What did you do in Niobrara??

Seems to be the popular question as many can’t fathom what we did all weekend in small town Nebraska. Believe it or not we were quite busy and had a great time! Saturday we tried to hit up the local farmers market with high hopes of amazing choices since many farms in the area. No dice – guess they must take their goods to larger cities. We did drive about 10 minutes to nearby Verdigre.


A super cute small town with a bit more character than Niobrara as it didn’t suffer the flooding and three moves that Niobrara had to endure. Mainly we went to Verdigree for this bakery.

The Verdigre Bakery – amazing pastries, kolaches, and bread. They actually come to the Omaha Farmer’s Market every week. Then we headed out to my parents land to explore and have a fun picnic

With the cows

We climbed over/under a few fences

And jumped on the hay bales. This was a must for me as I remember how much fun we had as kids – oddly enough they seemed much smaller now…




The highlight of Saturday may have been the four wheeler!

As you can tell Cole was very excited about this off road adventure. Scott Swanson (Family owns Swanson Pheasant Farm for any hunters out there) farms and grazes his cattle on my parents land so left us his four wheeler for the day. Gotta love the small town values and hospitality.


After all of this adventure we headed back to the park and went on a super long hike. The trails were amazing as were the views.









Even found a few feathers.


Really no trip to Niobrara would be complete without a visit to the Two Rivers Saloon and Restaurant (my parents and I contemplating purchasing this joint several years ago).

The food was excellent and the drinks were super cheap! Plus who doesn’t like to dine amongst guns, stuffed animal heads, and bones.


Life was good in small town Nebraska! (We also visited the Elk and Bison Farm but due to the mass amount of photos that will be a post of its own)

Niobrara State Park

We stayed two nights in a two bedroom cabin at the Niobrara State Park. I love state parks. The settings are always amazing.




The rates are very affordable and you have a small cabin where you can cook and relax unlike a hotel room. We even had a cute screen porch

That overlooked the Missouri River.

The cabin itself is very no frills and basic but clean.



We have a cabin of our own in Niobrara. But several years ago we had issues with the water and everyone was at an age where going there on a regular basis was not feasible (think elderly grandparents and middle/high school kids with lots of activities) so we just quit going.



The current state of the cabin is disrepair. I had high hopes up until this weekend that we could still fix it up. I have now come to the realization that it isn’t going to happen. Here is a sneak peak of what the inside currently looks like. The living room and kitchen/dinning room.


My parent’s bedroom.

My grandparent’s bedroom.

My bedroom (yes I had my own bedroom and my brothers had to sleep in the living room – spoiled?? Not me).

And the bathroom.

I would have cried walking through this house had I been there alone. Was just disheartening to see a place where so many wonderful memories were created to be in total shambles. I still get a little sad looking at these photos and thinking about it. I miss the cabin and I miss my grandparents. Luckily I had a fun travel partner ready to explore the great outdoors so the sadness was short lived.

A little slice of Heaven

Is Niobrara, NE for me. It’s that one place I can totally relax and unwind. There are no schedules and time moves in slow motion. It’s a pleasant change from the hustle and bustle of daily life. I took a LOT of photos so more to come but a sneak peak of what my weekend entailed. We stayed in this little gem.

located in the Niobrara State Park. We spent several hours lounging and exploring the countryside.




How can you beat those views! We did have one small standoff with these cows.

we visited an Elk and Bison farm.


And possibly threw in a round of golf. An amazing weekend that I didn’t want to end!