help!

Finally - our homeschool adventure will continue.

This summer we are taking a road trip to California. Even though we will be driving through a lot of cornfields and deserts - I can't wait to get started. We've got some cool stuff on the pit stop list: Antelope Canyon, Henry Doorly Zoo, Hoover Dam and the Pacific Ocean. At the same time there will be hours upon hours when the only thing we see are soybeans, prairie dogs (lying prone on the asphalt), and the occasional Kum & Go.

We have scoured Roadside America for kitchy little places to stop (if you haven't checked it out - do), but the fact remains that no matter how hard we search - Nebraska sort of blows.

Aside from the Henry Doorly Zoo - which sounds amazing . . .here is a sample of our choices along I-80:

Monument of Where Brothers Were Pinned Together By An Arrow
The Martin brothers, Nat age 15 and Bob age 12, were returning home with a load of hay when they were attacked by a party of Sioux and Cheyenne in August 1864. The boys jumped onto a horse and fled, with Nat holding onto Bob. The Indians followed and shot Nat twice with arrows, once in his elbow and once in his side. The second arrow had enough velocity to continue through Nat and lodge in Bob's back. The boys, pinned together, tumbled off of the horse and were left for dead.
They did not die. Nat and Bob eventually, and no doubt awkwardly, made their way to a doctor and were unpinned. Bob survived into middle age -- although he always had a bad back -- and Nat died as an old man.

Grotto Next to a Mental Hospital
The grotto is still there. It is really neat to see. You can go inside, as I was told it is open to the public. However, was told there is no longer electricity inside, therefore you may want to bring a flashlight with you even during the day. 24/7 although kinda creepy at night.

World's Largest Ball of Stamps:
The ball is a relic from a time when people had more hobbies and less entertainment. And people mailed things to each other affixed with postal stamps. The sphere is 32 inches in diameter, weighs 600 pounds, and contains a reported 4,655,000 canceled stamps. It was stuck together, layer upon layer, by the Boys Town Stamp Collecting Club starting in 1953.

U.S. Meat Animal Research Center
If two-headed pigs and 6-legged steers fascinate you, consider an educational visit to the US Meat Animal Research Center. They probably don't have those oddities, but you can get an inside peek at the complicated world of keeping America fed with meat. Tasty, healthy meat.
There are thousands of cows, sheep, and pigs at this government facility, where scientists fret about... Spoilage bacteria! Foodborne illness! Contamination! Carcasses and pathogens! More efficient breeding!

Needless to say - none of these are the rockin' start to a memorable family vacation that I had hoped. Anyone who knows us can just imagine me taking Punk the meat museum, or showing Kooka the restraints at the mental hospital . . . seriously, don't they have waterparks in Nebraska?

If anybody out there cares to pitch ideas that don't involve a Bob's Big Boy statue, or 1940's shock treatments - we would really appreciate it,