Arbor Day Farm

Arbor Day Farm is located about 45 minutes outside of Omaha in a quaint little town called Nebraska City. This National Historic Landmark would be an amazing place to spend the weekend or just do a quick day trip! We packed a lot into one day and we could have done more. It was such a wonderful experience, we learned so much about Arbor Day- the tree planter's holiday.
First, we started with the Tree Adventure. We went hiking on the South Table Creek trail and it was beautiful! The trail takes about an hour to hike. The trees were starting to change colors and the weather was just perfect. We explored the 50 foot-tall tree house and watched live honeybees in action-they are in a cage of course!
We opted to take the Discovery Ride next, I would recommend this ride to anyone visiting the farm. The cost is a bit extra (only $4 per adult) but it's worth it! You get to go on a one-hour journey into the backwoods of Arbor Day Farm. We traveled through the orchards and vineyards and learned interesting facts about our surroundings. We also got to pick apples from the heritage collection, meaning these are not apples you will find in the store and they are over 50 years old. Andrew picked an Arkansas Black apple, how cool is that?!
Lastly, we visited Arbor Lodge State Historical Park. the park hosts the original estate of J. Sterling Morton- the founder of Arbor Day. He was also the founder of Morton salt (are you picturing the yellow dress girl with her umbrella now?). The mansion has 52 rooms and countless historic artifacts belonging to this family, we could have stayed in the house hours but we were a bit rushed on time.
Next Spring, we are going back to the Farm and spending the weekend in their Lodge. We plan to experience what the springtime has to offer, there won't be any apples but the grapes will be in growing season. Oh... that reminds me, they also have a winery! While we are there for our next visit we plan to play golf on the Arnold Palmer built course on the grounds.
This was by far a wonderful day trip and we can't wait to go back! I'd recommend this experience to people of all ages.