A Rare Season in the Sandhills

Anyone who has been through Nebraska's Sandhills knows it's a very special place. The vastness of the region -- about 19,000 square miles -- is amazing.  This is first and foremost ranch country. Towns are miles apart and the roads are long stretches of asphalt surrounded by sand dunes covered in grass, hence the name: Sandhills.
Trees are an endangered species. Windmills dot the landscape along with wet meadows, evidence of the massive Ogallala Aquifer seeping from below the ground. Towns are a welcome sight and people -- they are the friendliest to be found anywhere.
I have been to the Sandhills many times but last week I saw something that I had never seen before. Almost everywhere you looked there were sunflowers. They were growing along roadsides. They covered hills -- sometimes as far as the eye could see. For a minute I thought I was in Kansas and not Nebraska.
We talked to a woman outside of Brownlee and she told us the sunflowers were the result of a drought last year and good rains this year. She had never seen so many sunflowers.
If you happen to be in the Sandhills, take the road to Brownlee, a county road south of Valentine in Cherry County that connects Nebraska 97 and U.S. 83. It's a single lane county road with good pavement and hardly no traffic. We saw one pickup. The drive is well worth it because it cuts through the heart of the Sandhills.
A funny story: We were driving down the Brownlee road and saw two dark shapes ahead. We thought they were bicyclists, then walkers, then coyotes, no wolves! The black shapes turned out to be a black lab and a sheep dog out for their morning walk. They looked at us kind of funny -- like what are you doing here?
We said hello and kept going down the road.

Nebraska Star Party

Every year, for the past 20 years a group of amateur astronomers from Omaha and Lincoln come to Nebraska's Sandhills and throw a party -- with telescopes.
They come to central Nebraska for some of the darkest skies in the nation. Some have called it Nebraska's Black Hole. They say it is the best place to view planets, galaxies and other celestial objects because there is no light pollution. The nearest town, Valentine, is 26 miles away.
Nancy and I took three of her grandkids with us to the star party for the experience. It's a long drive but worth it. We camped at Merritt Reservoir for three days and enjoyed swimming, camping and gazing at stars.
You don't need to bring a telescope to view the heavens. To see the Milky Way and shooting stars, you simply spread a blanket on the ground and look up. That's it. People from Minnesota and other states told us they have nothing like this -- too many lights. Not in the Sandhills. Amateur astronomers on Observation Hill are more than willing to let you look through their telescopes. Some people bring a good pair of binoculars.
During the day, the Omaha Astronomical Society and the Prairie Astronomy Club hosts an astronomy field school for adults and children. You can learn some amazing things about our universe just by listening and asking a few questions. For instance, the best time to view the Moon through a telescope is not when it's full -- too bright -- but when it is in a transition phase like a half moon.
This year's star party featured a special guest, NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson. He came up and gave an inspirational talk on what it's like living in Space. Anderson spent more than five months aboard the International Space Station. He retired earlier this year but still comes back to Nebraska for public speaking engagements. His message: Follow your dreams and never give up. He should know. Anderson tried 15 times to get into NASA's astronaut program and on the last try, he was accepted. Anderson made the most of it, too. He not only walked in space but also put Nebraska in the spotlight every chance he could -- from 250 miles above the Earth.

Astronaut Clayton Anderson -- the tall one -- came out to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Nebraska Star Party. He posed with three of Nancy's grandkids, Jenna, Joey and Jacob.

Amateur astronomers from all over the country come to the Nebraska Star Party in early August to view some of the darkest skies anywhere. They bring their telescopes and give adults and children a chance to view the stars.

The star party hosts a gathering on a few nights. This night was the free Cattleman's Barbecue. Great people and a fun time was had by all.

http://www.nebraskastarparty.org/