In my last blog I recounted the first day of our two-day trip at the end of September through our great state via the Nebraska Passport. The second day was equally enjoyable as we headed east to make our way back home.
We began day two by traveling to Holdrege to check out Gifts & Things. This store had everything from wedding and baby gifts to holiday decor and kitchen gadgets. They had a unique wine rack that I was interested in but really don’t have a good spot for it in my house right now - maybe someday I will. I did purchase some fun fall cocktail napkins that I planned to use as a Christmas gift.
Next we went to Grand Island to the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer for a long overdue tour. We had driven by this historical attraction so many times but have never taken the opportunity to visit. We toured the main building that was filled with many interesting artifacts and stories about life in Hall County. We then drove through the grounds where they have several other displays such as Railroad Town. We hope to make a return trip when I can do more walking.
It was then time for lunch and we could check off another Passport stop at Tommy Gunz Bistro. We shared a pizza and salad in the prohibition-themed restaurant which was very busy that day - most likely because it was the last day for the Passport.
Continuing east on Highway 30 we traveled to Aurora to Cottonwood Gallery and Arts where we viewed the works of several artists in a variety of mediums - jewelry, macrame, painting, and linocut prints, just to name a few. Each piece was labeled with interesting information about the artist and many pieces were for sale.
Our next stop was in Stromsburg at The Rose Colored Glass - a stop on the Nebraska Wine Passport. We enjoyed a glass of wine and then spent time in two adjoining shops - a gift shop and a women’s clothing boutique. Several shopping bags were loaded in the car after that stop! At the gift shop we found a stuffed animal that looked just like Sara and Anson’s dog Norman. It was so fun to watch Ruby open this gift at Christmas because she immediately knew that it looked like her real puppy.
Our final stop of the day was at Bottle Rocket Brewing in Seward which is housed in an old seed processing mill. They have both an indoor and outdoor event space and you can also tour the building to see how the mill operated once upon a time. Since we had already enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine that day we decided to try their homemade root beer which just hit the spot in the late afternoon.
One of the best things about our treks through Nebraska - besides seeing all of the sights on the Passport that we never knew existed in our state - is simply enjoying the countryside as we travel. We aim to stay off of the interstate if at all possible and stick to state or county roads. The one thing I noticed during this trip was all of the cornfields. I wrote this in my notes - Corn corn corn for as far as we could see! We were only able to collect 15 stamps on the Passport in 2021 so we were excited to see what is in store for 2022. This year’s stops include a couple of quilt shops!! We already have our Passport ordered from nebraskapassport.com. Have you ordered yours?
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