Surprises in Nebraska- Day 3 Part 1

Our day started off full of good intentions. We began by fasting for my mother who was going in for heart surgery the next day. Our KOA had shared showers (instead of having a set in the bathrooms there were individual doors). As always, Dave and I were up early, but so was the whole camp. I finished getting ready and rushed to get the kids. Through our cabin window we watched for the family shower to get free and then literally ran over loaded with our arms full of clothes and the bulging bathroom bag (Dave had a hand held bag, the girls and I shared a tote:)

Dressed and ready, we set off to find the branch building for church. As I grew up in Utah, I am familiar with the grid system for addresses. It works on a whole, but having no mountains to reference to my NSEW directions got mixed up. Needless to say, we couldn't find the chapel, but did find a traveling petting zoo, yep--Buffalo, Camel, Zebra and Llama.

	

All dressed up, the girls had a blast. With the owner present, they petted the buffalo. The camel was eager to make friends and ate grass out of their hands. The other two were skittish. I suppose in a way we were communing with God's creatures. Dave and I had a great chat with the wife, all about raising these exotic animals.

Once we tore the kids away we scooted across Nebraska. Going along with Dave's plan, we stopped off at Lincoln to see the capital building. What a neat city. There are overpasses in the city that cross over multiple train tracks. The Midwest is great for imagining a pioneer life--simple and rewarding.

The relief carvings at the capital building depicted a pioneer life. To me the tall tower is like a stalk of corn. We also saw the governor's mansion and a quint church. As we traveled around it was neat to see other churches dot the streets rather than our own. When we did spot a LDS church it was obvious with the typical design and lack of a cross. Leaving Utah and seeing other places was a great opportunity to answer questions and build a strong family.