Ashland and Omaha, Nebraska

August 6th through 19th, 2023

We drove from Muscatine, Iowa to a nice town between Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. We were familiar with western Nebraska as former Coloradans, but eastern Nebraska was very much like Iowa. It was green, lush, and humid, with rolling hills. It was going to be a nice couple of weeks.

Our stay was at Eugene T. Mahoney State Park, and it was unlike any State Park we'd ever been to. It was huge, with multiple campgrounds, and gorgeous in the trees. There was also a lodge, small homes you could rent that were very reasonably priced, an activity center, a theater where melodramas were being done every day, stables, a ropes course, and a couple lakes. Our site was perfect, though it looked like a lot of mud had recently come through.

We honestly weren't expecting much from the stay other than a nice time in the woods, but we ended up finding a lot to do. There was a Wildlife Safari Park just a couple of miles away, and we did that first. We drove through the big park and saw bison, elk, herons (they're plentiful in Nebraska), and... dinosaurs. The park has large, animatronic dinosaurs scattered throughout the park. It sounds ridiculous, but it was actually pretty cool. We'd recommend this place.

Just outside the state park was the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum. We aren't really all that into planes, but this place was really cool. It's huge, with real, huge airplanes inside and out. They also had a lot of interactive exhibits. When we went the first time, it closed before we had a chance to really see it. They gave us free tickets to come back, and we went another day to see the rest of it.

We also did the roller coaster simulator and picked the one with the most loops and turns. It was a bit much, but no regrets!

We had been reading about the zoo and aquarium in Omaha, so we headed out there on a Saturday. There is a ton of parking, and after circling around for almost 30 minutes with everyone else, we realized we weren't going to find a parking space. So, we left! We headed back west to go past our state park and then on in the other direction to go to the Homestead National Historical Park. It was so hot and humid, so we stayed in the visitor center when we got there.

It was a great stop, and we learned a ton about how the homesteaders (you know, Go west, young man!) risked it all to get free land and try to make something of it. It wasn't always successful, and it was crazy to learn about it. That's what we love about national parks -- we learn something new every visit.

We went on another day to try to get to the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, and this time we were smart enough to get there before it even opened. That meant we got a good parking space. We even bought tickets online first, so we went right to the line to get in. The zoo is huge!

It's definitely the best zoo we'd ever been to. Even though it was very hot and very humid, we had a great time just wandering around. We saw most of it, and we got to ride a train through half of the park. It was all so much to take in.

They had an aquarium, too, which was wall-to-wall kids and adults just trying to see everything. This place was well worth the effort, and we're ruined for other zoos.

All those kids and sweaty people are probably why Monica got a nasty cold, but at least we were out of Ashland and headed for western Nebraska before it really took hold.

Bottom line, we would definitely go back to that state park. Nebraska is full of surprises, and we loved it!