When I
first descended from the interstate into the heart of downtown, I have to admit
I was thrilled to be back in a city. It was Saturday night, and there were
throngs of young people walking about, laughing and filled with that weekend
glow. As tired as I was from another day of travel, it was exciting to be in a
thriving college town. While I was looking forward to relaxing for the first
time in a week, I also felt rejuvenated by my surroundings. The first concrete
thing that I noticed about Lincoln, Nebraska was that they used a very logical
system to name streets. Streets that ran north to south were named numerically,
from west to east. For example, if you encountered 4th street, you would know
that you were in the western most part of the city, whereas 84th street
signified that you are located in the east. Logically, the streets traveling
west to east were named with a letter of the alphabet that began in the South
and ascended to the North. Therefore, if you were at A Street, you were at the
southern-most tip of what could honestly be called “downtown,” and if you were
at Y Street, you were in the Northern part of the city around the college
campus. It was very easy to decipher, and I was thrilled at the simplicity of
it. Washington D.C. follows a similar pattern, and it is because it was
planned. Cities that expanded rapidly around ports, like Boston, did not
benefit from this glorious foresight.
I located my hotel without difficulty. It was
in the southeastern part of the city in a residential area, away from most of
the hubbub. As usual, I decided on a Candlewood Suites, mostly because I wanted
to cook myself a few nice meals over the weekend, and they always include a
full kitchen complete with stovetop and dishwasher. I checked in, loaded a
luggage cart to capacity with my belongings, and transported it to my temporary
home. Once everything was organized in its usual place, the toiletries in the
bathroom, my clothes by the bed, and the cooler emptied into the fridge and
stored in the closet, I could finally unwind. I switched on the TV and sunk
into the pillow top mattress, welcoming sweet oblivion.
Sunday was
filled with glorious nothing. I relaxed in the hotel room, watched the Great
Gatsby, and cooked some delicious tacos. I explored the area a little in search
of coffee and groceries, but mostly I reveled in the solace of a hotel during
the day; until check-in time, even a library isn’t as quiet. A month on the
road is very taxing, and it is incredible how travel makes you hurt like never
before. Even the little muscles next to my tibia ached! Being able to enjoy one
day a week when I was neither walking around Capitols and museums nor confined
for hours in a car was a blessing I had grown to appreciate without regret.
Combined with the fact that most of the country does not operate to its fullest
extent on Sundays, this meant that it was, thankfully, my day of rest. Don’t
get me wrong, a good portion of the day was spent writing blog posts and
working on college applications, but I was happy just to spend the day in my
pajamas.
The next
day, I awoke around the usual time, and headed into the city. First, I went to
the Nebraska State Museum on the University of Nebraska campus. I realized
shortly after paying admission that I had mistakenly gone to a museum of
natural history rather than a museum of social history. There were no dates and
important political figures, but rather a bunch of mammoth and elephant
skeletons. To be honest, I was delighted in the change of pace, and I seized
the opportunity with gusto. I walked around for quite a while looking at all of
the displays, examining artifacts and taking in all sorts of information.
On
the second floor there was a magnificent exhibit of all kinds of quartz found
throughout Nebraska. In all shapes, colors, and sizes, quartz is a very
beautiful substance. Some of the samples even glowed in dark! I loved it, to
say the least.
Although my visit was pleasant, I had to see the Capitol that
same day, so I left the building behind in search of that temple of state. I heard
at several of my other stops so far that Nebraska’s capitol was particularly
beautiful. Knowing that it was one of the skyscraper Capitols, I have to admit
that I was somewhat skeptical.
When I
arrived at the Capitol, my first impression was that it was grand. Unlike the
North Dakota Capitol, this skyscraper seemed to hold a little more promise. The
base was sprawled around the tower, encompassing it’s own block in the southern
edge of downtown. I snapped a few pictures of the outside before heading inside
through the doors on the ground floor, assuming that the main doors would be
locked. My first impression was that I had transported to a dungeon in medieval
times. The ceiling was low, and the hallway was dimly lit. There was an information
desk in the center of the ground floor, but no one was behind it. I found the
stairs and began to climb. When I reached the second floor, the first thing I
noticed were two large doors colored in vivid designs. I rounded the corner,
and gasped as the ceiling soared above me. A large chandelier dominated the
space, but the mosaic floor designs and glorious paintings were beyond words.
The tour started in the Great Hall,
where several different murals depicted scenes in Nebraska history. One of the
murals in the Great Hall depicted the Blizzard of 1888, one of the most severe
snowstorms to ever hit Nebraska. It came on so suddenly that many people lost
their lives. In fourteen hours, the temperature plummeted from 30 degrees in
the morning to 14 below later that night. In an act of heroism, 19-year-old
schoolteacher Minnie Freeman tied her students together and led them to safety
at a nearby farmhouse through the howling wind and blinding whiteouts after the
roof was torn off of their schoolhouse. Unfortunately, many others were not so
lucky.
We moved on
to the only legislative chamber currently in use; Nebraska is the only state
with a unicameral legislature. The second chamber is behind the vividly colored
doors I spotted on my way up from the ground level. Senators run on a ballot
devoid of political affiliations, and therefore must win on their own merit. As
with many states, Nebraska’s legislature does not run all year, and the legislature
was out of session when I visited. Our next stop was the Supreme Court room, where
the seven Nebraska Supreme Court justices meet once a month to hear oral
arguments. The room has perfect acoustics and a beautiful American Walnut wood
ceiling.
After we saw the Supreme Court
Chamber, the tour was over, but afterwards our guide recommended that we go up
to the observation deck to see the view of the city. High above, the tiny
elevator opened up to a small room that had two doors to the outside, and one
of them was propped open. I ventured out the open door to a very narrow space
on the outside of the building. Protected by a metal mesh supported by columns
of stone that went high above my head, I was able to gaze out across the
expanse of Lincoln and beyond. The view was spectacular, and although I felt
the same flip in my stomach as it did every time I was confronted with a
massive expanse, I realized that this time I wasn’t afraid; I actually enjoyed
it. For the first time that I could remember, I enjoyed the uneasy feeling of
being so high up. It was liberating.
After observing Lincoln in every
direction, I returned to the elevator, which I took to the second floor.
Stepping off, I was able to see the beautiful floor mosaic from above, giving a
better view of the piece as a whole. As I journeyed around the second floor
balcony, I encountered the law library, which serves as a reference for members
of congress or the general public. Although it was not decorated to the same
extent as the rest of the building, it was open, well lit, and pleasant. I
returned to the main floor, basked for the last time in all of the elaborate
designs surrounding me, and departed.
The next day I had to pack up my
belongings and checked out of the hotel, but I still had to visit the Museum of
Nebraska History. I ventured downtown, and after a few minutes, I finally found
parking close to my destination. I explored the museum for about two hours. The
cowboy exhibit was the one that set this museum apart from the other ones that
I have visited. I have ridden horses since I was about five years old, and
although I have never been a rancher or a cowgirl, I have a deep appreciation
for all things equine. Western saddles used by cowboys are typically heavy,
handmade, and durable. They are made of leather, and the craftsman usually
carves designs into the leather to make it as beautiful as it is useful. After
World War II, a leather shortage prompted a need for other materials to make
saddles. William B. Vandegrift, a businessman from Alliance, Nebraska, began to
experiment with the idea of making plastic saddles and founded the All Western
Plastic Company in Lusk, Wyoming. Since the saddles became brittle and cold in
the weather, ranchers and cowboys never really warmed up to the idea of saddles
made of plastic. After a tornado destroyed their new factory in Scottsbluff,
Nebraska, the All Western Plastic Company closed down. They only made 60
saddles during the short time that they were in business, and this museum has
one of them on display.
The rest of the museum focused on
the formation of Nebraska, the Civil War, and other things of a similar nature.
Nebraska was one of the states bloodied by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, a bill
passed by Congress that enabled the residents of the territories of Kansas and
Nebraska to decide the legality of slavery by popular sovereignty. This
legislation led to a massive migration into the region by advocates of either
side. Those individuals tried to tip the scales in either direction through
violence, intimidation, and sheer numbers. Although “Bleeding Kansas” was the
more famous of the two, Nebraska saw plenty of the conflict as well. In 1864,
Lincoln allowed the territory to write a constitution and organize a state
government. Three years later, the state of Nebraska was born.
I left
the museum with a satisfied feeling of accomplishment. I felt like I got to
know Lincoln as the charming college town that it was, and the Capitol building
was among my favorites. During my visit, I learned that Nebraska is the only
state with a unicameral legislature, and candidates must run on a non-partisan
ballot. The natural history museum I visited was an interesting stop, and the
Museum of Nebraska History was very informative. Many state museums have a
heavy emphasis on the Civil War, and Nebraska’s had a particularly thorough
exhibit due to its formation as a territory with the passing of the
Kansas-Nebraska Act, which was one of the key pieces of legislation that led to
the Civil War. Most of the individuals that I met were friendly and helpful,
and the stories that I heard about Nebraskans of the past demonstrated that
they possessed the hardiness to thrive on the plains. I thoroughly enjoyed my
visit to Lincoln, and I as the sun lowered in the sky, I headed towards Kansas.
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