For a place that does not rate highly with travelers, Nebraska certainly offers plenty of things to do, from attending rodeos, pow wows, ethnic festivals and urban cultural events to kicking back — or pitching in — at a working ranch, or enjoying open spaces on foot, on a bike or on a horse. And more. In other words, while it is not a copy of other states, it is like any American destination in many ways, with the added benefit of having welcoming hosts in a place that is safe at night and, in fact, a place where population density is relatively low, something people at both ends of the personality spectrum like for their own reasons.

On first sight, Nebraska was taken by arriving Europeans to be something of a desert, but those early settlers, eager to succeed with the free land offered by the government, made the area into a land of ranches and farms. Willa Cather immortalized her home town Red Cloud in six books and, in the process, recorded the Nebraska pioneer experience. Working with Mother Nature, Nebraskans have created both a crucial piece of America’s breadbasket and a civilized place with a beauty of its own. In an exceptional move, they literally created forestland. America’s largest planted forest, about 22,000 acres of pine trees standing in sand, is part of the Nebraska National Forest (which includes naturally occurring trees, too). Unfortunately, these virtues have not sent tourists flocking to Nebraska. Many a westward-headed settler traveled straight across the state along the Mormon and Oregon trails. Today, in a seeming reenactment, thousands of tourists pass through on highways that follow the old trails. Wagon ruts left by those earlier drive-through visitors can still be seen alongside the roads.

Nebraska does not obviously belong to authentics or venturers, or to any specific personality type. Again, as with all those higher-ranking states, it has something for every visitor. Summers are hot and winters are cold. Spring and the fall are very, very nice.

Adopt a wild horse or burro. Or, at least, see the Nebraska Wild Horse and Burro Facility in Elm Creek where up to 500 needy animals are held; they are available for adoption nationwide.

Go on a multiday wagon train trek and experience chuck wagon dining, cookouts, campfire singing. If you want to make wagon trains a theme, also attend the Ward Bond Wagon Train Festival in Benkelman, named for the town’s native son, actor Ward Bond.

Go canoeing or kayaking on the Niobrara River. Or, canoe the Lewis and Clark Trail, meaning along the Missouri.

Use kayak fishing as a way to get to those clusters of fish that hover in the shallow places.

Devote two days to learning skills that were vital to the Plains Indians: fire making, flint knapping, making cordage and determining medicinal uses for indigenous plants. You will camp at Beaver Creek Canyon Camp near Stuart. Or, overnight in a replica Sioux teepee and see same skills demonstrated. See www.spiritinthewind.com.

Enjoy a 1940s dinner event on the Fremont Dinner Train, which operates on weekends out of Fremont. Sign on for a Murder Mystery dinner and work with your tablemates to solve a murder based on clues dropped by a team of actors. Other specialty dinner trips are offered, too.

Go mushroom hunting, if weather is conducive, in and around the towns of Auburn, Brownville and Peru. Then enjoy your finds as part of dinner.

Go bird-watching in Valentine National Wildlife Refuge or the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, both in Cherry County.

Learn to cook on a wood stove in one-day classes at Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island. Or, on back-to-school weekend at this living history museum, test your skills as a student in a 19th century schoolroom. Stuhr museum is the setting of various living history activities from May through September.

See ancient Native American petroglyphs and hike the trails at Indian Cave State Park.

Hike the rails-to-trails route along the Missouri River that links Brownville, Peru and Nebraska City.

Time a visit to coincide with the National Day of the Cowboy (more than one day) at Ainsworth. The event is a community festival with a parade and singing around a campfire, as well as a rodeo.

Attend a blues festival in Pierce. The event includes tasting of Nebraska wines and trolley rides through local vineyards. Or, make that a bluegrass festival in North Platte.

See Scouts Rest Ranch, near North Platte, where Buffalo Bill Cody lived and where his popular Wild West show rehearsed.

Attend Nebraska’s Big Rodeo in Burwell for events that include Canadian chuck wagon racing, wild horse racing, chariot races and the antics of motorcycle daredevils. Plenty of other rodeos are options, too.

Get a better understanding of why Nebraska is the Cornhusker State. Attend a cornhusking competition. Also, attend a tractor pulling competition. There are several of both to choose from.

Book a dude ranch vacation where you can go bird-watching, canoeing, horseback riding, hunting, tubing — with some chuck wagon dining squeezed in.

Get to the Kreycik Riverview Elk Ranch near Niobrara where you can take a covered wagon ride and hand-feed bison and elk.

Watch a University of Nebraska football game.

Customize a golf tour encompassing courses found on the Nebraska Golf Trail.

Gamble at the Iron Horse Bar and Casino, owned by the Winnebago Indians. Also, attend the tribe’s July pow wow and shop for Indian-made or -themed products, both in the town of Winnebago.

Float down the Cedar River from Ericson on an eight-foot plastic stock tank with a picnic table and space for six passengers.

Find an unexpected display, at least based on the name, at the Nebraska Prairie Museum in Holdrege. One exhibit is a scale replica of the original World War II German POW Camp Atlanta, which was located five miles outside Holdrege. This is in addition to displays that center on prairie history.

Eat local beef, fresh and unbeatable.

If a Willa Cather fan, revel in the chance to visit her childhood home in Red Cloud and see many of the places described in the six Cather novels that were set in and around the town.

From late February to early April, watch sandhill cranes gather along the Platte River valley. Nearly 500,000 show up each year.

Attend regional repertory dinner theater at the Theatre of the American West in Republican City.

For more information, consult the Nebraska Division of Travel and Tourism at www.visitnebraska.org

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