Warm Thoughts on a Cold Day

It snowed on Sunday, enough to make the schools start 2 hours late. Due to more snow expected tonight thru Wednesday, school has been cancelled tomorrow (and probably on Wednesday, too). The boys and I will probably finish up our indoor Christmas decorating, maybe try making some cinnamon/applesauce ornaments, and thinking warm thoughts.

In the spirit of thinking about warmer things, I'll finally share with you some pictures I took while we were in Chadron and Crawford in August. I didn't realize that I took very few photos in Chadron. Most are from Fort Robinson (an excellent place to visit, by the way)!

This is probably the one picture I took in/around Chadron. It's on Hwy 20 about a mile west of Chadron.

Fort Robinson, Crawford, Nebraska

We rarely go to the panhandle without at least driving through the Fort. This is the place where my grandparents started their life together.

This was taken by the Lodge, looking toward the museum through some flowers. My great-aunt, Jessie (Mercer), donated her WAC uniform that is on display here. My grandpa's older brother, Ralph was stationed here with the army after WWII. He met Jessie, they fell in love, and were married here at the Fort. A former German POW (German soldier) even made their wedding cake!

This is where my mom spent most of her childhood. When my grandparents got married, grandpa was working for the Meat Animal Research Center, which was based at Fort Robinson. When my mom was born, they were living in what is now "Adobe 9A". Every time we go up there, we are able to go through the cabin, as long as nobody is staying in it at the time. I love watching my mom walk through, especially when she's telling us where things were and what was in each room.

What an amazing view they had!

Smiley Canyon - Fort Robinson, NE

These two pics don't even begin to show the beauty of Smiley Canyon. It really is a canyon, although it doesn't look like it from these! If you drive through first thing in the morning, you can usually see the buffalo roaming. We went through in the middle of the afternoon, so we didn't get to see any wildlife.

Toadstool Park - about 20 miles north of Crawford