Swanson Reservoir SRA - Trenton 

 

This Reservoir is the largest of the four Southwest Reservoirs. It has a 4974 acre lake and 3957 acres of land to enjoy all your recreational activities. There are places for tents and RV's. Cindy does not want to camp so no luck staying in a tent (which we don't have anyway). We didn't see much of the area because its so big. 

We drove over the dam to get to the other side of the lake to see it from that side. According to the map there are quite a few trails for hiking and of course, fishing, boating, water sports, cookouts at the many picnic areas.  There were a large number of vehicles out on the sand including several campers.

Special Scoops Ice Cream Parlor - Hastings 

Opened in 2019, this is a feel good place that provides a great service for the special needs community to help them build confidence and a purpose in life.  They serve ice cream, shakes, malts and pastries.  Cindy was recently diagnosed as lactose intolerant so she asked if they had lactose free ice cream. To her surprise, they did have some in a different cooler so she got chocolate dairy free ice cream and I got my regular strawberry ice cream. After being served we sat down and a had nice conversation with one of the workers.

When we walked in, we were welcomed with big smiles and friendly hellos. They had a huge area to sit and enjoy the ice cream treats and they also have another area called the Mercantile room. 

Lots of goods for sale; tee shirts, sweatshirts, oven mitts, kitchen towels, homemade coasters and many more items for sale.

 

Mullen Art Center - Mullen 

Mullen is a town we've actually spent some time in many years ago.  A good friend was a pastor there about 25 years ago.  It's always encouraging to see small towns continuing to try new businesses.  The Art Center was a surprise but then we've been continually surprised at what we find all over the state while traveling around for the Passport.

The Mullen Arts Center was founded in 2014 with the aim of providing arts and culture to the Mullen community in the form of visual arts, music and theater. They are a member of the Association of Nebraska Art Clubs as well as the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway.

When we walked in the Arts Center, we were greeted with a friendly hello and beautiful art done by local artists.  We learned in addition to the gallery they hold workshops, special events and exhibitions.  Of course, we had to look at all the beautiful items.  So many choices and we especially liked pictures of the Sandhills.  

Cindy ended up buying a bottle of local honey and a coaster with a picture of Sandhills Cranes done by David Forsyth.  She plans on displaying it at home on our newly installed display shelves.

Anthem Coffee - Thedford 

Anthem Coffee is located in the beautiful Sandhills, located just outside Thedford. The business opened in October 2022 by owner Alicia Clark.  When we walked in, we were greeted with smiles and a friendly hello and of course, the wonderful smell of coffee. Alicia waited on us and gave Cindy advice on what food to eat since she is lactose intolerant.  Cindy ordered the food that the owner suggested and an iced Americano.  I had an excellent panini with lavender lemonade.  We arrived a little after 1:30 PM and were surprised at how busy they were.  That is until we started talking to Alicia and her staff.

They are so personable and interested in their customers well-being.  Several people came in while we were there and they were always greeted as friends.  They have a fairly standard coffee shop menu but everything they serve has a personal touch and is well-prepared.  I'm very certain this business will be around for many years.  Since it's on NE-2 I'm equally certain we'll be back since we travel that highway at least twice a year for either vacation or Passport. 

Seating is available inside and outside.  I waited for a gap in customers to take a photo of just how cozy the place is.  I can imagine folks coming to spend some quiet time here.

There are also a few things for sale including several flavors of coffee.  Cindy bought a sack of Americano and I refilled my lavender lemonade.  We left after a very pleasant visit with Anthem Coffee staff and guests.

 El Museo Latino - Omaha 

Unfortunately, we didn't get in a chance to enter the museum.  We were looking forward to being able to browse through this museum but the clock was not on our side.  We do plan on returning sometime in the future.  Having come from Schuyler, we've had many years of contact with Hispanics.  Helping them as customers when I worked at Country General, being helped by them when we were customers, as employers when we had two Hispanic girls working in our computer store or soybean walking crews before Roundup came along, and many other occasions.  We've been to family events with them and Spanish speaking church services (OK, that wasn't so great.  I didn't understand anything).  However, through all this we've never gained much in the way of understanding their culture.

From what we learned from these two girls, this museum is well on it's way to getting a huge upgrade.  The building is going through extensive remodeling with a lot of work yet to come.  I expect it will be really interesting by next year.

 Monolithic Brewing - Omaha 

This location looks like it should be a very popular place.  The staff we encountered were super friendly.

Interesting picture on the screen.  It actually was the Olympic symbol but when I happened to snap this photo, this is what the camera caught.  What I wanted to show was all the taps lined up.  Then have a LOT of beer flavors here.  Plus lots of inside and outside seats.

They also have food.  Just a small menu but the hamburgers are excellent.  I like most hamburgers but the one I had here is uniquely tasty.  I'll attribute it to their Monolithic Super Secret Sauce.  Smoked ground beef added to that, as well.

 Holdrege Sculpture Tour - Holdrege 

This is just a preliminary entry because we spent the entire time inside the museum instead of touring the sculptures.  My sister and her friend Sandy visited a few days before us and she told us so much about the museum that we didn't even read what the real Passport stop was about.  

But not to waste the entry, you must go inside this museum if you can make time for it.  It's probably the best tended and displayed early prairie life and times that I've ever found.  It's free to enter and they only ask for a donation if you can.  Anyone who grew up from the 1950's and on can relate to a lot of the items on display.  I'm going to display a few photos of particular interest and a collage of a bunch of others.

This is a Farmall F-20, top road speed was something like 6 miles an hour.  We had one of these on the farm and I did drive it some.  It won't mean much to many of you but the 20 in it's name meant it could pull a 2 bottom plow (slowly!).  It was started with a crank so Dad had to start it for me until I was in high school.

We also had a Farmall H.  This was also a 2 bottom plow tractor but could fly down the road at 16 miles an hour.  Ours had 2 wheels in front like most people are used to seeing.  This one had a 6 volt battery and an electric starter.  The engine horsepower of the H and F-20 were about the same but the H had about 50% more pulling power.

Next up is a dentist's office.  Boy, did I ever HATE to go in there.  It's not quite set up correctly in this picture.  That white bowl should be right next to the chair because you had to rinse your mouth out and spit in that.  No suction like today.  That long arm ran all the tools that were used to grind out your cavity.  It was powered by a long, round, rubber belt.  Our great uncle was our dentist but that didn't make it any better.

And finally, I spent many hours working with this.  Barbed wire.  Until I learned how to handle this, I was guaranteed to have leaked a little blood every time we went out to either build a new fence or take one down.  There were hundreds of different patents for barbed wire but the only one I've ever seen in use is approximately like the second one from the bottom.

The remainder of photos are of places or things I didn't really have much to do with, or maybe none.  I'm guessing my parents did and maybe some of you who look through this.