Day 5: Omaha, Nebraska

Ok, more time to post now, and about my Saturday spent in America's heartland.

For the first part, I am staying with my friend Jenny from grad school. Jenny is currently working at the College of St. Mary in Omaha as the Director of Student Leadership and New Student Orientation (basically she has five jobs and does them all very well).

We toured the CSM campus today. It is the tiniest thing ever! They have about 1,100 students ever. It is hilarious to listen to Jenny refer to the college, as she says things like "the history professor" and "the HR person". Still, the campus has a lot of new facilities and it looks pretty cool.

After that, we got some delicious grub at Wheatfield's, a local bakery and restaurant. Their special was raspberry pie - Jack, I thought about buying you some and carrying it with me all the way to Texas but I didn't think it would make it (because I would have eaten it, not because it would have gone bad).

We then went to downtown Omaha, which is actually cooler than it sounds. You can certainly tell that Omaha was a city built with another industry in mind but it has reinvented itself pretty well (the city thanks you, Warren Buffet). There has been a lot of money invested in the riverfront property and the surrounding areas.

We stopped by Sand in the City, which is an event this weekend in Omaha known throughout the nation (or so says Spirit Magazine, official magazine of Southwest Airlines). They bring a ton of sand into a parking lot and have professional sculptors come and make amazing things. The public can buy a vote for the best one, and the money goes towards Omaha Children's Fund (don't quote me on that). All of the sculptures had some sort of Omaha tie-in. Jenny and I each voted for a different sculpture but the one that we thought was the creepiest was winning. Go figure!

After that we walked the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. It's a bridge built in 2008 that goes across the Missouri River and links Omaha to Iowa. It''s the longest pedestrian suspension bridge of it's kind. We also stopped by the National Park Service Midwest Office and looked around their Lewis and Clark museum and such. History in the area!

Jenny tried to take me around to the zoo but we got a little lost. Oh well! I also got to see the new College World Series stadium being built and the tallest building between Denver and Chicago - who knew it was in Omaha? You and I both now do.

All in all, it has been a pretty relaxing day, minus the ridiculous humidity. I forgot what it was like to walk outside into an oven! Crazy. I have enjoyed seeing just hanging out with Jenny and not making her think she has to do a ton of tour-guiding things with me.

Tomorrow, we are going to hang out with some of Jenny's friends and I will get to see Boyd, an old family friend living in town. Then Monday it's off to Milwaukee!

Joey