April 22 – Omaha Nebraska Small Town Ambiance with Big City Attractions

100_1374I checked online for the top ten sides to see in Omaha and then figured out which ones would be doable with my sweet hubby who needs to be taking it easy with his knee. He pushed the limit as usual, and we were busier than expected. He wanted me to have a good time too.
Our first stop was the Mormon Trail Center. Being raised in the Mormon Church, but no longer practicing, I still find some of the history intriguing, especially during the pioneer times and this was about their trails, trials and tribulations but also the wonders that made them special and the blazing of trails that others would follow.
There was a short movie and then an explanation of individual exhibits portraying pioneer scenes. Omaha was the middle stopping point between Nauvoo IL and Salt Lake City UT, while they waited out the brutal winter, then they turned it into a staging point for future pioneers. We were not able to make it up to the cemetery but could see it from the overlook window. There is also the Omaha Temple next door.

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April 21 – Buffalo Wild Bill Cody Fort Began Our Fun-Filled Day of History

DSC_2120Slept good, no mountains in sight, a couple cups of coffee and I was ready to begin the day, which turned into an enjoyable day of some “Wild West” history; after all we were following the trek west of the early history of the Oregon Trail in reverse.
We visited Fort Cody before heading out of town. I had a blast doing some shopping for my son Cody, taking some silly pictures, chatting with the two lovely ladies who run the fort, mailing a postcard which I actually got to slip into an authentic Pony Express leather mail holder and receiving some history lessons. One of the sweet ladies at the shop and museum is a retired school teacher. Buffalo Bill had a farm a little ways up the road in the later years of his life. In the early days he was an army scout and pony express rider.

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April 20 – Today We Hit The Highest Elevation On This Trip

Entering NebraskaToday Hit The Highest Elevation Experienced During Our entire Trip across the USA. How high? 8640 feet. 5280 Feet is ONE MILE so this is 1.64 miles up in the air! Thin air!

I swear I am not trying to dwell on negative thoughts but I think the elevation is eating my brain cells or at least the good mood ones.
Slept like crap, left the hotel fairly early, did not even bother with breakfast and headed east out of town.
Literally the second we got to the edge of town on the interstate, we saw a semi sitting on its side, perfectly straight, like it was simply tipped over. Seeing something like that does not build one’s confidence in what is coming up ahead. A wind gust must have blown the entire rig over, as there were no signs of a crash.

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April 19 – Thought The Largest Mountains Were Behind Us?

end of I-84Woke up refreshed, enjoyed a much better complimentary breakfast than normal in a grand acoustic lobby setting, dragged our feet getting ready, finally loaded the car and got on our way.
By the way I would highly suggest Ben Lomond Suites in Downtown to anyone visiting Ogden Utah. Ladies the bathrooms are huge.

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April 18 – Seeing Idaho on the Fly

Idaho mountainsLet me begin these next few blogs with an apology. If I don’t paint your home state in the best of light, people should realize I am only seeing part of that particular state, but I am sure there are plenty of beautiful areas in every state so please do not become offended. It is just my limited knowledge and opinion, however I would enjoy hearing about places to visit in each state. Some days we barely make it through a state and other days we’re just barreling through several ones. Our ‘good’ days are those that come with the pleasure of being educated or wowed by nature or human creativity or perseverance. The ‘bad’ days are the ones that have no highlights form scenery to food to human interaction. Our trip through Idaho today fell distinctly into that latter category.

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