August 7, Monday
Kansas City to Council Bluffs, IA
We took off around 1100 and headed toward Council Bluffs, IA. The weather was excellent, with a mostly cloudy day and temperatures expected to be in the low 80s. The weather was a blessing because this summer was the hottest summer on record.
Lake Manawa State Park Campground
We drove up I-29 from Kansas City until we reached our campground at Lake Manawa State Park, only a few miles off the interstate. The campground was a treeless area near a lake, but all the sites had full hookups and nice wide cement pads. Unfortunately, we did not have a view of the lake. After we set up the camper, we decided to drive around the lake.
Lake Manawa State Park
Lake Manawa State Park encompasses a 753-acre natural lake during a flood in 1881 when the meandering of the great Missouri River cut off a portion of the river channel. It is the closest lake to the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan area. We first drove to the beach area, which cost $5 for a day pass, so we did not get to check it out. We then drove down the east side of Shore Drive, where we saw a lot of lily pads covering the water. An airboat was spraying something on a large patch that appeared to cause them to wilt, so we were unsure if they were killing or spraying them for bugs. We stopped at a picnic area a little further down the road to look at them. They were beautiful and huge.
As we continued around the lake on the east side, the park narrowed to a small strip of land with fishing piers on one side and a small boat channel connecting a community of very nice homes to the lake on the other. On the north side of the lake was a picnic area with tables and a boat launch. The park did not extend to the western side of the lake, so we retraced our drive around the park and headed to the Omaha-Council Bluffs area to look at some sites.
Our first stop was the Golden Spike Monument. This 59-foot railroad spike-shaped monument marks the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific railroad, which was completed in 1869. In 1877, passenger and transfer stations were built on the grounds. However, the motivation behind building this monument in 1939 was not to commemorate. Instead, it was to celebrate the premiere and city-wide celebration of a Cecil B. DeMille movie about the building of the Union Pacific railroad. The Spike now sits in an unkept, out-of-the-way park. The actual location of where the ceremonial 17.6-karat gold final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific Railroad from Sacramento and the Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha on May 10, 1869, is at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory.
River Edge Pavilion
We then headed to River Edge Pavilion to see a large quirky statue called “Looking Up.” This is a giant 33-foot humanoid statue of aluminum roasting pans and foil coated with stainless steel that looks up into the sky. It was unveiled in 2021 and is a large-scale version of a statue in Chicago. The statue was in a well-kept park near the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge on the Council Bluff side of the Missouri River and near the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge. It also gave us a great view of the Omaha skyline.
Alpine Inn
We then drove up to North Omaha to the Alpine Inn for dinner. Along the way was passed the remains of Fort Omaha, an Indian War-era United States Army supply installation. Now, the land and six remaining extant 19th-century structures are occupied primarily by the Metropolitan Community College. A Navy Operational Support Center, a Marine Corps Reserve unit, and an Army Reserve Center are also co-located.
The Alpine Inn is a dive bar located deep in a residential neighborhood known for having the best fried chicken in Omaha, but it is most famous for its raccoons. Outside their large picture windows inside their restaurant, they throw chicken and potato wedges out in their backyard to feed raccoons. We arrived just before the dinner rush and got a good table, allowing us to watch the raccoons run about eating the scraps. I ordered the four-piece chicken dinner, and Lisa got some chicken strips. The dinners were served on paper plates and were very greasy. We did not find the food notable, but we enjoyed watching the raccoons.
Florence Mill
On the way back, we stopped at the nearby Florence Mill and Winter Quarters Museum. Winter Quarters was an encampment formed by approximately 2,500 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints members as they waited during the winter of 1846–47 for better conditions for their trek westward. Members of the LDS faith built more than 800 cabins at the Winter Quarters settlement. Today, the Mill is the last remaining building of the settlement, and the museum has displays about the western trek of the LDS from Nauvoo, IL, to Zion. Both were closed, but we took a few pictures of the outside.
Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge
We drove back to the camper to pick up the bicycles and headed to Rivers Edge Park to bike the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge. The bridge is a 3,000-foot-long walkway that stretches across the Missouri River from Council Bluffs to Omaha. We stopped at the top of the bridge for several pictures and great views of the river, Omaha, and the River Pavilion. The River Park area was under construction on the Nebraska side, but we could still bike a small portion of it and take pictures with Omar the Troll. As we biked back across the bridge, its lights were starting to turn on. We sat on the Council Bluffs side of the river and watched the sunset for a while before returning to the camper.
August 8, Tuesday
Lauritzen Gardens
We left the camper at about 0930. After putting our Google Maps on “avoid highway”, we headed over to Lauritzen Gardens across the South Omaha Veterans Memorial Bridge through the older South Omaha area. Lauritzen Gardens is a 100-acre public garden overlooking the Missouri River in the heart of Omaha.
We bought tickets for a tram tour after walking through their arrival and parking gardens. We headed over to their conservatory/greenhouse, where we saw tropical gardens with an artificial river flowing through them. The tram tour gave us a narrated tour through the length of the gardens, which we learned were very spread out from each other. We saw various gardens such as the Arboretum and Bird Sanctuary, Herb Garden, Garden in the Glen, and the Sunpu Castle Gate and Mt. Fuji Replica. We stopped at the Founder’s Garden to walk around, and then, on the way back, we could walk through the Rose Garden and the Model Railway Garden before getting back on the tram. We enjoyed the Model Railway Garden, which had a lot of wooden bridges and tunnels and replicas of local attractions. It was late summer and hot, so the garden was not at its best, but it was an enjoyable tour.
Mormon Trail Center at Winters Quarters
Several museums we wanted to visit, such as the Union Pacific Museum, were closed, so we decided to visit the Mormon Trail Center at Winters Quarters. This visitor center had exhibits about the westward migration of Latter-day Saints. It is situated in a temporary Latter-day Saint settlement on the Mormon Trail called Winters Quarters, near their local Temple and pioneer cemetery. It was free, and when we first walked in, we were greeted by an information desk asking us if we wanted a guide or to walk on our own. We chose the guide, which walked us around the really small museum through the dozen exhibits and explained the significance of the location and the Mormon trek across the plains to “Zion” or Salt Lake City. The guide was from New Mexico but had roots in the area, and he was proud to talk about his family’s history here. The Center explained the Mormon trek well without being too preachy, which was a relief for us. We both enjoyed the stop.
Memorial Park Rose Gardens
It was around lunchtime, so we headed over to West Omaha to see the Memorial Park and have lunch. Our drive to the park took us through the more affluent neighborhoods of West Omaha, and we enjoyed seeing all the majestic homes. The park has over a thousand bushes and several memorials to soldiers who fought in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam Conflict. One of the highlights is the 26-foot statue called “Embracing Peace” of a sailor kissing a nurse that was inspired by the victory celebrations marking the end of World War II. We ate our lunch and walked through the beautiful statues and gardens before heading to Boys Town.
Boys Town
Upon arriving at Boys Town, our first objective was to see the World’s Largest Ball of Stamps at the visitor center. The ball is 32 inches in diameter, weighs over 600 pounds, and contains an estimated 4,655,000 canceled stamps. Boys Town kids started collecting and trading stamps in the 1930s, and the hobby grew popular over the next few decades. The Ball of Stamps was started in 1953 by D.O. Barrett and youngsters from the Boys Town Stamp Collecting Club. Using a golf ball, they began licking and sticking non-valuable stamps around it until it reached its current size in 1955. Several other displays were surrounding the ball of stamps, including some artwork made from old stamps.
We then drove around Boys Town while listening to a self-guided tour about the village’s history. I was especially touched by how Father Flanagan received letters from many of the thousand former Boys Town citizens fighting in Europe and the Pacific and how so many former Boys Town boys named Father Flanagan as their next of kin that the American War Dads Association named him as America’s No. 1 War Dad.
Tillotson Grain Elevator
We then drove past the large abandoned Tillotson Grain Elevator and 63 silos that range from 90 to 180 feet high. This massive complex had artwork on it for four years, around 2010, and later, it was used as an extreme rock climbing facility. There was nothing much to see except for some street art near their bottoms.
Spirit of Nebraska’s Wilderness and Pioneer Courage Park
We continued downtown to see the sculptures at Spirit of Nebraska’s Wilderness and Pioneer Courage Park. These two sculpture parks combine to form one of the largest bronze sculptures in the world. The park begins with a wagon train heading west, causing a herd of bison to stampede. The bison continued down and around the block to Dodge Street, where they flushed a flock of Canadian geese. We parked our car and admired the over 100 bronze pieces covering six city blocks in downtown Omaha.
Riverfront Parks
We then walked over to the Gene Leahy Mall. The park was one of the three combined to create a large entertainment and green space called The Riverfront that extended through the urban area down to the Missouri River. The more downtown 9-acre Gene Leahy Mall opened on July 1, 2022, while Heartland of America Park and Lewis & Clark Landing were expected to open next month. I enjoyed walking its length and seeing the various people out playing in the fountains or relaxing in the green space.
Upstream Brewery
When we returned to the truck, we drove to the Old Market area and ate dinner at the Upstream Brewery. Historically, this area of Downtown Omaha was a hub for trade and business. Still, now, it is an entertainment district with covered walkways, brick-laid roads, horse-drawn carriages, troubadours, and other street performers.
We ordered a flight of beers, and I had a Pub Burger with Apple Slaw, and Lisa chose the regular
hamburger with fries.
Even though it was a weekday, the district was active when we left the restaurant, but we were tired, so we headed back to the camper for the evening.
9 Aug, Wednesday
Avoca IA Sculptures
We packed up the camper, and since we could not check into our campground until 1600, we decided to check out some quirky sites. Our first stop was a house in Avoca, IA, with several metal sculptures, such as a VW Tarantula sculpture and some rusty metal dragons.
World’s Largest Corn Stalk
On the way back, we stopped at a park near Shelby’s Interstate 80 exit that featured the World’s Largest Corn Stalk. When you carefully examine the 76′ steel sculpture, you can see its corn, beef, and pork symbols.
The Lake Manawa Bike Trail
When we returned to the camper, we decided to ride our bikes on The Lake Manawa Bike Trail from the state park. This nicely paved trail connected to other bike paths that could have taken us to the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge and downtown Omaha. We biked about two miles before turning around and returning to the camper.
We finished packing the camper and headed to our next campground around 1300.