Tour Schedule for Day One
    Pickup passengers and travel to Central Nebraska. Coffee, muffins, and orange juice will be served on the motorcoach as we drive into Grand Island. Lunch is included today before we are introduced to our first Sandhill Cranes. This afternoon starts with a educational presentation at Cranes Meadows about the cranes migration followed by a driving tour to see the birds in the fields.  
Crane Meadows Nature Center, established in 1989, is a private, non-profit organization whose mission is to provide environmental education and outdoor recreation to people of all ages. The Nature Center is located along the Platte River and hire knowledgeable staff. Their educational facility features programs, exhibits, and nature trails which emphasize different aspects of Platte River ecology. 
   We will stop for a snack break before we get back to Crane Meadows and prepare for some wonderful crane watching. A 10 minute walk will get us into their river blind for the evening's viewing of the Sand Hill Cranes. This is an unbelievable sight as we view from rivers edge the Cranes settling in for the evening. Expert staff will help provide information on the Cranes and explain this part of their journey from New Mexico to the Alaskan tundra. 
   About 7:30 we will leave the river to the cranes and check into our hotel for the evening. Dinner is included at our hotel.
                                          Tour Schedule for Day Two
      Depart very early (5:00) from the hotel for another chance to get a close look at the Cranes. This time the birds are leaving for the fields to feed.  There can be as many as 30,000 of these magnificent birds on the river in front of us and in the air over our blind at one time. After a great breakfast (included) we are going to take a break from our Crane watching and catch the Spirit of America at The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument. The Archway marks the spot where the Oregon Trail, California Trail and Mormon Trail all converged in the Western movement that linked America coast to coast. The Archway is massive. It is over a football field long, three stories high and 50 feet wide. It is the only historical monument that has been granted air rights over a federal interstate highway. The structure houses two levels of fascinating interactive exhibitry that traces the history of the Great Platte River Road from Oregon Trail days to the fiberoptic future world of tomorrow. But it's unlike any other historic portrayal you have ever experienced. You become immersed in the exhibits. You hear the creak of the wagon train and feel the whisper of the wind. You smell the prairie grasses, hear the pioneer voices and feel you have actually joined up with a wagon train and are walking the Trail. You progress through time and space along the lower level, then ascend to the Journey to Tomorrow level and end up in a fiberoptic tube with time and communications passing by seemingly at the speed of light. We should finish our adventure in central Nebraska and get everyone back into Omaha by 4 pm in the afternoon. 

Tour Price includes: Deluxe motorcoach transportation; viewing blind for the Sandhill Cranes in the evening and the next morning; Crane Meadows Nature Center tours; lunch in Grand Island on day one; one nights hotel accommodations; breakfast on day two; admission to the Archway Monument; all tips and gratuities; coffee, orange juice, and muffins; and tour escort.