Chapter 16: Is This Heaven? No, It’s Iowa.
Well, look at that. I distracted you long enough with that Hilton Head side-story to get through the mind-numbing drive that is I-80 in Nebraska. You’re welcome.
We arrived in Omaha, Nebraska right around 5:00 p.m. Our van seemed to almost guide itself to the Old Market area downtown, following the siren call of Italian food. Almost as if it knew that this was the best way to cure the cramps of 9 hours in a minivan. We found ourselves parked next to
The Old Spaghetti Works.
The Old Market is the historic district of the city, and maintains its character with cobblestone streets, preserved historic buildings and even some covered sidewalks. The neighborhood has a lot of character, making it a nice stop for weary travelers.
The Spaghetti Works fits right into the theme, presenting itself as an old-school mom-and-pop Italian restaurant (albeit a very large one) with plenty of kitschy vintage décor.
This is a little hard to see, but they made this shell of an old truck into their salad bar.
Dinner hit the spot very nicely. Sometimes you just get in the mood for an old-school Italian meal, where one dish could feed three people. I had my go-to dish, chicken parmesan. Very tasty.
Julie went with gnocchi and seemed happy with her choice as well. The kids were less creative and shared some pizza, but that’s ok because it’s a little lighter on the wallet. The family Budget Committee approved.
While we were dining, a woman came around making balloon animals for kids at various tables. Now I ask you parents out there, if someone comes to your table and offers your kids balloon animals, is there any way you can possibly say no?
Well, sure there is. You just say, “No.” It’s not quantum physics. Stand your ground and say, “No.” If you want to be polite, you can say, “No, thank you.” What, do you need a flowchart or something?
But anyway, we didn’t say no. Because we are weak. And this lady was pretty good. I liked Dave’s fish on a pole the best.
Drew seemed especially proud of his Spider-man. Alas, poor Spidey was decapitated in the van shortly after this photo was taken.
Anyway, we left the Old Market and drove a short distance over to
Lewis & Clark Landing, a park on the banks of the Missouri River. We had a hard time finding a parking space, due to the fact that both the College World Series and the U.S. Olympic Trials were being held in Omaha that week. But we never admit defeat in this family—we give lame excuses instead. In this case, however, persistence paid off, and we found a parking space next to a National Park HQ building that was definitely signed EMPLOYEES ONLY. VIOLATORS WILL BE TOWED.
We saw that the building was closed for the day, so we took a chance that they wouldn’t be enforcing the parking rules after hours. Again, we are trained professionals. Do not try this at home.
We had a specific goal here, and I have to give fellow DIS Dad
@FreezinRafiki credit here. They had gone on a similar road trip out this way several months earlier, and this was one of the stops they made. It looked like it would provide two crucial benefits to us: 1) it looked like a nice place to hang out and let the kids run around for a bit, and 2) it gave us a cheap way to set foot in Iowa.
In our quest to get to all 50 states, this was our best chance to cross Iowa off the list. Just as a refresher, our rule in order to take credit for visiting a state is that our feet must touch the soil in the state. This rule is in place basically to keep us from taking credit for airport layovers in which we never leave the terminal building. Now, this still means some states (like Iowa) can get short shrift, but at least it requires us to physically cross the border and get out of a car.
You might think this is too big of a loophole, and that we can’t really say we’ve “visited” the state. And in the sense of truly getting a taste of Iowa, I can’t argue with you. All I can say is, cut us some slack. This is a huge country, and we’re based on the East Coast with a limited budget. It’s hard to pull this off. And you can’t say we weren’t physically in the state.
At Lewis & Clark Landing, the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge spans the Missouri River from Omaha, NE to Council Bluffs, Iowa.
As we climbed the bridge, we noticed ominous skies approaching. We needed to walk faster. In a particularly genius moment, we’d decided that Drew needed to stretch his legs and had left his stroller in the van.
There’s a helpful line drawn at the center of the span to show where you cross the border into Iowa.
Looking at that photo, you might be curious to know what it feels like to stand in two states at the same moment in time. I’d say it mostly feels like you’re being crowded by other people trying to take the same dumb touristy photo as you.
Yes, Drew is carrying a takeout box with his leftover pizza slice in it. He was attached to it for some reason, and because Julie and I are getting old and exhausted and he’s the 4th kid, we didn’t fight him over it.
Here’s the view from the other side, offered as proof that yes, we actually were in Iowa. Cross another state off the list!
(And stop with that “cheater” talk.)
We started the long walk back—the path took a few turns and made the bridge seem a lot longer than it looked from the other side. It started to drizzle, so we tried to pick up the pace. Of course that meant Dad (i.e., Low Man On The Totem Pole) was volunteered to carry Drew. Let’s see how Drew feels about it.
“Sucker!”
The rain started coming down a little harder, so we were moving at a fast-walk almost-running pace now. I was really wishing we hadn’t left the stroller in the van.
This is the regional National Park headquarters building. Alas, we couldn’t get inside and get a cheap National Park passport stamp for the Lewis & Clark National Trail since the building was closed. Still, cool building.
By the time we reached that building, it was a full-on deluge. On the downside, we got soaked. But on the plus side, we got a bit of a rainbow.
We got in the van and tried to dry off as best we could. Thankfully, there was no parking ticket on the windshield.
We drove south of the city through the storm to our hotel. Along the way, we did the only sensible thing you can do when you’ve been driving through Nebraska all day and then got stuck in a huge rain storm.
We stopped at
Culver’s for frozen custard. And all was right with the world once again.
Coming Up Next: I’m serious. You haven’t lived until you’ve done this.
Who are you and what have you done with Mark?
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aboard!
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