"I still can't shake the Nebraska off of me"
Andrew Rannells
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| Lauritzer Botanical Gardens |
At first we were going to only spend two days visiting Omaha Nebraska. However, the weather was so lovely and we planned some great things to do after researching the area with AAA tour guides. So, we quickly changed our plans and extended our stay. We stayed our first two night at Base Lake Campground which is located 15 minutes outside of Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue. It was a pretty lake campground for active and retired military. The lake was stocked and we saw lots of people taking advantage of the good fishing. Our site was spacious with full hook ups. Reservations are recommended due to its popularity and small size. We feel very privileged to be able to stay at these military campgrounds and try to include them as often as possible in our travels.
The Offutt Air Force Base is the U.S. Strategic Command Headquarters which "provides reconnaissance and precision awareness to national leadership and war fighters at any time and any place". You can feel the power! President Bush was brought here right after 9/11. Much of this base is underground and very secure.
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| Lauritzer Botanical Gardens |
The next day we really enjoyed our visit to Lauritzer Botanical Gardens. Throughout the extensive grounds there are lovely gardens which branch off in different directions.
The rose garden has over 2000 bushes. You can take a tram tour here but we decided to walk it instead and enjoyed the leisurely pace. One of our favorites was a train garden. There were multiple tracks with trains scurrying around among the plants and trees. I was intrigued by the amazing detail.
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| Train Gar |
The next day we went to the Dunham Museum. Bill and Chris you would really love it here. Omaha is all about trains. President Lincoln in 1858 designated this city as the place for the first transcontinental railroad to go westward.
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| Dunham Museum |
This museum is located in the former train station of the Union Pacific. Its in a art deco style and is a very beautiful and unique place.
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| Train Lobby and Waiting Area (soda fountain is in the back) |
There were actual train cars you could walk through too.
A fun traveling exhibit is here telling the tales shipwrecks and their recovery by Odyssey Marine Exploration. There are some stunning displays of the actual bounty discovered. There were lots of gold coins, silver bars, porcelain treasures (amazing how they survived) and pirates too. Beware!
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| Glass bottles and perfume containers |
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| Some of the coins in this case were worth over $25,000 |
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| Silver bars |
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| Captain John Blackbeard |
We had these sinfully delicious treats at the antique soda fountain. Yum!
We moved to another campground down the street due to a big event going on at the military park. Haworth Campground is a county campground along the Missouri River its good location is reasonably priced. Most sites are 30 amp sites. A few have 50 amp and water.
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| Haworth Campground |
When we were traveling in Canada last summer our friends Carl and Vickie told us about how they loved to find Volksmarch walks and in-cooperated them in their full time travels. We tried one with Vickie in Quebec. I checked the website- see link -and found there were several in Omaha. The definition of a Volksmarch from their website is -" a non competitive 5 or 10 km walk. It's not a pledge walk, its not a race, it is a fun activity with your family, with your pet, or all by yourself. Volksmarching got its name from its origin in Europe. Today there are thousands of volksport clubs around the world."
On the website it tells you where to go to pick up the detailed instructions for the walk and how it is rated. This one was supposed to be well groomed with few obstacles. Sweet! In Omaha the walks are sponsored by the Nebraska Wander Freunde Trailblazers. We drove to the Comfort Inn and asked at the desk for the "walk box". I found detailed instructions, map, and a stamp to be used if you want to obtain credit for the walk. We were soon on our way to the start point. It was a beautiful day for a walk. You can find a list of all the walks in the U.S by clicking this link. Choose the state you are interested in walking and YRE/Seasonal Events drop down boxes.
Along the route we made a quick stop at the National Park Headquarters to get a stamp for our National Parks book. It was a nice center.
The highlight of this walk was passing by the park commemorating the pioneers and history of the westward movement. The life size statues are amazing. We spent a lot of time here walking among them.
Check out how this buffalo which was incorporated right into the corner stone of a parking garage.
A 10K walk is a little bit long for us but we did better than expected. John's knee replacement really slowed us down for awhile but he is feeling better with each passing day and tolerated this walk fairly well. We did stop for lunch downtown for a break.
There were bike rental racks everywhere What a cool idea. The first hour is $6 and each additional hour is $4.
Our walk ended right along the Missouri river. There was a Taste of Omaha Festival going on which was a nice surprise and very well attended.
I think some more AVA walks will be in our future. Thank you Carl and Vickie for indroducing us to them. Why not try one yourself.
We are now heading further west to another Corp of Engineer Park in Nebraska. A side trip into Kansas to see the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine is on the agenda!
On the website it tells you where to go to pick up the detailed instructions for the walk and how it is rated. This one was supposed to be well groomed with few obstacles. Sweet! In Omaha the walks are sponsored by the Nebraska Wander Freunde Trailblazers. We drove to the Comfort Inn and asked at the desk for the "walk box". I found detailed instructions, map, and a stamp to be used if you want to obtain credit for the walk. We were soon on our way to the start point. It was a beautiful day for a walk. You can find a list of all the walks in the U.S by clicking this link. Choose the state you are interested in walking and YRE/Seasonal Events drop down boxes.
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| Lewis and Clark National Historic Visitor Center |
The highlight of this walk was passing by the park commemorating the pioneers and history of the westward movement. The life size statues are amazing. We spent a lot of time here walking among them.
Check out how this buffalo which was incorporated right into the corner stone of a parking garage.
A 10K walk is a little bit long for us but we did better than expected. John's knee replacement really slowed us down for awhile but he is feeling better with each passing day and tolerated this walk fairly well. We did stop for lunch downtown for a break.
There were bike rental racks everywhere What a cool idea. The first hour is $6 and each additional hour is $4.
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| Rental bicycles |
Our walk ended right along the Missouri river. There was a Taste of Omaha Festival going on which was a nice surprise and very well attended.
I think some more AVA walks will be in our future. Thank you Carl and Vickie for indroducing us to them. Why not try one yourself.
We are now heading further west to another Corp of Engineer Park in Nebraska. A side trip into Kansas to see the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine is on the agenda!
