May 22, 2009 – Off the Beaten Path: Nebraska sandhills and Kansas Cosmosphere

• Trip meter: 548 miles (2581 miles total)
• Time: Two days
• From: North Platte, NE to Hutchinson, KS
• States: Nebraska, Kansas
• Summary: The Kansas Cosmosphere is amazing.

I took the last two days off from chasing because there wasn’t significant severe weather potential, though there were some storms today in the same region they were on Wednesday, in western Nebraska. Just my luck. It’s okay, though. It would have been a pain to drive so far to Norman after that, and I wouldn’t have gotten to do a little exploring.

Nebraska National Forest

Thursday I drove up to the Nebraska National Forest and hiked around for a bit. The forest bills itself as the largest hand-planted forest in the world. It’s situated right in the middle of the sandhills, so I guess it would have to be! The weather was a cloudy and windy, but warm, and it was nice to get outside and hike around a bit after three straight days of driving.

I have put up a small photo gallery.

From OBP – Sandhills

Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center

When I got back last night I scouted out things to do today. I checked the Kansas tourism website and settled on the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson. It sounded kind of cool, and it was on the way to Norman, anyway.

Wow! What a treat! The Cosmosphere is a museum that specializes in space artifacts. The Hall of Space walks you through the entire development of space travel: from the first experiments and the German V2 rockets, through the Cold War, and up to the Apollo missions. The artifacts they had there were amazing: an SR-71 Blackbird, recovered Mercury and Apollo capsules (including the Liberty Bell 7, which was only recovered from the ocean in 1999), the USSR’s backup Sputnik, a complete set of German V-1 and V-2 rockets, and so much more. Here is a list of artifacts on display.

From OBP – Cosmosphere

Be sure to see the full photo gallery.

This museum is a gem in the middle of nowhere. I went on a Friday evening and it was empty. Completely empty. For anyone with even a passing interest in aeronautics or space exploration, I can’t recommend it enough.

I have a really fun stop planned for tomorrow. You’ll never guess what it is. Never, ever, ever!