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12.31.2007 - 32 comments 


Just wanted to wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR from my family and I!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~

"Here's to a GREAT 2008!" ~ jb///



12.17.2007 - 43 comments 

There is truly no place like HOME! And that statement is even truer at Christmastime for us and our family. As you can see from the pictures around our house, it is sure to be a White Christmas for us here in the Midwest. Even after this ex-California boy has lived here for several years, these winter seasons and the snow it brings are still very pretty to me. I know! I know!... all of you who are suffering the fun in the sun, are thinking, “this guy is a loon!” but I really do love the seasons and the snow that winter brings.

I even rebuilt my snow blower this summer, just to make sure, that I would be able to only keep the snow I WANTED! And by the way… for those of you with the sunburns at Christmas, I am specifically speaking of the snow on the driveway, the sidewalks and porches as the "unwanted" snow.

Mrs. LZ’s mother (also know as LZ's mother-in-law) is coming to spend the holidays with us. She lives in San Francisco and looks forward to our winter wonderland back here. Maybe I should let her try out my recently rebuilt snow blower, so that she can see just how pretty that snow can look as it flies out of that two-stage auger system as it is being hurled onto my neighbors lawn?

This time of year, I don’t really have a lot of time to post on my blog or to even get around to most of your blogs, but I did want to take a chance to wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too.

Luke 2 ~ The Birth of Jesus

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.


I hope that you have enjoyed the little adventures that I’ve shared this year on my little blog here this year. I plan on continuing it next year too. I truly feel blessed with the folks I have shared not only my life with here in the blogging world, but I also appreciate the many bloggers who have opened their lives up to me as well.

I will try and get by and wish you all personal holiday greetings before the end of the year, but just in case I don’t make it, please accept my personal wishes for you and yours at this happiest time of year. Each and every one of us has a lot to be thankful for and this is a time of year for family and friends to get together and share the JOY of the Season. See you all next year! And please don't forget to share the reason for the SEASON!

“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for he will save His people from their sins.”
~ Matthew 1:21



12.07.2007 - 19 comments 

For those of you who have driven the stretch of Interstate 80 from Cheyene, Wyoming through the state of Nebraska and on to Iowa know that there is nothing between Ogallala, NE and Lincoln, NE in the way of tourist stops. That was of course the case up until the year 2000. All of that changed then.

The Archway is a relative newcomer to Great Plains tourism, it was installed in grand style one night five years ago and opening in 2000. Using giant multi-wheeled transporters, the 1,500-ton, 309-foot structure was rolled across the highway in one piece on the night of Aug. 16, 1999. The interstate was closed for eight hours while the archway was locked onto its support platforms.

The exit access problem was a shock to investors, no doubt; the workaround is a winding service road from a public exit a few miles west. Teepees and wire buffalos decorate the roadside. "Oh Shenandoah" plays on loudspeakers in the parking lot. For us too this turned out to be quite an effort to just get to the Arch once we got off at the exit.

The structure -- a dream of Nebraska’s last living three-term governor, Frank B. Morrison Sr. -- was designed by a Walt Disney team from Orlando.

Under a giant log arch, the two story lobby escalator -- the longest in Nebraska -- spares modern pioneers a stair climb, and leads up into the Archway's multi-media experience. Statues of Lewis and Clark era guides stand along both sides, pointing the way up. The impressive entrance leads through a moving video display of the prairie.

As we went up these escalators, it was as if we were going not only back in time to the days of Lewis & Clark, but also as if we were going into the back a larger than life prairie skooner. The also had us put on a headset that seemed to be set to what ever the scene you were viewing at the time. If you got there in the middle of the segment, you had to wait for it to start over in order to catch it all.

Once up, in a big, cavernous space, we are transported back to the first white man exploration of Nebraska, as they traveled west the hell out of Nebraska. A periodic thunderstorm adds to realism. Off to one side, a large video of a field suddenly erupts with a buffalo stampede, a la Glen or Glenda. This was one of my personal favorites, but you really couldn't capture with a 35MM camera.

Another large diorama tells the story of the doomed Mormon Handcart Expedition, an obscure historical footnote receiving more play these days in the region as Mormon tourism has grown.

Yet another one showed a Pony Express Rider at a horse exchange outpost as he jumped from one horse to another. I especially liked this one because it was done so well with a huge projection screen behind what looked like a real log cabin. It really kind of gave you the feeling that you were there watching the real thing.

Another of my favorite stops on this tour was a log bridge, now an undeniable part of the interstate. It was lit up to look as if a real steam locomotive was passing over your head as you went under it. A really amazing feat of trying to create something that looked real, in a place you knew that it could not have been.

The whole idea behind the exhibit was that this was the evolution of the roadway west from the Missouri River and how it transitioned from the days of the native Americans, through the settlers, the Mormon Trail, to the Lincoln Highway the all the way to its present day use as Interstate 80. In fact one of the last part of the tour is to peek out a rather small one way window that is directly over the east-bound lanes of the Interstate. I thought that was kind of neat to look out of, but it sort of made Mrs. LZ a little nervous.

After the tour was over, it brings you back down to the area where there is what is known as the Platte River Trader Gift Shop, which they say is considered to be one of the best gift shops between Omaha & Denver.

The Platte River Trader offers you a wide variety of patriotic, western, and Archway merchandise to satisfy all your gift giving needs. They featured hand-made, home-made and home-grown products from native Nebraskans in the state’s Grow Nebraska collection, and have our holiday shop open all year. We also feature a wide variety of Native American made products brought to us by Stagecoach Jewelry & Gifts. They also had a place to eat that was called appropriately "The Chuckwagon Restaurant", where they said to come in for the special of the day. And that they were always serving buffalo burgers, hamburgers, hot dogs, soup and salad bar. To say nothing about having a variety of homemade pies and desserts.

The Miami Herald newspaper in Florida has recently named the Great Platte River Road Archway as one of 10 cool kids museums in the nation. Travel writer Michael Schuman and his family toured the country, noting museums that appealed to youngster's special interests.

Schuman describes the Archway as a "splashy, loud and brassy history museum that uses film, computer graphics, light and sound, life-size dioramas, re-enactors and classic cars to document 150 years of transportation and communication across America."

Another thing that the Archway touted was that fact that they were written up in a book called "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" and although I am not sure I would rate it quite that high on my personal list, I would say that I just thought it was kind of a cool place and in my opinion, not only worth the money, but also a nice rest stop in an other wise extremely long drive from Ogallala to Lincoln.

“Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.” ~ G.K. Chesterton