Despite being called the "Sandhills Journey," the NE-2 didn't offer anything special at first. But after an hour or so, rather than flat farmland, we started noticing small hills, some even appeared sandy.
Then in Halsey we hit the jackpot and found a forest!
And a river!
The Middle Loup River runs along a portion of the road and through the Nebraska National Forest and Grassland. We saw a sign for Scott Lookout Tower and entered the park to take a break among the trees.
The elevation of Scott tower was 2,945 feet. A few dozen steps got us to the top. The station was locked and unoccupied. Views in all directions were clear, and we could pretty much see the entire forest, which is approximately 200 square miles. It stretched out southward a bit beyond the horizon, but in other directions the boundary was evident.
After that refreshing change in scenery, we continued westward and southward on our way to Denver--to catch a flight home. The rest of the drive through Western Nebraska offered less trees but more rolling hills, and even some named rock formations. We briefly stopped at a particularly impressive one called Chimney Rock.
And that will conclude my summary of our Midwest trip, unless you really want to hear about pub crawling in Minneapolis, steak dinners in Pierre, religious experiences in North Dakota, dealing with the police in South Dakota, and, of course, annoying the caretaker at St. Cecilia's Cathedral in Omaha.