Hello, Hunter

 Our first stop this morning before we left town was to see the falls for which Sioux Falls was named.  It was a good decision because the falls were very pretty.

Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls

The sky looks very interesting as we drove east on I-90.  We did drive off and on in rain but, thankfully, the rain cooled the temperatures down...Yeah!

Minnesota welcomed us!

Everytime we drive this part of I-90 we would see the Spam Museum advertised so this time we stopped.  It is located in Austin, Minnesota.  Austin is the headquarters of Hormel the company who originated and manufactures Spam.  I love Spam. I even have a casserole that features Spam.  When the kids were at home and it was their birthdays, they quite frequently asked for the Spam casserole for their birthday meal.  

See the picture below for explanation of this motorcycle.

We arrived at Ames at 3:00 p.m.  Hunter came to the motel and we played a game of cards.  Then we went to Texas Roadhouse for supper.  We saw this character in the restaurant.  He is Andy Armadillo.  He roamed the dining area and danced at different times.  I don't think Decatur's Roadhouse has an Andy Armadillo.  At least, we have never seen him there.

After supper, we returned to the motel for another game of cards.  It was good to visit with Hunter.  He is busy with his classes and now he has a job that he has to juggle with classes and studying.  He is looking forward to getting  college behind him, but we told him to enjoy every day because one day he will walke up and be our ages.

Tomorrow we head for home.

Easy Driving in Loess Hills

 

Another morning sunrise in Omaha.  This will be our last because we are leaving this morning for Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The stateline on the east side of Nebraska is the Missouri River; however, a massive flood in 1877 shifted the path of the Missouri River.  Carter Lake changed from the east side of the river to the west side.  Nebraska claimed the newly isolated land as its own.  1892 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that violent shifts in a river do not change esablished state boundaries.  Carter Lake is the only  city in Iowa located entirely west of the Missouri River. To get to Omaha's airport you must leave Nebraska, drive through Carter Lake, Iowa and then back into Nebraska.  Kaskaskia, Illinois has the same situation.

Our first stop this morning was the Lewis and Clark Monument.  It was erected to commerate a meeting between  Lewis and Clark and the Otoe and Missouri Indians before the expedition left to explore the west.

View of Omaha from the Monument.

View of Eppley International Airport in Omaha.

View of the Missouri River from the Monument.

Taken from the Monument.

From the Monument we spent the rest of the morning driving the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway.

At one small town, we were stopped by a trail on the track.  As you can see, if the train would only backup a few more feet, it would  clear the crossing.

The Loess Byway ended in Sioux City.  
This monument is located in Sioux City, Iowa.  It was erected in in memory of  Sgt Charles Floyd who was the quartermaster of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  He was the only member of the expedition to die during the expedition.  He was buried on a hill above the Missouri River.  The  citizens of Sioux City raised the funds to erect this monument near his grave.

View of the Missouri River from the Monument.

View from the Monument.

Sioux City sits on the border of South Dakota.

Driving north from Sioux City the clouds looked ominous and it did rain as we drove.

Before we checked in at the motel, we ate at this little restaurant.  It advertises authentic Latin foods and that was very true.  We discovered that we were the only ones in the restaurant who spoke English.  When we were given the menu, it contained only pictures and Spanish descriptions of the food.  We really did not know what to order.  This was not the usual Mexican restaurant serving tacos, burritoes, and enchiladas at which we were used to eating.  Thankfully, the waitress suggested something and we trusted her.  It turned out to be very, very good.

This is what the platter looked like.  There were four different meats:  shrimp, beef, sausage, and chicken, pico de galio, a different kind of dipping sauce and homemade tortilla dipped in something and fried.  It was delicious.  Not only was the food different, the meal did not start with chips and salsa!

We have never eaten Mexican like this food!

We arrived at the hotel around 4:00 p.m. and are settled in for the night.  Tomorrow afternoon we will be stopping by Ames, Iowa for a short visit with Hunter before driving home on Tuesday.  We enjoyed driving the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway.  I am sure it would be very beautiful in the fall when the leaves change  It was a nice change of pace from instate driving.

Bellevue and Omaha - So Many Changes!

 

Good morning from Omaha.

We began the day around 8:30 by driving to Bellevue.  So much has changed.  So many new roads and interstate-like highways but we finally found some more familiar looking roads and places.  Above is the Erling Berquist Military Hospital in which John was born.  Now it is only a clinic not a full hospital.

Then we found the spot where the above trailer sat right outside the Bellevue Entrance Gate of Offutt AFB.  Ten years ago when we were here, it was an empty field.  Now it is filled with the apartment buildings pictured below.

From the trailer we moved to the Lindyview Apartments.  Ours was apartment Number 3.  Number 3 is where the yellow car is parked.

Finally, our last move was to the basement of this house on 33rd Avenue in Bellevue.  John was born when we lived in this apartment.  I remember that on July 20 (John was one month old), we sat on the steps up to the house and looked up at the moon thinking about Neil Armstrong and the fact that he was walking on the moon we were looking at.

The church in which we were married.

The wedding picture posted yesterday was taken on the steps of this church.

After sightseeing around Bellevue we drove to Dodge Street which is the main street of Omaha.  We drove west toward Boys Town.  We saw that the Southroads Mall in Bellevue where we had spent many Saturdays "looking" was no longer a mall but Westroads Mall managed to remain a mall.  It was new when we were here and far west from Bellevue so we didn't go there very much.  Malls were the big thing in the 60's!  This is the new city library of Omaha.  It certainly doesn't look like a traditional library.

Skyline of Omaha

Dodge Street heading west.   Downtown, like most big cities, is no longer the destination of shoppers.

This is the Durham Museum.  This building was originally Omaha Union Station.
The building has been transformed from top to bottom into a hands-on museum.  It contains several exhibit halls some of which are permanent and others are temporary.  These exhibits celebrate the history of Omaha.

Union Station opened in 1931 and at its peak more than 10,000 passengers passed through each day with the peak being during World War II.

Several statues are around the main hall.  This is where tickets could be purchased.

To save costs, the building used plaster instead of marble for the walls.  This is an example of a plaster figure on the wall.

These chandeliers hang 45 feet from the ceiling and are 13 feet tall and weigh about two tons.  The chandeliers had to be lowered by a hand crank to replace the bulbs.

These figures represent a common scene during WWII

Carol is listening to a couple of fellow soldiers.

The floors were marble.

Interior of the Pullman Cornhusker Club Car.

This car has a very interesting history.  On June 6, 1948  the Union Pacific attached the Club Car to President Harry S. Truman's train.  Truman was traveling west from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, California.  The train was Truman's 1948 Whistle Stop Tour to campaign for his reelection.  Truman traveled more than 30,000 miles stopping in over 200 towns.  He did win reelection.

Until the late 50's  these trollys were an important means of transportation in Omaha.  This car was built in 1917.

One of the exhibits featured photographs of trains in which the photographer waited several days and even years to get the photo.  This one he waited three years for the sun to be in the perfect location for this shot.

This was a temporary exhibit featuring costumes from Disney movies.  The costumes were on loan for this exhibit.

 Cruella De Vil worn by Glenn  Close in 101 Dalmations.

Cinderella gown above and the glass slipper below.

 Prince Charming in Cinderella.

Bert the chimneysweep and Mary Poppins.

   Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Captain Hook and Peter Pan

Santa Claus worn by Tim Allen in Santa Claus 3

Worn by Nicolas Cage in National Treasure

Jack Frost costume worn by Martin Short in Santa Claus 3

We ended the museum time by having a delicious sundae from the snack bar.

After spending two hours at the museum, we tried to visit General Crook House Museum but it was closed.  General George Crook fought in the Indian Wars and Civil War.  Originally, Offutt AFB was Ft. Crook named after General Crook.  We decided that we would head back to the motel and rest for the remaining afternoon.  Naps felt good!  There is a Perkins across the street from the hotel so about 4:00 p.m. we walked there and had an early supper.  

It has been a good day.  We had originally planned going to the Henry Doorly Zoo but because of temperatures in the high 90's, we decided to do things inside with air conditioning.  I don't think we could have walked the zoo grounds in temperatures like these.  Tomorrow we pack up the car and our memories and head north on the Loess Hills Scenie Byway.  It should be a very relaxing day.