Scenic Drive through Southeast Nebraska
Along the Wide Missouri
Meandering the two-lane highways and byways beside the coffee-colored Missouri River in southeast Nebraska, you'll discover a landscape of hills and river bluffs. Sleepy towns welcome you in green valleys beside the "Muddy Mo." Preserves and state parks along the way are devoted to nature and outdoor activities.
Omaha, Nebraska's largest city, makes a fitting starting point for your tour. The city grew up with the Missouri River. When Omaha became the eastern terminus of the transcontinental railroad more than a century ago, it linked the eastern U.S. with the far west. Today, modern office buildings rise near the riverbanks. The shopping, dining and sightseeing attractions here alone, including the trendy Old Market District, could more than fill your weekend.
South of Omaha, you'll encounter quiet river towns that echo the wide Missouri's frontier days. Once an important river port, Brownville settled into peaceful obscurity and remained virtually untouched for decades. Now, visitors come to gaze and browse along streets lined with 19th-century homes. In Nebraska City, where Arbor Day began 122 years ago, horse-drawn carriages ease along the lane to Arbor Lodge, a 52-room mansion you can tour at a historic park and arboretum.
St. Deroin, a living-history museum frontier settlement, is part of Indian Cave State Park, a rugged preserve. Across the river in Missouri, you can witness migrating waterfowl descending on Squaw Creek Wildlife Refuge in the spring and the fall.
Your 140-mile tour south along the Missouri River makes a leisurely 2-day drive that can begin with breakfast in a busy city and end with quiet sunset views of waterfowl.
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