jameson family stay-cation

ry takes off a whole week every november to go hunting with his dad, brother, and nephews. I had the luxury of attending this year to ‘help’… for part of the week anyway. i cut up a deer for the first time. it wasn’t as bad as i expected it to be… i just kept thinking to myself  “this meat is organic“, “this deer was an orphan and nobody is missing him“, “there are starving people in africa.”   but ever since ry invested in a dehydrator, i smell the raw meat and the jerky spices for hours and hours while it does it’s thing and i just can’t enjoy eating bambi anymore. : (

this week was a pretty hectic week, actually. i helped cut up deer and work on our rental house for a few days at the beginning of last week…. then i headed to kearney for 24 hours for a few photo shoots. [side note: i am wahoo public library’s newest member, in which i checked out an audio book for all the car time i had. i urge everyone to read the art of racing in the rain.  such a great book.]  then i went back to wahoo to re-pack (for the 3rd time) and headed to Nebraska City for a little family stay-cation. my grandma Helen turned 82 on halloween and we felt the need to celebrate with wine, apples, and some pretty countryside. we had a great time!

it’s such a beautiful place to visit any time of year… it was pretty chilly during our stay, but i definitely plan to go back with ry to golf and hike. did you know that hazelnuts are grown here?! we stayed at lied lodge, attended a wine dinner at slattery vintage estates, shopped the local antique stores (dad got bored, so he got a manicure!), and went to kimmel orchard. we all came home with apple cider, cherry cider, wine, apples, fudge… blah. i have a sick tummy just thinking about all the stuff we splurged on! but all well worth it. and you betcha i’m making apple crisp tonight for our buddies coming over. : ) happy birthday grandma!!

can anybody recommend more good places or things to do within 2-3 hours travel to go on our next stay-cation??