tree hugging goodness

Whoever would have thought that I could sincerely love a place in the middle of nowhere Nebraska?

Let me start off by explaining a bit about our journey here.  See we knew that we were going to the home of Arbor Day, but even as we left Kansas behind and delved further and further into Nebraska, we certainly weren't seeing an amount of trees significant enough to be celebrated nationally.  Then, as we saw the sign signaling that we had reached our destination it happened: we were suddenly on the East Coast.  Well not really, but the alley of trees surrounding the houses and golf courses we passed on the way to our lodge (yes, our hotel is technically a lodge) was certainly reminiscent of home.

Which is exactly what it is supposed to be: J. Sterling Morton who founded Arbor Day was from New York State.  When he came out here to Nebraska with his new seventeen year-old bride back in the late 1800s, he wanted to create a place that had all of the comforts of home.  He built the Arbor Lodge (which is right across the street from our hotel) and on the first arbor day planted more than a million trees in the state of Nebraska.  The barn where he and his wife to used to keep their animals is still intact today, and the inside has been renovated and made into a place where people have wedding receptions and other such fancy events.

See the cool facts you learn when your contact is the mayor of the town?

There are actually seven or eight museums in this little town of just over 7,000.  One of them is a Civil War museum, in a G.A.R. building (which stands for Grand Army of the Republic- though I am not entirely sure what that is...yet) and also the oldest former residence in the state of Nebraska, which was part of the underground railroad.  The town itself sits right on the Missouri river, and the other bank of the river is Iowa.  Hanging out with JoDee tonight has made me even more anxious to go on the Tree House Adventure at Arbor Day Farm, and to explore the town itself and all of the beautiful orchards surrounding it.

Tomorrow morning we are doing a radio show at 8:45 in the morning and then JoDee is taking us out to breakfast at the little dive café on the corner where all the old men in town go and gripe about its goings on.  Of course, they all keep her mouth shut when they see her come around.