Boomer Destinations: Nebraska Passport 2025

 By Tim Trudell

Shelly Mutum grew up reading books. After all, her parents owned a book store in Hastings. When her mother said it was time to close the 43-year-old store, Mutum offered to take it over, but she wanted to relocate it to Omaha. Mom loved the idea! 

So, The Next Chapter opened near 25th and Farnam Street, next to Zen Coffee and Voodoo Taco. 

Offering an array of books, from fiction to non-fiction, The Next Chapter celebrates regional authors with history books, travel guides and more.

The Next Chapter is one of seven businesses in the Omaha area participating in the state tourism’s Nebraska Passport program. The program consists of 10 unique categories focusing on 70 businesses, attractions and restaurants around the state. 

This is the second time Mutum’s book store is in the passport. Its first appearance came in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While it’s easy to think the pandemic hurt business, Mutum said passport visitors saved her business that year.

“It was an enormous help,” she said. “That really kind of almost saved me because there was just so much going on that summer. The hours were weird, things were weird. I can’t tell them how thankful I am that they chose me that year, then now again.” 

Nothing goes better with reading a book than a hot cup of coffee or tea. In Neligh, River Mill Coffee Company is joining the Nebraska Passport for its rookie campaign. 

River Mill Coffee  fills a niche in the small town of Neligh, located in Antelope County, about an hour northwest of Norfolk.

The brainchild of teachers Rachael Barlow and Heather Veik, River Mill Coffee opened in 2021 inside a converted cabin. Adding an extension to a former restaurant allowed the owners to serve breakfast and lunch. 

Both people are creative. Barlow enjoys visual art, while Veik writes. So, in the end, it made sense to open River Mill.

“I think it came about because we were like, well, maybe, if we just own this, like, great little coffee shop in our spare time, we could do some of this creative stuff,” Veik said.

Priding themselves on using local sources as often as possible, Barlow and Veik aligned River Mill Coffee with Jim Bean Coffee in O’Neill. The roaster also provides coffee for Stories, an Omaha-based coffee shop. Milk is obtained from Burbach Dairy in Hartington. The River Mill roast is the shop’s most-popular coffee. 

With a nod to the community’s past – the Neligh Mill State  Historic Site is a few minutes away – the owners chose River Mill as the name. An oak tree used in the handmade furniture came from a farm belonging to Veik’s family. 

In western Nebraska, one of the state’s only “lighthouses” can be found at Lake Minatare State Recreation Area in Minatare. 

The concrete lighthouse is actually a lakeshore picnic shelter. Climb the steps to the observation floor for a scenic view of the area. 

Built during the Great Depression, the Lake Minatare lighthouse is a must-see in the Scottsbluff area. 

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument near Harrison is home to one of the biggest fossil finds in history. Nebraska didn’t have dinosaurs, but the state is home to several mammal fossils. 

The mammal fossils at Agate tell the story of a Serengeti-type region – a large watering hole, home to several different creatures. Scientists believe the water source dried up, which led to vegetation dying. The animals, of course, followed shortly afterward.

The first fossils were found by paleontologists in the 1890s. Two sets of teams dug at the conical hills – Carnegie and University. Fossils include a prehistoric horse with claws, a giant pig-bison, miniature rhinoceros and a “bear dog.” 

From Omaha to Neligh and Syracuse to Chadron, the 70 stops are located in 55 cities, towns and villages. 

Omaha area’s attractions include Dip Cravers in Bellevue, Cup and Cone in Bennington, Boys Town Hall of History at Boys Town, All About the Bees in Ralston and Omaha’s Legends Comics and Coffee in Benson’s Creative District and The Capitol District. 

In Lincoln, the following businesses are on the passport: 402 Creamery, Elleinad Books, Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame, Open Harvest Co-op Grocery, Power Books and The Scarlet, Tribute Hotel.

Passport season kicks off May 1 and runs through Sept. 30. Completed passports need to be postmarked by Oct. 7 in order to qualify for prizes.

Participants can earn prizes based on the number of stamps they collect. They include Nebraska Lottery coupons, a commemorative magnet, a Nebraska Passport poster and a Visit Nebraska calendar. Collect all 70 stamps and you’ll also receive a Passport Champions T-shirt, three Nebraska Passport pins and $45 in lottery vouchers. 

The popular program continues to attract more participants each year, with about 49,600 books ordered in 2024. More than 145,000 stamps were collected physically and digitally. Almost 1,100 people completed all 70 stops (we achieved that goal in 2022), an increase of about 100. Participants came from around the country, including Hawaii, California and Washington.

Passports can be ordered from Visit Nebraska or picked up at each destination. Explorers can also download the Nebraska Passport app from the Apple store or Google Play on their iPhone or android mobile phone.

Participants have from May 1 to September 30, 2025, to collect stamps. They have their passport stamped at each stop and then  submit their sheet by Oct. 7 to receive prizes.

It is acceptable to collect both digital and booklet stamps. Digital stamps are automatically recorded. Once “stamped,” under the name used to set up the app account, participants are automatically given credit. Mail in the paper copy to have all the stamps counted.

2025 Nebraska Passport Stop Categories:

• Activate Yourself
• America’s Artland
• Colorific
• Culture Cluster
• Eat, Shop, Repeat
• Growth Spurt
• Her Way
• Lactose Tolerant
• Lasso Lane
• Tale Trail

70 Selected Stops (alphabetical by town): 

• Dobby’s Frontier Town (Alliance)
• The Roost Bed and Breakfast (Ashland)
• Flat Iron Bar and Grill (Atkinson)
• The Cenacle Bookstore and Cafe (Auburn)
• JoJo’s Gelato & Grill (Aurora)
• Big Blue Bike Company (Beatrice)
• Zoellner Design Co. at Beatrice Creative District (Beatrice)
• Dip Cravers (Bellevue)
• Cup & Cone (Bennington)
• Big Springs Depot Museum and Veterans Memorial (Big Springs)
• Boys Town Hall of History Museum (Boys Town)
• Ortello Dale (Broken Bow)
• EnvironsArt (Brownville)
• Calamus Outfitters (Burwell)
• CocoShack (Chadron)
• Burgies Bowling (Chappell)
• Fat Head Honey Farms (Clarkson)
• Columbus Area Children’s Museum (Columbus)
• The Frontier Frau (Cozad)
• Bess Streeter Aldrich House (Elmwood)
• Gal and Goat Creamery (Eustis)
• Memories & More Antique Mall (Fairbury)
• Cumberland’s Fashions (Geneva)
• Western Nebraska Pioneers Baseball Club (Gering)
• Windmill State Recreation Area (Gibbon)
• Big Red Treats – Downtown (Grand Island)
• Pham’s Coffee & Boba (Grand Island)
• Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (Harrison)
• Bryant Books & Music (Hastings)
• The Cheese and Wine Shop (Hastings)
• Blue Bison (Hebron)
• Coal & Feed Coffee and Vittle at Iron Horse Arts District (Holdrege)
• Axe Holes Kearney (Kearney)
• Kearney Welcome Center (Kearney)
• Museum of Nebraska Art at The Bricks Creative District (Kearney)
• (402) Creamery (Lincoln)
• Elleinad Books (Lincoln)
• Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame (Lincoln)
• Open Harvest Co-op Grocery (Lincoln)
• Sower Books (Lincoln)
• The Scarlet, Tribute Hotel (Lincoln)
• The Tipsy Pine Pizza Pub/Elm Street Ambitions Boutique (Long Pine)
• Embers Bakery & Cafe at McCook Creative District (McCook)
• Mint 217 (McCook)
• Senator George Norris State Historic Site (McCook)
• Lake Minatare State Recreation Area (Minatare)
• The Happy Dackle Market (Mitchell)
• Grimm’s Gardens – Nebraska City (Nebraska City)
• River Mill Coffee Co. (Neligh)
• NoFo Pizza & Cafe at the River Point Creative District (Norfolk)
• V’z Oddz and Endz (Norfolk)
• North 40 Chophouse (North Platte)
• Eccentric Lamb Fiber Arts, Ltd at the Western Trails Creative District (Ogallala)
• Legends Comics & Coffee at Benson Creative District (Omaha)
• The Capitol District (Omaha)
• The Next Chapter Books (Omaha)
• Corner Hardware and More (Orchard)
• Historic Oshkosh Water Tower (Oshkosh)
• A-Mazing Flowers and Studio (Prague)
• It’s All About Bees! (Ralston)
• Hotel Garber (Red Cloud)
• Savor & Grace (Sidney)
• Bloomin Daisies Floral & Gifts (Stuart)
• Roc Hopper Brewing Company (Syracuse)
• Bed Head Coffee Co. (St. Paul)
• Tooth and Whisker Outdoors (Valentine)
• Found + Flora (Wahoo)
• Rose Cottage Guest House (Wayne)
• Winnetoon Mall & Post Office (Winnetoon)
• Mack’s Golden Grounds (York)