff, Nebraska and back to Denver
In talking to people we met on our travels to this point, whenever we said we were travelling back through Nebraska we were faced with either a spoken or unspoken – why? It appears that for your average American Nebraska is just not one of those places you would ever choose to go to – the only town most people outside America would know is Omaha, the state capital at the Eastern edge of the state and that I suspect only because Warren Buffett, financial genius, lives there. However, agriculture is clearly a huge part of Nebraska’s economy, with vast circular fields irrigated by a centrally driven watering system.
The Southern end of South Dakota and western end of Nebraska are mostly flat, very flat. On the way at Hot Springs (and guess what founded that town) is a Mammoth site, where what turns out to be a death pit for mammoths is being excavated – the bones being largely left in situ as an exhibit.
Nebraska does have a few tall rock structures, notable among which is Scottsbluff, another National Monument and another important waypoint on the North Platte River for the emigrants along the California, Oregon & Mormon Trails. The imposing height of what looks like an impassable ridge must have been daunting to the migrants – but they found their way through and round.
It was in Scottsbluff that we saw too the ravages of the recession – clear signs of deprivation and downturn – in the almost empty (of shops) strip and larger malls and in the weeds growing through the driveways and car parks as a result of foreclosure or abandonment.
We then made our way back to Denver through the vast agricultural plains of Nebraska and into Colorado. Downtown Denver is worth a stop – tours of the US Mint if you get there early enough in the day and the Art Museum is well laid out and has lots of imaginative interactive stuff to entice in the culturally declined (like your author!).
Lots of photos from the complete trip
No comments:
Post a Comment