The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument

This was a little different, but the kids seemed to love it.  It had a mixture of live actors in period clothes, wax figures, dioramas, video, and murals to tell the story of the "Platte River Road" - not just the westward expansion, but from the natives & the buffalo, to the Oregon, California & Mormon Trails, the stage coach & Pony Express runs, the telegraph lines, the trans-continental railway, the Eisenhower Highway, the Interstate Freeway System, all the way to the nationwide fiber optic cable system, and how they have been in the middle of every step.

Yes, the museum really does span over the freeway! They built it high enough for trunks and the like (although there were signs for those over a certain height...). It's a pretty unique concept, and we were intrigued enough to stop and pay to go in (it's not a National Park, so we had to pay...)

First you go up a long escalator...

Okay, first you buy your tickets!! It was a little spendy, but if I could get the kiddos to pay attention long enough, it would be worth it. The cool part is that you get headphones that are location sensitive, and change voice tracks automatically as you walk along.

Wax figures tell some of the story. First we get the story from this girl writing in her journal about her family's trip on the Oregon Trail. Then you get to see her family with their wagon. the museum talked about the Oregon Trail, the California Trail and the Mormon Trail - all that passed through here.

This is supposed to be Mark Twain on his famous trip west via the stage coach lines. They talked about the Pony Express and stage coaches, and how they were replaced by the telegraph and the railway - all of which passed through here as well.

Hmmm, car camping across the US - what an idea...!