This post brought to you by The Finest Hours. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Living a Sunshine Life.
Two things inspired this post. The first was our first outing for the Nebraska Great Park Pursuit, the second was my first viewing of Disney’s The Finest Hours, which is about the greatest small boat rescue the U.S. Coast Guard has ever completed.
I know, you’re already thinking what does the Coast Guard have to do with Nebraska. I’ll admit, probably not as much as they do closer to the oceans and coasts, however believe it or not, Nebraska does have a Coast Guard and it does have a purpose!
Let’s start with the Great Park Pursuit, this is something we started doing last year and it was so much fun we decided to do it again. Here in Nebraska the state Game & Parks puts on this summer long event encouraging people to visit city and state parks across Nebraska. They have twenty parks selected throughout the state and at each park they put a pedestal that has this little engraved image. You find the pedestal, don’t worry, they give clues and basically tell you where to find it, then you do a rubbing of the image on a little form which you’ll send back to game & parks. Visit one park and you’re already eligible for prizes!
Okay, so that’s why we were out at the Missouri River for a little family walk. Our first Great Park Pursuit pedestal was at the Lewis & Clark museum main headquarters in Omaha. It’s located right along the Missouri River and right next to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, which spans across the Missouri River.
If you look close you can see people walking up there. Don’t worry, you’re getting a close up here shortly because we decided to take a walk across the bridge since we were already out there.
This isn’t our first trip across the bridge, but for the kids it’s fun every time. We had to call the girl’s grandparents to let them know that we walked all the way from Nebraska to Iowa! In case you’re not up on your US geography, the Missouri River is the border between Iowa and Nebraska. This means halfway through our walk across the bridge we found the border.
This isn’t the only thing the Missouri River has to offer in Nebraska. During the summer months you’ll see boats cruising along, so of course on occasion there may be an emergency that our Nebraska Coast Guard gets called out for. They are also in charge of making sure all regulations are being followed.
When I compare the Nebraska Coast Guard to the real life members of the Coast Guard in The Finest Hours, I can really see that they are all heroes. While in The Finest Hours they were dealing with some amazing situations, I mean two oil tankers split in half with two crews needing to be rescued, a huge storm, and all of this based on real life events; I know the Nebraska Coast Guard is ready for any kind of rescue as well. It really brings the thrilling aspect of the movie home, and I know to anyone in need of lifesaving assistance, the members of the Coast Guard are all heroes.
While the local Coast Guard isn’t battling treacherous waves like this one from the movie (do you see the boat in that storm?!)
Based on the extraordinary true story of the most daring rescue in the history of the Coast Guard, Disney’s THE FINEST HOURS storms into theaters in Digital 3D (TM) and IMAX (c) 3D on January 29, 2016.
They do have their own rescues to take on with a river that isn’t always so nice.
Oh, and when it comes to the movie, did I mention the fantastic cast! I love that Abraham Benrubi is in the movie. I’ve always loved the personality he brings to the characters he portrays. I’m sure it was an honor for him to portray the real life sailor/chef George ‘Tiny’ Myers.
To make all of this even better, you can now get the The Finest Hours on Blu-ray™, Digital HD, & Disney Movies anywhere! It was released May 24th. Along with the movie, you’ll also get the bonus documentary “Against All Odds: The Bernie Webber Story” where you can learn more about Bernie Webber and hear about the greatest small boat rescue in Coast Guard history from those who were right there witnessing it.
Have you seen The Finest Hours yet? Did it get you thinking about any of your local military and the amazing things they do to protect us? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below.
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