Toadstool Geologic Park and Campground in northwestern Nebraska is known for its otherworldly badlands, fossil beds, and striking rock formations shaped like giant stone mushrooms. Often called “Nebraska’s Badlands,” the park showcases millions of years of geologic history, with exposed layers that reveal ancient ecosystems and preserved tracks of prehistoric animals. Visitors can hike scenic trails that wind through eroded clay and sandstone, explore fossil sites, and camp under the wide-open skies of the Oglala National Grassland.

Fort Robinson is no longer a garrison but Nebraska’s largest state park, and one of the finest preserved frontier military posts in America. The park system has carefully balanced commemoration with recreation: visitors can step into barracks where soldiers once drilled, then mount up for a horseback ride through the same buttes that once hid Lakota warriors. It’s a layered place—part battlefield, part memorial, part vacation retreat. And it remains one of the most compelling destinations in the state for anyone who wants to understand both Nebraska’s story and the wider saga of the American West.

In the world of photography—where sharpness and precision are often prized above all else—there exists a rebellious technique that throws convention to the wind. Intentional Camera Movement, or ICM, is an approach that embraces blur, motion, and abstraction, transforming everyday scenes into painterly works of art. Instead of freezing a moment in time, ICM captures the feeling of a moment—fluid, unpredictable, and alive.

Long before it became a national monument, Devils Tower held profound spiritual significance for the Indigenous peoples of the region. Several tribes, including the Lakota, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Crow, share legends surrounding the tower’s origin, with a common thread: a tale of children saved by the great spirits.

Archaeologists have traced the act of piercing back to at least 2500 BCE. Ancient Sumerians buried their dead with earrings. Egyptian royalty pierced their ears as status symbols — King Tutankhamun’s mummified remains still display stretched lobes. In South America, the Maya and Aztecs pierced their septums and tongues, offering blood in rituals that symbolized communication with the gods.

When dementia or cognitive decline is involved—the victim isn’t acting out of foolishness. They’re being subjected to targeted psychological tactics designed to override reason and create obedience. Scammers have mastered the art of conditioning their victims to respond instantly to threats and to ignore anyone who tells them otherwise.

The first thing you notice when you arrive in Cannon Beach isn’t the scent of salt air or the crash of the surf—it’s the towering silhouette of Haystack Rock, rising 235 feet from the Pacific like a fortress of stone. As the tide retreats, the base reveals itself, ringed by tidepools glittering with anemones and starfish. Seabirds wheel above, their cries mixing with the wind, and for a moment, it feels as if time has stopped.

Scottsbluff, Nebraska — a small town of about 14,000 people. It’s the kind of place where everyone knows everyone, rumors travel fast, and most work revolves around agriculture. There’s little to do beyond going to church on Sunday, finding the one club in the area, visiting your favorite bar — of which there are many, eight or more — and meeting up with friends or strangers to listen to country music while loud-mouthed cowboys talk about calving season or the latest hailstorm that wrecked their crops. In short, it’s nowhere special unless you like those kinds of things.

On any given summer evening, when the sun drops low and the heat finally starts to fade, you’ll spot them: Jeeps with the doors off, the roof stashed in a garage somewhere, and a couple of friends rolling slowly through town or down some country dirt road. The music drifts, the air rushes, and the world feels lighter for a while. We call it jeep-therapy.