Today we walked where the pioneers walked. We were awed by the beauty of Scottsbluff National Monument. Here nineteenth century settlers entered this stunning and harsh land via a wagon trail squeezed between two giant cliffs. I will not soon forget looking out over this vista and knowing the early settlers saw the same thing. What did they feel when they saw it? For me, there is something about the Nebraska prairie. I have longed to return here to the Great Plains since my last visit ten years ago. I love it. Like the ocean, it is both beautiful and scary at once. Did the early settlers think so? Were they as energized by it as I am? What a grace to be where they were!