Nearly three years ago, almost to the day, I was driving from Detroit to Denver with my mom to begin final preparations to move to Florence, Italy for 4 months. On that drive, we cruised past the National Strategic Air and Space Museum and decided to stop by to check it out. Unfortunately we were too late, and it was closed for the day. But hey, it was a fun quick hop off the highway, and started my desire to always try something, because, why not?
Now, three years later, I had the chance to stop by and check it out. How awesome is that?! My inner nerd could come out to admire what had inspired me nearly two decades before, the SR-71 Blackbird. Amongst other planes on display, this was the most awe-inspiring, followed closely by the Boeing B-52 that was parked in the adjacent hanger. I happened to wander into a free tour of all the planes and went on a bit of a photo frenzy with all of it. It was a great treat to have, and I am grateful that I managed to stumble into it again and finally see it. Hope you like the photos mom.
With plenty of day left, and Omaha not too far, I made my way to the next great attraction, the Omaha Zoo, voted best zoo in America in 2014. Now, I’m not much a fan of zoos. Hey kind of depress me a bit, and when you see all the animals there, many don’t look too happy to be there. I also respect that they play a large role in science to learn about, preserve, and protect the animals they harbor as well as many more. It’s a necessary evil.
Wandering around for a few hours and seeing the vast exhibits, I can see now why it won. Though unfortunately I ran into renovation season, and a large portion of the zoo was filled with big cats, like backhoe’s, and front loaders. But the exhibits that were still up definitely amazed. With a large bio dome to let birds fly free. Closing hours near, I scrambled to a nearby park to explore a bit of the downtown area, set a slackline, and chow down. I managed to find a beautiful park right along the river front, a rainbow fountain in the middle of the lake made for a beautiful foreground as the downtown sky rises illuminated in the background. Sleep found in the usual place.
----
On the way from my temporary home to downtown, I took a quick pit stop at “Boys Town.” A small city in the middle of the suburbs, it has its own police department and mail delivery, though I saw no fire department. It was started many decades ago, but that’s about all I can tell you. It was a Sunday, so everything was closed and every soul in the area was at the church, the church, attending services. How did I know this? There was one building and every car was parked as close as possible to it. I got a strange “socially acceptable cult” vibe emanating from the place. With the perfect houses along the curving streets, the last name of the family above each address, large vans strewn about the property, and everything kept in perfect order. It was strange to say the least.
I drove around for a bit, and satisfied with what I had seen, headed for city center. Ready to hit the town, I found free parking in the same park parking lot, geared up my backpack, unhitched my bike and set off. Downtown Omaha isn’t too large, though the surrounding suburbs run far and wide. I began just to see what was what. Downtown consisted mostly of general business buildings comprised of different degrees of glass and cement facades. I turned my attention to what seemed to be the main draw, The Old Market.
A few square blocks of cobblestone create an entirely different vibe in the center of the city. Bursting with shops and restaurants of all kinds and varieties. I opted to walk around as it was small enough to do so, and I had a lot of gawking to do. Most of the food was unique to the area, but a few chains still injected themselves in. A small offshoot into one building yielded a small enclosed alley, something I could only liken to a memory from Italy. With shops on three levels and only an arm’s length wide, it was beautiful.
I found a local coffee shop, and decided to post up, as I had done a lot of work the past few days, but mostly focused on learning and not as much tangible work. Though I did slip in some learning, and lost track of the day, it was nearing the end of the golden hour. I returned to the park, with camera in tow this time, and wandered around to see the beautiful lights in the evening haze. The lights were beautiful, making a color scheme akin to human made stars glistening in the sky.
A great end to a great day of wandering, working and exploring.
