We have actually traveled to Omaha, Nebraska 4 times in three years but knew this would probably be the last for awhile and wanted to enjoy some of our favorite places and experience some new things too. I recapped our first few days including a trip to Lauritzen Gardens and Kennefick Park in last weeks post which you can read here.
We stayed the first four nights in
Aksarben Village (Nebraska backwards..clever) which was all very new with hotels less than a year old. If you head to Omaha and want to be away from downtown but within a few miles of all activities I would highly recommend this area.
We grabbed a cupcake at Jones Bros. which has appeared on Cupcake Wars. Dillon grabbed the german chocolate cupcake and evidently it was super because he ate it too quickly to share a bite or have me take a picture.
We were excited to be able to add a pin for College Station on the map!
The boys passed on the
Henry Doorly Zoo this year but Carly, Amy & I just couldn’t resist. There was a huge construction project going on so that did take a little away from one area but it is going to be fabulous when it is completed. We really love this zoo and all the exhibits.
The exhibits are all set up to present the animals in a way that makes them feel so close to you.
What a beautiful animal! The cats have both indoor and outdoor habitats and every time we have been we have been able to see several different types of cats up and moving.
There is also a sky rail that passes across the zoo and is available for a one way or round trip excursion. This is Carly’s favorite thing to do.
The giraffes can be seen as you ride across.
There is also an aquarium with so many different types of animals. We loved these starfish and were allowed to gently touch them.
I have a jellyfish fetish something terrible and could stand and watch them for hours. Hard to believe something so beautiful could inflict so much pain outside of the tank!
There is also a butterfly garden to walk through
Such a fun time with my girl!
We also took a ride on the train around the zoo.
There is so, so much more to see and you will just have to trust me it is a zoo that should be on your bucket list!
The boys were fishing at Lake Manawa for the second day and they were able to catch a few.
We met up with the boys at Upstream Brewery for a cold beer and some snacks. We ate dinner here after the first CWS game as well and I really like the food and service.
We moved to the Doubletree Downtown which was the team hotel. It is an older hotel but it was definitely clean, the staff was friendly and the beds were comfortable. Did I mention they have fresh baked chocolate chip cookies pulled straight from the warmer ANY TIME you want one! My kids thought this was the bomb. They also had an indoor pool which was a plus. I loved that we could walk everywhere we needed to go or they also had a shuttle available.
We headed to
Old Chicago for dinner and enjoyed the pizza which was delicious. I have to say the service at this restaurant wasn’t the greatest. We had tried after the Tuesday night game as well and ended up leaving before being seated. I would still keep it on the list as I’m assuming maybe it was just timing as last summer we had a much different experience.
After dinner the kids and I went to explore a park downtown and were so excited to see all the history that was included. You can read about the
First National Spirit of Nebraska Wilderness & Pioneer Trail. The sculptures that wind around downtown helped tell the story and the kids were really interested. We also saw quite a few little bunnies out hopping around which was fun.
The sculptures were much bigger up close as you can see how small Dillon looks on top of this one.
Pretending to be a pioneer.
These fountains were across from our hotel and they looked so beautiful at night!
The next day we enjoyed Italian food at
Spaghetti Works downtown. They have lots of mix and match pasta and sauce dishes and a great salad bar.
It was kind of a dreary day but we walked around downtown anyway. This O looked fun and was outside the Chamber of Commerce so of course we had to stop for a photo op.
We headed up the street to the Fairmont candy store where they have pretty much anything candy you can dream of.
Remember these? So funny to me that when I was a child it was perfectly acceptable to pretend to smoke!
And what about cinnamon toothpix? I remember when we would make these at home and they banned us from bringing them to school!
I grabbed a quick picture with Super Frog at the ballpark and TCU beat LSU for the 2nd time in the tourney!
We had brunch at
The Diner downtown which is a small little restaurant fashioned much like an old time diner. I had the Heartland omelet and it was so good. We dined with Dansby Swanson….well kind of…he was in the restaurant so we felt like we were special.
Dillon & I rented bikes and took little ride down to the
Riverfront park and circled back around town. We figured out really quick that Omaha is much hillier than we realized! They even have gondolas to ride at the park but we passed on that.
While we were biking Carly was having a great time sliding down the big slide in the Gene Leahy Pedestrian Mall area.We had a great time in Omaha! If you have been around the blog at all you know I’m not much on sitting still so when I travel I really try to explore as much about the town as possible. After four visits I would say we hit a lot of the high points of Omaha and there is so much more than just baseball!
One thing we didn’t do this trip was cross the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge but if you ever visit Omaha it is a must. You actually can stand on two states at once in the middle of the bridge and I think it’s cool even though my family thinks it’s overrated. Here is my picture from last year!
Hopefully you enjoyed this little visit to Omaha!
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We have yet to be tourists…and this was our third trip to Nebraska. Maybe our fourth time will be a charm! Always love your posts. I would dork out over the two state bridge, too! I had my boys playing in two states at the same times two days in a row! 😉
Did you guys make it home? How did the boys do?
We made it. Boys individually did great, but their teams came up short. All part of it. I learned to sit back and enjoy it this trip…stressing for them wears me out! Lol!
LOVE how you travel! And, let's dork out together and plan a road trip where we can do all those fun touristy things!!! 🙂
My secretary just got back in the office today {Thank you, God!!} and she said that it was oh-so hot there! She said they didn't get to do alot of things because of the heat (her mother was with them), but they did what they wanted to do and one of them she mentioned was the botantical gardens you guys went to. She said they didn't do the zoo this year, but they normally do. She mentioned a Mexican restaurant that was pretty good. They ended up driving, too. They couldn't get out of Monroe to Houston because of TS Bill and would have missed their connection. She was at the last TCU/LSWho game. Small world.
Such a fun trip – amazing zoo! Love that picture of the jellyfish. I tried to take a picture of a turtle today in Waco but a tiny little tot kept grabbing my arm so mine didn't turn out so clear. 😉
Looks like a fun trip to the zoo. Y'all had a lot going on while you were there!
I grew up in Lincoln, NE (now live in Florida), so I had to check out your post about Omaha on Tuesday Talk! It looks like you hit some great places. Those fountains are really pretty. The Henry Doorly Zoo is one of the best zoos! I have some fun memories of going down the giant slide in the middle of winter. It was very cold!
We had so much fun Emily! Looks like we will be in Florida for spring training next March!