NE trip for my 20 year high school reunion - July 2013

Want to know how old I am? Just read this post!!

My home town - Elkhorn, NE. Where I lived for 12 years - kindergarten through 12th grade. I have so many feelings and thoughts around this town. A few stories I will share below. Unfortunately a few years ago Elkhorn was annexed by Omaha so now it doesn't even exist.

Waterloo. NE. The nearby town as you go west along the Platte River and train tracks.

Bennington. NE. Northeast of Elkhorn. I used to hang out at Bennington Days and chase boys when I was in high school. I took the picture at this vantage point so you could also see the Runza sign. This is a local Omaha fast food restaurant. What they are known for is this Hot-Pocket type thing with meat and onions. 

Omaha. NE. We were in the northeast part of downtown, near Creighton, wandering in our rented convertible. A lot of this is being redeveloped but not this area just yet. 

One of those redeveloped areas closer to downtown kept the old water tower. I believe this was an artist community.

Not water towers but memory triggers for me when I visited.

Lashara. NE. This little town west of Elkhorn still has dirt roads. The main street mostly just has this bar. The story goes - My dad once got so drunk here he gave his nice shirt away to someone. I remember going here once as a kid. They had a little sand shuffle board table that I loved. 

Another childhood story - It was NE, there wasn't much to do. So we would go Sunday Driving. We were north of Elkhorn, not quite to Blair, NE. All of a sudden we came upon these crazy looking radio towers. My dad said they were an outer space alien installation. I have vividly remembered them in my mind since I was 7. We drove up on them by chance when visiting. 

The Platte River. This is a magnificent river. This shot was taken from my friend's family property that has a conservation easement on it now but we used to go four-wheeling in his Jeep here. I remember visiting the river at multiple locations - Two Rivers State Park (staying in the Caboose) and the Platte River State Park (make-out point and doing MS bike rides there).