Forget about property taxes and abortion: get out, time to enjoy autumn

Back in the day, the Omaha World-Herald provided me with a company car and the instructions: "Drive across the state and find some stories."

It was obviously a more formal command than that, something like, "If you like your job, you'll write something interesting."

It was an incredible adventure in various vintages of Ford Taurus'. 

On the road, you realize that there are fascinating stories – sometimes tragic and sad, sometimes heart-warming and uplifting – in every corner of the state.

You recognize that Native Americans were correct: "Nebraska" is an Indian word for "long way across."

(I once filed a story in Chadron at noon, jumped in my newswagon, and sped across the state to make a gig that night with an Irish folk band at downtown Omaha's Dubliner Pub. Only a wee bit over the speed limit.)

You also learn that fall is the best season in Nebraska to get out and enjoy the state. The nights grow cool, the bugs go away and the towering fields of corn make way for broader vistas.

So rather than write about property tax reductions that didn't quite happen, or competing ballot issues on abortion rights that did, let's talk about the best things to do in Nebraska in autumn. 

The best, obviously, is cheering on the Huskers, or our favorite local sports teams.

The amber-colored, harvest moon that rises above high school football fields in October cannot be beat. And hope springs eternal in Lincoln that good ol' NU can return to glory and a bowl game in football. And I can't wait to see this year's Husker volleyball team.

A fall tradition in our family when my daughter was young was a group campout at Indian Cave State Park. We always went in mid-October, when the trees there were peaking in their autumn colors.

It didn't hurt that the park held a Halloween decorating contest in the campgrounds that drew some pretty elaborate, creative and scary campsites. Of course, they handed out candy, and there was a haunted hayrack ride.

There are some mighty fine town festivals in the fall, too. Can you find tastier caramel apples than those served at the late September AppleJack Festival in Nebraska City?

And, as a lover of Irish folk music, there's a can't miss fest of Irish music, dance and verse in Greeley on Sept. 21. 

That's halfway to St. Patrick's Day (for the non-Irish) but this central Nebraska farm town settled by the Irish doesn't do anything halfway for this festival, bringing in top bands, a pipe and drum corps, and even the state poet, Matt Mason.

It's one of the best times of the year to do a float trip down one of the state's many rivers. The crowds have gone home, for the most part, from the scenic Niobrara, which was recently deemed one of the world's top "quiet trails" by an international group dedicated to preserving such places.

"Silence is the think tank of the soul," says one of its advocates.

In the fields, there's work to be done to harvest the corn and soybeans before the cold winds of winter come (and before the prices go down again).

School is back in session, so for parents, it's a marathon of choir and band concerts, dance classes and sports games and practices.

But if you can get out, fall is the best time of year to sit around a fire pit, hike through the forest, or share a glass of beer or wine with buddies.

Paul Hammel has covered the Nebraska state government and the state for decades. He retired in April as senior contributor with the Nebraska Examiner. He was previously with the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha Sun.  A native of Ralston, he loves traveling and writing about the state.