Our arrival in Omaha was met with a new first – Big Alice the RV’s first trip to a mall. After the Spearfish Mouse Incident of 2022 we really wanted to get some additional storage containers to ensure that every molecule of food in the RV was encased in plastic and there was a Container Store on our way to the campsite. Normally stopping any place with the RV that doesn’t have dedicated truck spots is not something we’d consider doing. After all, a 42 foot RV dragging a Jeep behind it isn’t going to just whip into whatever spot is being freed up by a cute little Prius backing out. In this instance though, it was a weekday afternoon and the department store next door had closed, providing us a big, long spot. The trip helped accommodate our need for excessive storage supplies since apparently “we’re not getting a cat under any circumstances” (which, admittedly, felt like a perfectly reasonable solution to me).
Crosby got to meet his niece Lizzie (and her sister Jessica) when we met up with our friend Robin for dinner at Taps and Trucks, a magnificent eatery of food trucks. The “trucks” are all semi-permanently parked around a now-defunct Sonic drive-in, with the old Sonic kitchen providing the “taps” for beer and specialty drinks. Dining options included BBQ, lobster rolls, waffles, shaved ice, and pub food, evoking the old adage “give a man a fish and he eats for a day; drop him in a plaza of food trucks and he eats ten times his daily allotment of calories.” While we somehow missed a dinner invite from Warren, we did randomly run into people we knew at dinner, which doesn’t usually happen when you’re wandering the country. Speaking of calories, Lincoln, NE is also the home of Licorice International, which sells licorice from around the world. Since we went to all the trouble to purchase extra storage on our way to the campground, it seemed only right to put it to use so we could compare licorice from Sweden, Finland, The Netherlands, England, Denmark and Ireland.
What We Did:
Henry Doorly Zoo – One of the things we were most looking forward to was visiting the renown Henry Doorly Zoo. Part zoo, part aquarium, it also offers optional experiences such as feeding giraffes and petting sting rays. The desert dome has a great variety of animals and the walk through lemur island is not to be missed. Plus there was an adorable baby elephant calf when we visited. That’s not to say the zoo isn’t without it’s problems – on the Saturday that we were there all the food concessions were closed except at the main entrance, the skywalk that lets you shortcut from one end of the park to the other was only staffed at one end so all rides were round trip (making it very unshortcut-ty), and a few of the spider monkeys are probably facing a chat with HR over some serious sharing problems with their swings.
Also, because it was warm and midday when we went, a lot of animals were either busy napping or hanging in areas not visible to zoo guests (honestly, Mr. Red Panda, do you think we wanted to see just your tail, even if it was, admittedly, gloriously fluffy?)
Bob Kerrey Bridge – We were told you hadn’t really been to Omaha unless you’ve walked over the Bob Kerrey bridge that crosses the water between Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa. Once again, our Sheltie friends Lizzie B and Jessi were up for the task of showing Beezer the river views and where to meet Omar, the troll who lives under the bridge. Beezer and Lizzie also split an agility lesson with our brilliant instructor friend, followed by walk outdoors through Leehy park, where Beezer was delighted to find she could select her own tennis ball at the entrance of the mall’s dog park.
Overall, we would have loved to spend more time in Omaha (especially Brian, who had both work and family events out of town while we were there). In the meantime, I’ll keep working on that cat acquisition….
Where we stayed:
Camp-A-Way in nearby Lincoln. Since it was fall and we were close enough to where the Huskers played, the park had a fun vibe on the weekends, with the Huskers large red N logo being flown everywhere. It also had one of the largest dog parks of any park we’ve stayed in, although it was also the strangest. Not only was it built on a hill so you couldn’t see if a gate at the opposite end of the park had been left open, there were several large pine trees in the middle of the park which blocked the view of the entire park. We were careful to check for any potentially less-than-social dogs whose owners might be trying to exercise them without other dogs present before letting ours play.
Where we ate:
Shen Cafe
Taps & Trucks
Mr. Huis
Koen Japanese Barbecue
Vincenzo’s
Ollie & Hobbes Craft
Pat’s Pizza
Oishii Japanese Steakhouse
Local Beer, Patio & Kitchen
The Green Gateau
SchillingBridge Cork & Tap House
Blue Sushi Grill
402 Creamery
Lazlo’s Brewery & Grill