Omaha Zoo

While traveling, we always try to visit the local aquarium or zoo. Omaha was the jackpot. In one expansive area, the Omaha Zoo treated visitors to a spectacular zoo, aquarium and rain forest. In fact, the Lied Rainforest is the largest indoor rain forest in the world.

Probably the best part about the Omaha Zoo was seeing Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom in big letters. As a kid, I remember sitting in front of the TV on Sunday nights watching Marlin Perkins take me through the Wild Kingdom. Such excitement for a kid, you know! The zoo actually rivaled the Columbus Zoo, a standard that I hold all zoos up to. We managed to spend 4 hours walking around, enjoying and taking in all the wildlife. Just look at some of these pictures!

The Aquarium was amazing. The exhibits were colorful and introduced us to marine life we hadn't seen before.

They had a butterfly room that allowed us to walk around among an incredible assortment of butterflies. We could scoop them up with our fingers and take in all their beauty. As you exited, they had you look at yourself in the mirror to make sure you weren't taking any "hitchhikers" as they called it!

The rain forest allowed us to get up close and personal with many different species, even bats. Shiver! At one point, we had to walk through a tunnel with bats hanging at the top - right over our heads. Blech!

But this was my favorite picture of the day - loved how this turned out! As Bridget said, "This was the best race weekend ever", which you can see from her smile!

After a long day at the zoo, we headed back to the hotel so I could shower. We walked over to the Old Market area and had dinner at the Upstream Brewing Company. Excellent choice. I had the most yummy veggie pizza and we all toasted our glasses with pints of the local microbrew.

Thank you, Omaha, for your hospitality. If I have the chance, I will definitely come back to visit. I simply can't say enough good things!

What a Great Race Experience!

I'm not even sure where to begin - I loved everything about this race!

The Goat and the Gobbler was a small, local race with the proceeds benefitting the Ibex Leadership School, who was fundraising for a trip to Nicaraugua to work with youths. I liked that my race fees did not go to a corporation that really didn't care about a true race experience. I didn't get another t-shirt to throw in my t-shirt drawer. Instead, I got a cool ski cap and an even cooler travel mug! Woohoo - great race schwag!

Race temperatures was dicey. I started out in a beanie, only to shed that after 4 miles because the temps quickly warmed. We were so fortunate to have sunshine throughout most of the race and the temps never exceeded the low 50s during the latter half. Perfect running weather!

There might have been 200-250 runners for both the 3-mile and 10-mile races. The race started on time with instructions and a prayer, which, strangely, was nice. The volunteers were so friendly. At mile 4-ish, I had a volunteer ask if she could run alongside me. Heck yeah! Then at mile 6.5, a volunteer ran with me to the turn-around and I noticed he did that with the girls running a few paces behind me. At one of the water stops, several volunteers carried signs and shouted lots of encouraging words. Volunteers really are integral to a race's success.

The course was very challenging. Almost the entire course was on concrete with some tough rolling hills. I was worried early on that my hips or knees might talk back to me, but everything held up well. Most of the course was run through some absolutely breathtaking neighborhoods, keeping my attention with great landscaping, beautiful fencing (which reminded me I desparately need to stain our backyard fence!), and magazine-perfect homes. The last mile, however, was a bitch. No other way to put it. It was 3/4-mile of steep incline that I had to walk. I lost about 4+ minutes on the final mile due to the unforgiving ascent! I had never seen a hill like this in a race. Even with such a tough final mile, I still loved this event. My cramping calves...not so much love!

Oh, and this race had a great little finish line surprise - Chick-fil-a breakfast biscuit. I had never had one of those before and, wow, was that yummy! And I'm pretty sure that by completing 10-miles before the first bite, I definitely burned off the calories of that sandwich!

Thank you, Omaha, for the wonderful race experience!

Thanksgiving Party Snack

Sharing this great idea in case you have a Thanksgiving party or dinner to attend and don't know what to bring. So easy to make this - and, best of all, it's healthy!

Nebraska, We're Coming for You!

Getting pretty excited about our next state - Nebraska. I'll be running the Goat and the Gobbler 10 miler in Omaha this weekend! As I've mentioned before, I prefer running local races where the race fees stay in the local community - and this race sounds perfect.

One of the things I've enjoyed about chronicling our travels and race adventures has been learning about what makes each state special. So here's what makes Nebraska cool --

1. In 1927, Edwin E. Perkins of Hastings invented the powered soft drink Kool-Aid.

2. The state nickname used to be the "Tree Planter's State", but was changed in 1945 to the "Cornhusker State".

3. State insect is the honeybee and the State motto is Equality before the law.

4. The Lied Jungle located in Omaha is the world's largest indoor rain forest.

5. The largest porch swing in the world is located in Hebron, Nebraska and it can sit 25 adults.

6. Nebraska is the birthplace of the Reuben sandwich.

7. Spam (canned meat) is produced in Fremont.

8. Nebraska has more miles of river than any other state.

9. The Union Pacific's Bailey Yards, in North Platte, is the largest rail classification complex in the world.

10. Nebraska is the only state in the union with a unicameral (one house) legislature.

11. The 911 system of emergency communications, now used nationwide, was developed and first used in Lincoln, Nebraska.

12. Nebraska has more underground water reserves than any other state in the continental U.S.

13. Marlon Brando's mother gave Henry Fonda acting lessons at the Omaha Community Playhouse.

14. Mutual of Omaha Corporate headquarters is a public building built with 7 floors underground.

15.The largest Kolache Festival in the world is located in Prague, Nebraska

Also onn our agenda is walking across the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge, checking out the Old Market area, and visiting the Zoo, which is supposed to be amazing. Can't wait!

Megan, This One's for You

Friday Funny

It's That Time of the Year

The weather in Cleveland finally got and stayed cold. No more fluctuations. No more surprise 70 degree days. Just the usual cold, dreary, gray days. Ahh, the town I love. And this also means bike to the basement kind of days. So Violet is officially in the basement on the CycleOps trainer. I've had a couple sessions with her and it's not so bad. I'm even considering one of those trainer DVDs - we'll see.

What do you do to make the miles go by better, or be less boring, while on the trainer?