There's a button on the main menu that will solve all your problems. It's called "new game" and I'm positive you clicked it at least once.
To be honest, every Bethesda game since Morrowind has had a terribly dumb ending. From Oblivion's "Stand by and let the NPC do all the work" to FO3's "Hey, we're going to make you kill yourself/sacrifice the Brotherhood chick despite giving you no less than eight separate ways to survive" to Broken Steel's "Hey, you beat the Enclave. Good show. Now go bring me cameras and sensor modules."
bethesda games generally don't have endings, the main quest might end, but their games don't end until the player decides to end the game, and its not about the quests and story, bethesda games are about much more than a list of quests, their worlds are dynamic, offer tons of exploration, enemies to fight, plenty of fantasy, and an overall game experience, haven't you ever listened to todd howard talking abuot how they make their games, its not about the story or quests, its the players overall experience, people like dynamic worlds with plenty of fantasy and fun things to do, fun interesting places to explore, battling enemies in dungeons and across the map, thats what they do.