THE BIRTHPLACE OF ARBOR DAY-WHO KNEW??

Oct 12th
We drove all day-ending up in Nebraska City,Nebraska. This was another un-planned stop. We found a pretty little park-Victorian Acres RV Park. It looked relaxing-clean-and was just the place to stop for the evening. After checking in-we recieved info on the town-and came to find out that the city was the birthplace of the first Arbor day. It was again pouring rain-so we relaxed for the evening-and planned what to do the next day-I was very excited because it could include lots of fall folliage and PUMPKINS! Mike made a call to Seth-Coles brother who lives with his family in Clarinda,Iowa-just 60 miles or so away from where we were.We were hoping to meet up with them sometime the next day-hey we were in Iowa-and so close. well, it turned out that Seth and jen were having a wedding anniversary that day-so the phone call had to do. Seth did tell Mike about the Arbor Lodge-and what a great place it was to eat-so we made a reservation for lunch the next day. We want to that-you Seth- we had the best lunch-a table with a view of the Morton mansion-and if it had not been raining-again-we would have spent the day in the orchards and grounds of the park. Arbor day was started in honor of J.Sterling Morton. he and his wife were responsible for the planting of many new tree specimens and shrubs in the area-their influence is found everywhere in the town. The mansion as it stands today was donated by the Mortons' son-Joy in 1923. The State now takes care of the mansion and property-and it is a beautifully maintained state park. I hope we will someday return to tour the grounds on a rain-less fall day. I was sorry not to be able to walk the trails with Lilacs and climb the 50ft treehouse! We spent two days in Nebraska City and enjoyed everything it had to offer-