6 Best Places to Visit in Nebraska

Nebraska is where Midwest meets West, literally. Geographers identify the 100th meridian, which nearly halves the state, as the boundary between the two regions. But travelers don’t need a sign to recognize the divide. As in frontier days, the majority of Cornhuskers live in the state’s eastern half, and out west, the sun still sets over vast grasslands and yucca-capped buttes. . (In case you were wondering, yucca is a type of dense shrub that is in the same group of plants as agave.) This is a state that will allow you to see the land as the pioneers did. Nebraska is home to some pretty amazing landscapes. Check out these spots that we think are among the 6 Best Places to visit in Nebraska and enjoy the gorgeous landscape.

Chimney Rock-is a 300 foot natural spire that was a major reference point on the journey west for early explorers along the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the California trail during the mid 19th century.

Scotts Bluff- Towering 800 feet above the North Platte River, Scotts Bluff has served as a landmark for peoples from Native Americans to emigrants on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails to modern travelers. When you are looking at this land you will be seeing it as the Native Americans did during their travels.

Toadstool Geologic Park- Located in Northwestern Nebraska, the park is named after its unusual rock formations, many of which resemble toadstools. Toadstool Geologic Park is said to be the “badlands of Nebraska” There is a 1-mile loop trail within the park. There are many fossils along the trail; removing fossils is not allowed. This park is filled with the history of the US immortalized by the fossils that remain. This park will allow you to feed your archaeological nerd.

Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Site-Ash from a Yellowstone hotspot eruption 10-12 million years ago created these fossilized bone beds. The site is protected as Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park, a 360-acre (150 ha) park that includes a visitor center with interpretive displays and working fossil preparation laboratory, and a protected ongoing excavation site, the Hubbard Rhino Barn, featuring fossil Teleoceras (native hippo-like ancestral rhinoceros) and ancestral horses.

Sandhills- The Sandhills of Nebraska cover 20,000 square miles and is an area of massive sand dunes reaching up to 400 feet high. This is the largest sand dune formation in the Western Hemisphere plus one of the largest grass-stabilized dune regions in the world. The large sand masses that were formed by blowing sand are now held in place and stabilized by vegetation that consists mainly of grasses. There are over 700 species of plants that grow in the sandhills.

Valentine National Wildlife Refuge- Grasslands surround sand-bottom lakes at this designated National Natural Landmark. More than 260 species of birds as well as deer, muskrats and beavers are among the wildlife at Valentine National Wildlife Refuge. xxx Fall and spring migrations bring as many as 150,000 ducks.