Beauty is on the inside. You can't always tell a book by it's cover. In Beatrice NE

Country Cookin' Restaurant in Beatrice, NE

We live near Chicago; Hubsy's hometown is Manhattan, KS. Beatrice, NE is a good-sized agi-business town along the way.
Usually, we are getting hungry when we pass through, and frustrated, stop at a franchise place before nagging hunger causes an argument.

This time, we asked a few questions at the local donut shop and were advised about is place. It's well hidden, off the main roads, in a residential neighborhood. And really unattractive from the outside, I have to say. If not recommended, we never would have stopped.

It was mid-morning, so not crowded-too late for breakfast, to early for lunch. Wonderful breakfast food! There usual table of solid, mid-west businessmen and farmers, drinking coffee and keeping up on local events.

This year, it seems, all the small town waitresses was pink hair and a number of individualized tats and possibly body piercings. 

Favorite Photo from the Weekend....

Going to put it on Weekend Reflections!

Random Photos from The Reunion Weekend...

 Council Bluffs, IA downtown, early Friday morning; they have cute squirrel statues in the park..

 ...and bright blue park benches...

 ...above and below, examples of the inspirations for the statuary....it's hot already so the brown squirrel is flattened against the tree trunk to stay cooler...

 ...butterflies on cone flowers in Omaha, before we went to the IMAX...

 ...painted-lady building in Beatrice, NE.  The downtown appeared more prosperous than I expected, I'm happy to say...

 ...a recent renovation in Beatrice, now looking for a purpose.... sign on one empty storefront said "I'm not empty, I'm full of possibilities"....

 ..."soul swiping", again; couldn't resist the unfortunate looking pair, along with tiny child and another on the way. Sometimes I just can't stop myself from grabbing a shot of human situational dramas in public. Manhattan, KS main business street.  Otherwise, Manhattan is Booming, by all appearances, with the usual economic anchors including K-State, nearby Fort Riley. Good Grief, "Plum Island" is moving here!! (Usually I'm not inclined to be a NIMBY, but I'd have to think about this one......)

 ...seldom or never do we see toads in our area, since the winters are so cold...here's a big fat one in KS.

...the restored livery stable at Old Abilene Town..... That's about it. What will we do next?

Driven West on I-80 Past Omaha....?

 ...you've seen these two giant rail engines perched upon a bluff above the highway on your right...good ol' Big Boy and, of course, UP #6900 (known lovingly as "UP #6900"), the largest steam and diesel engines ever...,

 ...well! good news: you can go visit the restored engines for yourself in Kenefick Park, near the Omaha Botanic Garden...

 ...the little boy in the green shirt was just SO into it: he ran ahead of his parents, charging over to each engine, then running back and forth with timeless "little boy train love"....it was cute..

 dad tried to get a shot of him in front of the engine; the kid was too excited to settle down for the picture...

...my little boy was happy to stand proudly in front of his "engine of choice", the Big Boy. Don't worry, this was not the last train adventure we enjoyed on the trip.

Grand Island, NE sunset....

...we found a pretty great place to pitch the tent for a night while travelling through Nebraska.
Grand Island has a little county park which was once a festival place for the German settlers back in the day; we have camped there several times, especially since non-electric sites were very reasonable. The park borders the town's "settler's" museum area, which is large; it contains old cabins, homes, a church and old fashioned stores and barns. We've never had time to go to the museum, but did capture this subset one lovely evening before turning in to our tent.