Monthly Archives: September 2018

Spoon and knife

We found a place for lunch by using that time-tested technique of looking to see what cafe had the highest number of pickups parked in front of it.

I ordered a burger, and the waitress said, “Now, it comes with pickles unless you don’t want pickles. Then we’ll leave them off.” I agreed to pickles, but didn’t realize until lunch arrived that she meant it came with ONLY pickles: a minimalist burger. We were on the end of the lunch rush – by the time the 1:00 siren sounded* everyone but us had left to head back to work.

Here’s a couple of other images from the place, which I shot with my phone:

Exeter, Nebraska
photographed 8.29.2018

*No kidding. There really was a 1:00 siren, which of course inferred that there was noon siren as well.

Seven Tanks

The only plans we had for the entire day were to, at some point, eat with friends in Lincoln, and then make it to our hotel in Omaha. That was a good plan, because it gave us the couple of hours that we took to explore the World War II-era Naval ammunition depot on the outskirts of Hastings, Nebraska.

I am fairly certain these tanks are newer than the WWII stuff that’s still around. Behind them, in an area where we couldn’t access, is something called the Rocket Motor Loading Plant, which makes me pretty sure we didn’t get to see the really cool things that are there. But the map of the driving tour said it was “absolutely imperative” to stay on the marked roads* and that trespassing could “result in substantial fines or even arrest.” I may be a rebel sometimes, but I didn’t feel too much like risking arrest…or even substantial fines.

Hastings, Nebraska
photographed 8.29.2018

*The so-called marked path was actually almost impossible to locate at first. It ended up being the road where I said – with just tons and tons of confidence! – that there was “absolutely no way” it was that road. Ha! Ha! I am a lot of fun to travel with!

Various Modes

People going about their State Fair day: walking, tramming, scootering.

Nebraska State Fair
Grand Island, Nebraska
photographed 8.28.2018

The more you know

Two things I did at the Nebraska State Fair:

  1. I looked at this cutaway model of a cow.
  2. I ate a hamburger for lunch*.

It was a complicated situation.

Nebraska State Fair
Grand Island, Nebraska
photographed 8.28.2018

*Where I spotted this, which is by far the very best thing I saw in the entire state of Nebraska:

(Note: feel free to use the term “fry hole” as a work- and family-friendly term in place of, well, you can figure it out….)

Two cows

These two were waiting for whatever it is cows wait for when they’re at the state fair. Maybe they were waiting for visiting Texans to show up with a camera?

Nebraska State Fair
Grand Island, Nebraska
photographed 8.28.2018