Omaha or bust!

We took the kids to Omaha and had a great time!  We stopped in Topeka and picked up our Salmans' cousins for the adventure.  William was thrilled because cousin Jack is one of his favorite people on earth.  They have such a great time together and are the best of friends.

We visited the Omaha Strategic Air and Space Museum as well as the Omaha Zoo and Lewis and Clarke exhibit.   We stayed at the Omaha Holiday Inn because it was in a great location downtown and had an outstanding indoor waterpark for kids.

William loved the Strategic Air and Space Museum.  It was full of airplanes and fighter jets that the kids could climb into and explore.  Jack and Clara took a turn in a flight simulator capsule, but William was not interested.  It was an enclosed capsule that flipped you around and turned upside down.   He was not up for that adventure.

The Omaha Zoo was fabulous.  We spent 5 hours there on Sunday.  It's so well done and the exhibits are outstanding.  The habitats are beautiful and the animals are truly engaged with the visitors.  There is a penguin exhibit where you watch them stand on ice burgs, swim underneath the ice and there is even snow falling from the sky.  There is a "creatures of the night" tour which the girls hated.  It was super dark and you followed a trail while alligators and other scary creatures were underneath you swimming around.  Anna screamed the whole way to the back door! 

The zoo also has a fabulous children's area.  There is a huge carousel and a wonderful old fashion train that gives rides around the entire zoo.  We wanted to ride the ski lift across the zoo for an arial perspective, but an afternoon rain shower closed the ski lift. 

Everyone loved it.  Omaha also has a cool downtown that is old with historic buildings that are now bustling restaurants and shops.  After the zoo, we went to dinner at a pizza place and got ice cream afterwards.

Before heading home on Monday morning, we stopped at the Lewis and Clarke Exhibit put on by the National Park Service.  I must admit it was a bit of a disappointment and left a lot to be desired.  There was one cool feature.  It was a huge pedestrian bridge that connects the Iowa border with Nebraska.  The boys thought it was so cool that they could straddle their legs and be in both states at the same time. 

Omaha was a great trip and we'd love to go back again.