White Cloud

White Cloud was a little disappointing, perhaps because their much-vaunted flea market had shut down for the night by the time we rolled in. One thing that was a little bit funny: At the Info Kiosk on the way into town, it looked like someone had begun painting a freehand informational sign and then had run out of time, paint, or both. We are still wondering "Home of..." what?

There were a LOT of vendor stalls along both sides of the main street in downtown White Cloud, which made me wish we'd gotten an earlier start so we could have seen their wares.

We did take a gorgeous drive north on Highway 7 along the river to the Casino White Cloud. It turned out being farther than we wanted to go, but was lovely nonetheless.

One thing I really wish we would have done was to research the town before we left. We definitely would have hit the Four State Lookout and some of these historical sites around the town.

After coming back through White Cloud, we wanted to head toward Highland. By this time, we all pretty tired. It was probably not the best time for me to try my hand at navigating county roads with no GPS or detailed map, but I attempted anyway.

Needless to say, we got lost, but even that was charming, since it gave us a chance to see many pretty farmhouses and acres upon acres of carefully terraced farmland.

Mercifully, a friendly rancher set us on the right road (south, to Highland) after we had wandered around a while. He also suggested that we return in late October to see the pretty fall foliage on Highway 7 between Rulo, NE and Atchison, KS. We just might, at that.