Road Trip 2 - To Omaha & Beyond

We planned to stop in North Platte,
Nebraska for a quick lunch and move on, but Ray discovered that the largest switching railroad yard in North America was in this little town, so we had to go see it. Our only wish was that Jacob and Charlie could have been there with us - there were hundreds of engines and thousands of train cars - and the cars are pushed up a small incline and let go, and they are routed and switched by a computer to join the right group of cars.

Arianne, Ray, Ethan and Megan at The Golden Spike Tower in North Platte - this five story tower gives a very nice view of the whole train yard

And several hours later . . . we finally get some lunch! A & W is the place!

When it rains in Nebraska - it really rains. As we were driving down the freeway, things started to get very dark and we were soon deluged with rain. So many cars had pulled over to the side of the freeway and so we did too, we waited for a while for the storm to pass over, then went on.

We stayed at the Marriott right next door to this Cabela's store in Omaha - and it is - well, huge! I believe it is the largest Cabela's store.

Arianne and Sandy - at the
tribute to the handcart Pioneers
at Winter Quarters, Nebraska

Learning more about the pioneers at Winter Quarters, Omaha, Nebraska

Our second day finally took us to Omaha, where we visited with Jan & Lucia N. It was so fun to see them and hear just a few of the great experiences they are having there in the mission. We know they are well loved, as the missionaries we met out at Winter Quarters spoke of their mission President and his wife and their family with love and gratitude.

The beautiful temple in Omaha, sits next to Winter Quarters and the cemetery where many Saints (mostly children) were buried as the waited out the winter and prepared to cross the plains in the spring.

Road Trip 1 - To Ft Collins & Beyond!

Friday, May 22 we headed out after Ray's work, picked Arianne up in Salt Lake City, then drove I-80 to Green River, Wyoming where we met up with Ethan & Megan and stopped for a picnic lunch.

This monument is a tribute to The Mormon Pioneers, who came this way 162 years ago. We have many pioneer ancestors and this trip gave me a greater appreciation for them, their faith, courage and obedience, than I have ever had before. I am so grateful for them and the difficult choices they made to follow a prophet, to stay faithful when the going was extremely rough, to be true to the covenants they had made. I hope I can emulate them in those ways and many others.

We drove on to Ft Collins, where Megan's brother Ryan, wife Sherri and their family kindly hosted us for the night.

Two of Our Three Graduates

"Education is a companion which no future can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate it and no nepotism can enslave."
~Ropo Oguntimehinv

Ethan, Megan and Tiffany all graduated from University with their Bachelor's degrees on May 2 . . . unfortunately, they were at opposite ends of the state and we couldn't make it to both campuses. We headed north to Utah State to celebrate with Ethan & Megan and plan to celebrate with Tiffany & Brett next year when Tiffany will receive her Master's Degree and Brett will be getting his Bachelor's.

Megan's father is a professor and was able to award their degrees to both of them.


Here is Ethan with the group of Physics grads. He called these girls the "fabulous five." They have done some pretty impressive work and research ~ and "will be going places."







We were fortunate to be able to meet a couple of Ethan's favorite professors and they had some very kind words for Ethan as well.