Eco- friendly, gluten-free road trip: Nebraska City, NE

Back during the snowy transition from February to March, Caleb and I went on a road trip. It was a surprise road trip - more HERE. 

The destination? Nebraska City, NE. Home to Lied (pronounced "leed") Lodge:

Lied Lodge was built during the early years of my childhood en route to my grandparents' house. We celebrated my grandparents' fortieth wedding anniversary there. We all wore denim for the family photograph. Yes, I know. Denim. 

It's making a comeback now, but please don't wear jean on jean. Please. Just don't. 

In 1993, not many hotels left a card in the room explaining that changing the sheets every night uses lots of water and soap. Not many hotels offered (and still don't) in-room recycling. Lied Lodge did. As a child, I loved recycling all the things we brought in the various bins: plastic, paper, aluminum. I also loved the indoor Olympic sized pool, the park across the street where we caught frogs and played on the playground, and the apple orchard nearby. 

One-stream recycling 2014

The last time I stayed at Lied Lodge was almost ten years ago, on the way home from visiting prospective colleges. I really wanted to show Caleb.

He kept his eyes closed the whole trip, but he is very good at directions and correctly guessed we were heading north. When he opened his eyes, we were at a lodge in Nebraska, but he thought we were in Hermann, MO. 

I would have more pictures from the outside of the lodge, but it was in the single digits while we were there, so most of my pictures are indoors. We loved swimming in the giant pool and our very lodge-y room. All the wood was sustainably harvested. 

Guess what this is? It's the CEILING in our room. So cool.

All coffee at the lodge is fair-trade and shade grown. For more about Lied's environmental policy, you can check out their website. Caleb and I were totally amazed. 

One thing I was concerned about while visiting was what I would eat. Looking for gluten-free vegetarian fare in a small town can be daunting. No need to fear! Even in this small town, I was able to find plenty of food! 

Dinner our first night was at El Portal Mexican restaurant. Our food came SO FAST.

 We had breakfast at our hotel the next morning, tried to go for a walk, and went to the outlet mall instead. Not our typical way to spend some time, but it brought back good memories for me and it was warm! We had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in what used to be a KFC. There wasn't anything vegetarian on the menu, but they were more than happy to accommodate. We loved this place! I can't remember the name, it was a very new restaurant. The family that runs it drives in from Lincoln.

Before dinner, the lodge offers $5 wine tastings. All the wines are made from grapes (and apples and cherries) grown right on site! For dinner, the lodge dining room offered TWO gluten free-veggie options.

And for our last breakfast? I thawed out a waffle I had made and left in our trunk during the weekend. 

Roadtrip cooking?