Omaha

The second stop on our trip was Omaha, Nebraska.  We scheduled two nights in Omaha because we had heard such good things about it. We stayed at a chain hotel downtown because we could get a suite and it was in an old building – a post office if I remember correctly:

We arrived with starving, yet hyper, children.  Luckily, this hotel was within walking distance of the Old Market area where there were plenty of options for dinner.  We walked to dinner, and had a great meal at a Brewery.

There are so many fun things to do in Omaha, and we were really bummed to pass through before the College World Series was in town.  We had an entire day to spend in Omaha, and we decided to take the boys to the Doorly Zoo, which we had heard so many good things about.  We got there relatively early, parked, purchased tickets (we bought the option that included everything but the IMAX) and started our day.

We heard the zoo was huge and that there would be no way to do it all in one day.  It was huge and we did not, in fact, do it all, but we did a lot!  We loved seeing the polar bear, gorillas (there was a mom and baby!), lions, alligators, turtles, and many other favorite animals.

This exhibit was the Stingray Beach – it was a tank where you can feed and touch sting rays.

 

Just a little excited to take the Sky Safari (chair lift) across the zoo. Henceforth, every chair lift shall be referred to as a sky safari.

After ice cream, Henry begged to see the aquarium. We were tired, but it turned out to be great. The boys really enjoyed seeing the penguins.

That night, we ordered pizza to our hotel and watched a movie.  (We also did some laundry!). Chas treated the two big boys to a trip to the arcade that was on the lower level of the hotel.  They were thrilled!  Everyone got to bed early.  It was a great day in Omaha.

Accommodations:  Residence Inn and Suites Old Market.  Our room had a full kitchen, sleeper sofa for the male children, and a private bedroom for us.  The staff was so nice.  One bellman, Stephen, was so nice.  When Carter got a really bad headache on our way home from the zoo, he went and got him M&M’s and told Carter that when he got headaches as a kid, m&m’s always made it better.  Not sure there is any science to back that up, but he was so sweet!

Dinner (night one): Upstream Brewery in Omaha’s Old Market area.

Dinner (night two):  Zio’s Pizzeria (recommended by hotel staff)

Doorly Zoo:  omahazoo.com