I’m not really a concert person. I can count on one hand, or maybe two, the number of concerts I’ve attended in my life.
It’s just not something I’ve ever prioritized. Tickets are expensive, the concerts themselves are loud and crowded, and I’m very much not a night owl. But there are a few musical groups that, for me, are worth it, and Mumford & Sons is one of them.
They actually performed at Red Rocks in Colorado last summer, which is the concert we probably should have attended. But why attend a local show at one of the best music venues in the world when we could drive all the way across Nebraska to see them perform instead?
Said no one ever.
(There was also the fact that we were just getting back from a trip the night of the concert and that ticket prices were far more than I was willing to pay. Of course, by the time we factor in gas, food, and three nights in a hotel in Omaha, we far exceeded the cost of the Red Rocks tickets. But that’s beside the point.)
The concert was awesome! Unlike many bands, Mumford & Sons actually sounds very good live. And overall, everything ran very smoothly. It was a wonderful end to our weekend.
The concert was Sunday night, and Monday was just the long drive back to Colorado. That left us with all day Saturday and most of Sunday to explore as much of Omaha as we could. For the short amount of time we had, I’d say we did pretty well.
Table of contents
- Omaha Zoo
- The Old Market
- Durham Museum
- Riverfront Park
- Lewis & Clark Landing
- Council Bluffs, Iowa
- Food and Drink
Omaha Zoo
When I started researching things to do in Omaha, I immediately disregarded the zoo. We have zoos in Colorado, and I’ve been to multiple other zoos. But then I started mentioning this trip to people, and the zoo kept coming up as worth a visit.
So we went, and I’m so glad we did.
Not only did we go to the zoo, we spent the entire day at the zoo! The Omaha Zoo is enormous. We arrived just after the 9:00am opening time and left just before the zoo closed at 5:00pm. In that time, we made it through all the exhibits but didn’t have time to read any of the informational signs. We easily could have spent a least another half day here.
The aquarium portion of the zoo could have been a destination of its own.
Other highlights for me included:
- Lemurs because, well, lemurs!
- Watching the gorillas and orangutans.
- (Hearing an orangutan fart quite loudly was pretty funny too.)
- Elephants.
The biggest disappointment was the meerkats, who were apparently all sleeping somewhere out of sight.
The Old Market
The Old Market neighborhood is the historic area of downtown Omaha, and bills itself as the arts and entertainment district. We didn’t spend enough time here for me to say much about it, other than that I liked the cobblestone streets and historic buildings. If eating, drinking, and/or shopping is your jam, this seems to be the place to go.
Durham Museum
Now a National Historic Landmark and history museum, Omaha Union Station was constructed in 1931 for the Union Pacific Railroad. The museum information tells me it was built in the Art Deco style. I’m completely clueless when it comes to architectural styles, but apparently this is not one that was commonly used by the railroad at the time.
We arrived at 2:00pm knowing the museum would be closing at 4:00pm; we anticipated that this wouldn’t be enough time to see everything, and that was accurate. In fact, it wasn’t even close. We easily could have spent another 2-3 hours here.
Upon entry, we found ourselves in the great hall, with its massive archways and high ceilings. Today, it houses an information desk, gift shop, and restaurant.
The permanent exhibits include art and photography, fashion, old coins, trains, and an extensive overview of Nebraska history. There was also a traveling exhibit about hockey, which we decided to skip in its entirety.
Right: interior of an old Omaha streetcar
Unfortunately, by the time we reached the history exhibits we were running low on time. We made our way through, stopping to skim a few things but ultimately missing out on a lot. I wish we’d had at least a half day to spend here.
Riverfront Park
I’m not entirely sure why I’ve decided to write this post so wildly out of chronological order, but at this point I guess I’m committed, so we’ll just keep going with my initial outline.
On Sunday morning, before going to the museum, we set off on foot from our hotel. Right across the road was a nice strip of green space that led from the edge of the Old Market area to the Missouri River. It’s clear this is a space that has been recently revitalized, and the city has done a great job! There are chairs and tables, gas fire pits, hammocks, playground equipment for kids, a skate park, and many other amenities.
We meandered from one end to the other, around a lake on a connecting path, and ending on a skywalk above the river.
Lewis & Clark Landing
From the skywalk, a path continues north along the Missouri River to the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Headquarters, the main visitor center for the 4900 mile (7885 km) national historic trail that commemorates the Lewis & Clark expedition.
Unfortunately, due to the government shutdown, the visitor center was closed. I was super bummed. On the other hand, if we’d spent the morning at the visitor center, we wouldn’t have had time to visit the museum in the afternoon, so I guess it all worked out in the end.
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Adjacent to the visitor center is a 3000 foot (0.9 km) long pedestrian bridge across the Missouri River. The other side of the river just so happens to be Iowa – a state I hadn’t visited since I was about six, and that my husband had never been to at all.
Right: Omar the Troll lives under the bridge
Just over halfway across the river is the state border, so of course I had to partake in some two-state handstand shenanigans.
Feet on the ground in Iowa, we spent a few minutes wandering around the waterfront area. It’s clear the city of Council Bluffs is attempting to spruce up their riverfront spaces just as Omaha has, but it’s very much still a work in progress.
At this point, we’d been walking all morning, so we waved goodbye to Iowa and headed back to our hotel for some lunch.
Food and Drink
Since Iowa was so close, and since we’d been planning to sample some local food and beer on this trip anyway, one evening we decided to check out what seems to be the only brewery in Council Bluffs: Full Fledged Brewing Company.
They don’t sell food, but the pizza place a couple doors down delivers to the brewery for free, so we ordered a couple small pizzas to go with our flights, and enjoyed the food and beers while playing a silly game from the brewery’s collection.
Front flight: kolsch, hefeweizen, blood orange prickly pear ale, pumpkin stout, oatmeal stout
Back on the Omaha side of the river the next day, we figured we should sample some Nebraska beer too. With about three hours between when the museum closed and the concert began, we decided to pop over to Upstream Brewing Company on our way back to the hotel. Located in a historic building in the Old Market district, Upstream claims to be Omaha’s oldest brewpub.
We had dinner waiting in our hotel fridge, so we opted to just order beers and a side of fries. It was a solid array of beers, but the pumpkin hefeweizen was the winner. If not for the fact that our hotel refrigerator was more effective at freezing than refrigerating (resulting in a can of bubbly water that very nearly exploded), we might have purchased a six-pack to take home with us.
Pint: oatmeal stout
Wrap up
While we originally assumed four days would be plenty of time for this little getaway, in retrospect I wish we’d had one to two more. We easily could have spent more time in Lincoln, and another full day in Omaha would have given us enough time to really see the museum and perhaps also visit some additional attractions.
Other places to see in Omaha include:
- Gerald R. Ford Birthplace and Gardens
- Lauritzen Botanic Gardens
- Joslyn Art Museum (recommended by the woman at the Omaha Visitor Center; I don’t personally enjoy art museums, but if you do, apparently this is a good one.)
All in all, Omaha really surprised us! I’m sure there are areas of the city that would have left a very different impression, but the places we visited were nice and clean and we felt safe. It’s clear they’ve put a lot of money into revitalizing the waterfront area and creating spaces for everyone to use, and it was nice to see people out and about taking advantage of these amenities.
Really, the only thing we didn’t like was the number of people who apparently find joy in speeding down the streets in their super noisy cars, the unmuffled cacophony echoing off the high rises. It was very annoying.
Obnoxious cars aside, we enjoyed our weekend in Omaha and would recommend spending a couple days exploring the city if you’re ever passing through Nebraska.
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