Hearts of America Park

After swimming lessons we packed up the car and set out for Omaha. It was a really quick 3 hour (easy drive on the highway) to our hotel in Iowa. Even though we were staying in Iowa, the Nebraska Zoo was only a 5 minute drive from our hotel.

Nathan found a great hotel on hotwire and it was right next to the Convention Center. There wasn't anything going on there, but the complex that the hotel was on was really big. By complex I mean that from our hotel you could walk to (without crossing any streets), restaurants, bars, coffee places, a casino, and Bass Pro shop. For some- you could spend your whole vacation in one spot!

My favorite part of the hotel was the cribs that were available. I was nervous about Allison sleeping with us or in her own bed but she did fabulous and slept through the night starting at 7pm!

We arrived at the hotel at 3:30pm and Nathan wanted to explore Omaha so we crossed the State Line and drove around for about an hour. The roads were so confusing and I've never seen so many four-way stops in a downtown in my life. People in Nebraska must be good drivers because it seemed like a recipe for disaster to me!

After our drive we decided to stop at the Hearts of America Park. It wasn't a big park but there was a really nice walk-way around a small lake with a couple of big water features. We spent an hour going for a walk and trying to tucker out Allison.

There was a touching WWII memorial in the park.

There were several statues and plaques honoring veterans.


After our drive we were really hungry and decided to stop for a burger. It was a family style place called Quaker Steak and Lube and Allison did well while we ordered by as soon as we got our food she went crazy. We had to take turns holding her (and bouncing her) so we could each quickly eat our meals and not ruin the meals of those around us.

As we were leaving the restaurant, Nathan turned to me and said, "well, we're never doing THAT again."