So WhAt'S iN oMaHa???

Tuesday morning, we got up way too early

and flew to Nebraska...

which leaves everyone with the question

"So what's in Omaha????"

Well, there's the Qwest Center

(which is this big conference center

that hosted the AABP Annual Meeting.)

It's got a lot of huge,

funky, bronze statues out front of jugglers and...

mimes.)

Omaha's also got a lot of malls

(with some pretty strange-looking manequins.)

It also has the Durham Museum

which is housed in the old Union Pacific Railroad Station...

and has cool sculptures that talk (and adoring girls),

neat Indian exhibits ,

and, of course, lots of old traincars.

Downtown Omaha has oodles of beautiful

sculptures depicting bisons, geese, wildlife,

and...

the rigors of pioneer life.

Hee, oxen!

(Or is that "gee"?????)

Oh my, we're in trouble!

In northern Omaha (or Florence),

there's the Mormon Trail Center...

better known as "Winter Quarters"...

with a great LDS museum that

houses a replica cabin...

that sleeps two (or more) families!

(Wake up N8 and scoot over!)

You can dress-up as pioneers

to reenact the journey.

'Just across the street is an old cemetary.

(This area once housed about 4,000 Mormon

pioneers. About 600 died during this time due to

sickness, fatique, and malnourishment--over

half were children.)

The Winter Quarters Temple is on the

same grounds.

Right down the road,

there's a Mormon Street, ...

and a Mormon Bridge!

Cross the bridge and in about 20 minutes,

you'll be in Council Bluffs, Iowa...

where you'll find a replica of the

Kanesville Tabernacle...

that was built in less than

three weeks and...

was where Brigham Young was sustained as the second

president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

What else is in Omaha?

Well, there's a really neat zoo--

the Henry Doorly Zoo

which has some pretty terrific aquariums that you walk through,

rain forest and desert exhibits that you hike through,...

gorillas to commune with,

and miles and miles of animals to see.

So, what's in Omaha?

A whole lot of super great things...

but not us anymore.

(We flew out on Saturday.)

There's no place like home!