National Park Service

Randomly found this as we were exploring near by. Nice bathrooms, clean interior. Lots of information about the local parks and things to see. Free to stop in and check out all the buffalo and bison info. Little gift store inside and beautiful garden outside. Make sure you go to the pedestrian bridge and water fountain if you stop here.

After walking across the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge, we stopped in here, and they have a little gift shop, bathrooms, and a couple of small exhibits to look at. The employees were really helpful and passionate about teaching visitors about the places to explore in the area.

Okay, I'm not saying this place was bad. Perhaps I was expecting something more grand. I'm just saying that it didn't knock my socks off. Basically, there is a long map on the wall that traces the Lewis & Clark trail. That's pretty cool. And there is a small display of animal skins. Beyond that, there is a spic and span super clean area to sit down or drink water from the fountain. Or use the restroom. In the back hall there are a number of brochures you can take for national parks. We've been to over 15 national parks. This facility didn't feel much like the mecca of national park service. It felt more like a rest stop brochure station because it was so simple. They didn't have brochures for the big parks (Grand Canyon, Glacier, etc) which surprised me. I mean, the attendants told us they have more brochures in the back in case we were looking more pamphlets for a certain park. I just think for such a large building the experience was lackluster.

When visiting the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, I was surprised to find a National Park facility here. I double checked the map, and nope, there's no National Park nearby... except that there is! The Missouri River is part of the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, a fact that I would have remained oblivious to had I not stopped in here to use the restroom.What I found inside the public part of this building (in addition to the large, clean, heated public restrooms) was a collection of artifacts representing the natural and cultural history of the region and L&C Trail, a couple of helpful NPS employees, and a small gift shop. Not a destination I'd go out of my way to return to in itself, but I was sure glad to be able to get out of the chill Nebraska wind for a bit, and I even learned something. Cheers!

Would have liked more museum here. But the grand kids had fun playing with the animal pelts, statues, etc. Little store was nice.