Nebraska City Nutshell

There is a lot of content from Nebraska City. So without writing for the rest of the day I’ll try to give a summary. And this is stuff from over a month ago already.

Wednesday
El Portal Mexican Restaurant – I joined Jeanna and Dean on Wednesday for their weekly margarita and conversation. It’s an awesome tradition they have, more people should do this, especially across generations. It’s a very admirable friendship and one of the strongest friendships I’ve seen on the trip.

Library – Jeanna and I headed to the old library building where we looked at the architecture and their latest community art gallery. This time the gallery featured drawings from a prison inmate. They consisted of tigers, elephants, eagles, and were beautifully detailed.

Farmers Bank – This is probably the most beautiful building in town, it’s like a castle. I wish I could rent some space upstairs to make a little apartment for myself.

Book Clinic – The name of the bookshop is because it used to be a doctor’s clinic. Locally owned, it has a good variety of books you may not find elsewhere.

Chatted with guests – I chatted with some of the other guests at the bed and breakfast, she was a big hockey fan! It made my day and they had a big interest in going to the Upper Peninsula some day as well as making the circle tour around Lake superior.

Lasagna and ice cream – One of my favorite meals, period.

Arbor lodge state historical park – A quick drive through to see the old mansion and the grounds as they were covered in the snow.

Thursday
Leadership group – Jeanna invites me along to join Leadership Nebraska City for the day where I meet up with several other adults learning about their jobs in the community and seeing how the city government works. We started out at the bed and breakfast chatting, of course they all know each other and I was the stranger.
Orange pecan-crusted French toast for breakfast, delicious!

County Attorney – I learn all the sides of what it is like to be a county attorney in a small town. In a small town a person wears many hats, he’s even the local coroner.

Jean Thayer – Courthouse history 101 and a tour through all the records on file, the old jail, and the offices. Jean knows more history than anyone in town.

Emergency Response – The most fascinating presentation was about emergence response and seeing all the things in place in case a tornado happens and many other things. It’s great to see that a town is so prepare, when you live in a town you simply don’t know what’s going on to help you and all the citizens out.

County sheriff – Rice goes to jail! I never want to go to jail, and touring a jail will keep me on my best behavior.

City council – I meet the mayor and the council members (including Dean) and see what it takes to make a policy go into affect and the dozens and dozens of committees and boards that exist even in such a small town.

Firemen – Tour the fire department, learn about the history, learn about response and how to cut back time, safety measures that are taken, and maybe I was even inspired to consider it one day.

EMT guy – I missed most of this while I was touring the fire department.

City sheriff – Here’s a tip, to anyone speaking in public, no matter who the audience is, be very cautious with that you say, don’t panic, and relax.

Mental health specialist – This was interesting.

MO river – Hey look, it’s Iowa!

Dinner at embers – Not the best steak on the trip, but hey that’s how it goes, sometimes you get a good one sometimes you don’t. However, the garlic mashed potatoes were fantastic!

Hot tub – To wind down after a very busy day I was the first one to soak in the new hot tub at the bed and breakfast. It was a cold night, but I hardly noticed it as I sank in deep with water up to my neck and had some of the best relaxation of the trip.

Friday
Canadien Eggs Benedict – I’m not sure what goes into this delicious meal, but it’s fantastic! Thanks Jeanna!

Louis and clark – There are several Lous and Clark museums and information centers across the country, I stopped at a few and this one was probably the best.

The Avenue – Good restaurant in downtown Nebraska City, check it out. I had a delicious panini, something I was craving and it was the first time I ever tried sweet potato French fries, also delicious!

Building demolition – Sweet! I got to watch a small two-story building be town down. It’s amazing how much dust can be kicked up from such a small building. This was cool!

Cookie shop – Jeanna’s friend has an awesome little cookie shop along with fudge and cake. Hmmm my favorite was the mint and dark chocolate.

Arbor Day Tree Adventure – A free tree to plant, a lesson in nature, and a lovely walk through the snow in the middle of the winter. The highlight was the introductory film, a collage of hundreds of movie clips that contain characters of tree, such as in Forrest Gump and Shawshank Redemption.

Coffee shop – This is simply the previous blog post, so click back one entry!

In a nutshell this was my experience in Nebraska City. A very busy stop full of great people and great lessons. Yeehaw!