Nebraska! Whodathunkit?
Travel Blog • Sophia Dembling • 02.19.09 | 3:36 PM ET
Photo by I don’t know what became of my Nebraska sweatshirt. It vanished many years ago and I still mourn the loss.
I bought the bright red (go Huskers!), short-sleeved sweatshirt in a thrift shop and wore it for years after my first (and so far only) visit to Nebraska in the late 1970s.
Granted, I was there in the middle of the night and barely left the Lincoln Greyhound bus depot, but I made a point of stepping out onto the empty street to marvel at the fact that I was in Nebraska. Nebraska! Of all places! Me! Little Sophie Dembling from Manhattan, in the most flyover of flyover states!
Whodathunkit? I thought with delight. It was one of those transformative moments that made a traveler of me.
And so I must, with all due respect, disagree with my esteemed colleague’s assessment of Western Nebraska’s “Who knew?” promotional campaign. The images are tantalizing (OK, maybe not the old hairy guy in the covered wagon) and honestly, I can’t think of a better slogan. Really—who knew? Whodathunkit? Nebraska, I will return.