May 30

We took it easy today, and didn't leave the hotel until around 11 a.m. The best chance of severe weather looked to be well east into Illinois, but we didn't want to position ourselves 14+ hours from Oklahoma City with one day to drive. The chance of severe weather didn't appear great enough for Kansas or Missouri, so we decided to check out the University of Nebraska State Museum on the campus of NU. This was a great museum that featured a little bit for everybody, including fossils, paleontology, rocks, natural history, culture, biology, and even space (right up my alley!). The coolest part of the museum was the large room of the mammoth/elephant bone collections.




After the museum, we ate at Applebee's in downtown Lincoln, and then cruised south to visit Rock City near the town of Minneapolis, KS. The 'park' consists of about 200 calcite-cemented concretions, and they even charge a $3 admission fee. This certainly didn't live up to its billing, and this will be a one and done visit for me.


We're headed back to Oklahoma City tomorrow to visit the Oklahoma City Memorial and grab a bite to eat at Cattlemen's Steakhouse. Our plans could change depending on the storms, but it appears that the main threat will be large hail and damaging winds. Low-level shear is forecast to be on the low side, and the threat of tornadoes appears quite small. Late next week is catching my eye, and I might be back out in the Plains at some point then.