I mean, how long does it take to look at corn????
As I mentioned in my last post, we are in Omaha, Nebraska visiting JC and Kara, who recently relocated here. Kara grew up in Omaha so she knew some great places to visit, unfortunately, we’re only staying 5 days so we only had time to visit a few.
Well, of course that was the first place you went!!!
We spent our first visit here at the Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari, which is affiliated with the Henry Doorly Zoo. This is a 440 acre drive-through park featuring animals of North America. Since you all know by now that I love animals, you won’t be surprised that this was our first outing 😊! JC drove at the required speed of 7 mph so I could look out the window. (ED. NOTE – A “Black Sheep” reference and I didn’t even have to make it!!! Good job, writer!!!) The park was filled with large, grassy fields and plenty of room for the animals to roam.
It’s weird the way they hide from humans!!!
First up were elk which I love to see. We drove through a section that was supposed to have white-tailed deer but they must have been spending their time back in the trees and camouflaged well because none of us were able to spot any. We rounded a curve to the Pelican Wetlands which was curious because we’re in Nebraska – not anywhere near an ocean…. They were interesting to see fairly close and are very large birds – I’ve only seen them before sitting on dock posts or flying over the ocean! (ED. NOTE – I hope they have winter feathers – or can at least get some goose down to stay warm!!!)
The next section was the Eagle Aviary and walking trails around large fenced in areas. The aviary held 3 bald eagles which had been rescued and were unable to live in the wild because of an injury. There were several owls as well.
Now that’s my kind of life!!!!!
We took off along the trail around Wolf Canyon that took us by black bears. One was happily eating something and the other was laid out for a nap. As we continued on down the trail, we walked along the fence that held the grey wolves. This area was very wooded and quiet. We were lucky enough to see two different wolves. The Grey stayed very still and stalked us as we continued down to the end of the path. (ED. NOTE – OK, my turn for the movie reference!!!) Then as we walked back down, we noticed a beautiful cream colored wolf laying under the trees sleeping. I always thought wolves were all shades of gray so was very surprised to see this one. She (in my mind it was a she) was the most gorgeous animal I have seen (zoom in for a better view). 
We got back in the car to continue through the park and passed several other small wetland areas with Sandhill cranes. Then we came to the Bison Plains! There was a large group of bison chilling under the trees. It was cool seeing so many together. On the Bison Reserve in Montana, they were spread out into groups of two or so together at one time. This group was closer to 20 or more!!
As we left the refuge there was another elk area where we saw quite a few females and one huge buck right at the exit. We decided he was there to wish us a good day 😊! (ED. NOTE – Well, he may have been there for the ladies, but sure, we’ll go with your thing!!!)
Eventually, it has to stop raining, right????
Our next 2 days were filled with rain, so we just hung out and spent time together. Thursday was another beautiful day! We headed out to the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge, which spans the Missouri River between Council Bluffs, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska. It is a cable-stayed bridge which allows the cables to sing when it’s windy. Obviously, in the middle of this bridge is the border of Nebraska and Iowa. 
Of course, we had to stop and stand on the border of both states at the same time! (ED. NOTE – I had never been to Iowa before this so technically I can say that I’ve been there now. I mean, the part I saw looked like a river bank but it still counts!!!) There are signs along the bridge telling the history of the Missouri River and how man and progress forced the river to change its boundaries – it was quite interesting.
After that, we headed to Old Market in downtown Omaha – the arts and entertainment area. This cobble-stoned area of approximately 20 square blocks has small funky shops and restaurants in the old warehouses that stood in Omaha for many years. There is some fascinating history about the area. We mostly window shopped, wandering in and out of shops and enjoying being together. It is a lovely area, but, if it were me, I would close it off to cars! Hope someone in charge in Omaha is reading – HA! (ED. NOTE – Agreed, these downtown shopping/dining areas are better as car-free zones. Somebody in city planning should tell them that!!!)
We only put a dent in the things to see in Omaha – we’ll definitely be back and will be ready to visit the rest.