The next stop on our trip was Fort Kearney. We arrived here shortly before noon and the girls were glad to get out again and stretch their legs. Zellie was excited to play in the grass.
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We found our path and headed out toward the crane viewing bridge. Along the way, we saw a number of mulberry trees, many with ripe berries. The girls had never had the privilege of tasting mulberries, despite the fact that we have a tree in our backyard, so Papa picked a few for them. They were perfectly ripe and delicious.
Along the way we got another surprise. Papa spotted something in a marsh to the side of the path. Can you see it?
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| It was difficult to get a good picture, but if you look about 4 feet to the right of where the tree splits to a Y, you should be able to see her. She just stood there for a couple minutes so that all the girls got to see her. |
After our encounter with the deer, we arrived at our post.
We reached the bridge and headed out to look at the Platte River.
The Platte River flows very shallow most of the time. In fact, the old saying about it goes, "The Platte is a mile wide and a foot deep." Maybe that is why pioneers on the Oregon trail followed it for so long. However, we were coming this way after some heavy rains and so the Platte was running pretty strong.
The girls looked out at the river from one of the lookout perches. If you are here in the spring or fall when the cranes come through, you will be able to see thousands of birds landing here. Unfortunately, we weren't here for that, but it was still a great view.
Even Zellie enjoyed the view.
The girls wanted to play "Pooh Sticks", a game they learned from reading Winnie the Pooh, but we didn't have any sticks to drop. The game consists of dropping a stick on one side of a bridge, then hurrying to the other side to watch it come out.
When we got back to the car, we grabbed our picnic lunch, courtesy of Mama and headed for a shelter where we could eat.
After lunch, we walked over to the swimming beach and the girls had a great time splashing in the water and playing in the sand.
Even Zellie enjoyed the water, with a little help from Papa.
Perhaps their favorite part of this beach was finding clam shells. While none were very big and we didn't find a live one, the girls thought this was pretty neat.
