Welcome to the first episode of Sheila's Shoutouts, bonus content for the Growing Small Town Nebraska podcast. Here I'm going to talk about my favorite places, spaces, food events, activities, and more that I've discovered, either growing up in Nebraska or traveling throughout the state. You can find pictures and more details of the places I talk about in Sheila's Shoutouts on our website growingsmalltown nebraska.com that's growingsmalltowne.com Click on read it or read more, I don't know I'm gonna have to look. Click on the Read section and then click on Sheila's Shoutouts for more information. Don't forget the Growing Small Town Nebraska podcast regular episodes, they come out the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. And that's where Marcie and I interview business and community leaders about what they're doing to revitalize their small towns throughout the Cornhusker State.
So in this first episode of Sheila's Shoutouts, I'm going to talk about a great getaway spot that was brought to my attention during our travels with the podcast. Marcie and I were invited to visit Nebraska City and do a few podcasts from that beautiful, well-known hotspot in Nebraska. We not only got to tour several points of interest, but they also put us up at the beautiful Whispering Pines Bed and Breakfast. Now previous to this, I hadn't had much experience staying in a bed and breakfast. But yeah, thanks to my stay at Whispering Pines. Well, I expect that to change. I was so impressed with the location, the beautiful decor.
Every room is different, right? And the amazing hospitality of the owner, that great food and the robes! You heard me. You guys, the rooms each had their own plush embroidered robes in the bathrooms. It's okay if you laugh at me. but I read a lot of books. And I've watched a lot of movies, including a lot of old movies. And because of that, I have always dreamed of staying somewhere where there were those super white, super soft robes. Yeah, I almost didn't leave my room. But we had work to do. So I did. I stayed in the Rose Room by the way. It was so gorgeous. That is also where we recorded three podcasts from while we were there.
The wraparound porch and Whispering Pines had so many great spots to sit and read. I almost couldn't take it. Right when we got there, we were shown where the fresh baked cookies were to snack on. We also had the perfect breakfast right out on the porch.
Whispering Pines also has beautiful grounds to explore and more great sitting places, you could just get lost sitting somewhere there in the beautiful surroundings. Just giving you a little bit of information about this. But really, you do need to check it out for yourself. They had a really hard time getting me to leave. They just promised that it could come back sometime.
Also, in this episode, I want to talk to you a little bit about something I've already talked about on my blog. But that's escape rooms. Nebraska has some great escape rooms. And the ones that I've been to through so far, that includes the S.T.A.R. Escape Rooms in Columbus, I've been there a few times, always fantastic. There's something kind of unique about that one. So when you go there, you need to take a look around at how they have the place decorated. And it kind of carries throughout their rooms. And I'm not gonna give me more information about that. So just you talk to me privately, and I'll let you know. And also their escape rooms are just very unique and creative.
And then Nebraska has their newer escape room. And that is Encrypt in Norfolk. And it's I mean, it's not super new now, but pretty new. And you're just gonna find some high quality, challenging escape rooms at Encrypt as well. They're great hosts, they make it a lot of fun for you. And so escape rooms in Norfolk and Columbus are two of my favorite things to do. If you know of another escape room in Nebraska, I'd love to hear about it. so do let me know. The escape rooms that we have in our state...they're super affordable and crazy fun. So I love to do those. I just don't seem to have enough time to do all of the rooms all the time or enough friends who, you know, that I can finagle to do that constantly. So escape rooms. I love it. You can do that right in Nebraska.
Another thing, at the end of this month, it's MarkeTech in Kearney. Marketech is through GROW Nebraska and it's a marketing and technology conference for businesses. This year their keynote speaker is a nationally recognized speaker and expert podcaster from Chicago so I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say for sure. Right after Marcie and I started the Growing Small Town Nebraska podcast, GROW Nebraska invited us and sent us to MarkeTech...we met amazing people there. I'm looking forward to it again this year.
And you know Kearney is always a fun area. I love to go to the state park any time of year, not just when all the cranes are there, but any time of the year. It's a very nice place to visit. They also have a lot of fun and unique shops in their downtown area in particular, and then Clark and I recently visited the Great Platte River Road Archway. We had not been there since our oldest, now in college, was in a stroller, so. We thought it was a thing just for kids, but we had a great time just the two of us going through that.
That's pretty much what I have to chat to you about this episode. In the next episode of Sheila's Shoutouts. I'm going to talk about our Nebraska honeymoon and what an adventure that proved to be many years ago. I'm also going to talk about the fish frys and corned beef and cabbage. So, if you have suggestions on your favorite places to find those springtime staples in Nebraska, make sure you send me a message or an email, reach out on Facebook...however you'd like to do that. You can find Sheila's Shoutouts on our website: growingsmalltowne.com Just go to the Read it section and then Sheila's shoutouts; and then make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Remember, subscribe or follow the Growing Small Town Nebraska Podcast anywhere you download your favorite podcasts. And as always, thanks for listening
