If You Are in Omaha, Do NOT Miss the Zoo!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012--Omaha
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Because of the heat, I got out of the room early today to explore the town.  My first stop was at the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.  What an experience!  It's one of the best zoos I have ever visited.  And TripAdvisor agrees with me, ranking it the top zoo in the country.  All the animals have large enclosures, and more than half the zoo is indoors in environments especially built to represent places in the world where the exhibited species are from.  There is a huge glass-domed building that houses deserts--Namibian, Australian Outback, Sonoran, etc.  The native plants from each are growing, and the animals from those places are mostly "loose."  The ape house is absolutely huge with lots of different ones on exhibit in very large enclosures.  The "night" building has a huge section that is a swamp, and as one walks along, movement can be seen in the waters--an alligator here, a fish there, a bullfrog barking elsewhere.  The jungle exhibit is like the desert exhibit with sections for various jungles--Amazon, Africa, etc.  Rather than having an animal like a hyppopotamus in an enclosure with a pool of water where it can cool down, they have it in a "natural" pool of water within the African jungle section.  That's the way most of the exhibits are for this zoo.  There's even a huge building dedicated to Madagascar and its birds and animals--something rarely seen anywhere.  The zoo is a must-see if you are ever near Omaha.  I spent over 3 hours there, and there were hundreds of cars in the parking lot indicating that a lot more people know about this special place.

From the zoo, I headed downtown.  I drove by the Old Market, a district of town with shops and restaurants for tourists.  I parked and saw the exhibits at the Joslyn Art Museum.  It's a large museum that with varied collections, but it seems to specialize mostly in American art.  I drove by the Creighton University campus, a small, private school that has a pretty campus and a good reputation.

It was HOT again today, and it was already 14:30 when I got back to the hotel area.  I decided to pull into Costco and buy me a drink and have appetizers on them--the samples they give out between about 14:00 and 16:00.  Then I came to the hotel to relax.  This evening, I just went to the nearby McDonald's for a simple dinner.

Steps Walked:  15,685
Miles Driven:  30