the rolling hills of western iowa

First light makes it so right. Unlike other drives through this area, I was unable to capture any pics of the early morning mist, crowd-pleasing cloud-only, or windmills. Hopefully next time. The drive through the rolling farm hills is that much better for having these kinds of views. It might have been the only thing keeping me awake.

 

 

 

Omaha, Day 3

A little bit country... it the crossroads of America afterall. (I made that up)

Sweet, I was looking for a  rebel flag buckle!!!

 

Something to hang over your mantle without having to shoot it... and only a mere $1200. 

 

Something for the kids... 

 

Omaha, Day 2

The day started off with a plan to go see some wild animals in Omaha's Conservation Park & Wildlife Safari, located a bit outside Omaha (20 miles or so). They purported to have owls, elk, bison, deer, black bears, eagles, herons, pelicans, and wolves... wait, wolves!?!? I'm in.

For $6.50, yes, that's right... less than the cost of a movie, you get admission. This is also a drive-thru safari style place, so you just sit in your car (save for the bear and wolf enclosures) and do a steady 7mph the whole time.

Huge elk in a huge elk herd greet you right as you start the "ride". Can you get more American than this??? Well, without taking out a rifle and mowing this huge beast down...

Now, I unfortunately do not have any pictures, but the wolf enclosure was well worth the price of admission in and of itself. You get to step out of your car and walk up to their enclosure. There are 6 wolves (3 boys, 3 girls) on the property and they kind of hint that you may or may not see them. After all, they are wild animals and do what they want. Well, we weren't standing on an overlook more than 3 minutes when we heard howling. I think we all thought some dad was being a dufus, but it kept going. As we heard a few more howls, a light-colored female silently loped under our overlook and moved closer to the howls. She showed herself up on the hill and joined in on the howling. Soon, three or four of them were basically having a conversation via howls. It was pretty cool. A bit later, she moved to lay in the sun near the fence. I could have almost touched her, but thought that might be pushing it.

After that, I don't want to say the rest of the park was a let-down (see bison below... not "buffalo" either), but how can you top live wolves? They had a large herd of bison, including two albino and even a calf that looked only days or weeks old. But, you have to drive your car right through their "pen", so it's a bit stressful wondering if you're going to make it out without them charging your car and basically tipping it over like a tin can.

What do you do after wildlife viewing? If you're my sisters, shop of course. We hit a super deep-discount department store. This place is where other department stores send the stuff that doesn't sell (kind of) and they had racks of clothes as far as the eye could see. The girls loaded up on shoes and I did find something in the small men's area, snow boots. They were a good deal and Lord knows you can never have enough snow boots in MN. Alright, I'll go with it.

Omaha, Day 1

If you want to see where we went the first night, just go to this previous post about Barrett's - all still applies.

This man was out walking in the morning hours on Friday... you can see he brought his precious DOG with him in the stroller. Good, Lord!

We stopped of at a resale place...they had the "hosen", but they were missing the "leder".

Ding! Do you remember this toy? Seems like you could make some money on eBay now.

This is a printing press at our friend's place of business "Inclosed". She's one helluva creative mind and is one a few places (I think) still doing letterpress invitations for all manner of events. She is highly recommended by basically everyone. 

If you hit Omaha's Greek Islands, why not go all the way with a little beer too?

And what could top off a night better than a cupcake? I will warn you though, this place is a scene almost all the time now, and the interior and exterior of the business has suffered for the success. I couldn't sit for two minutes on the outdoor patio without an ant crawling up my pant leg (thinking I was some of the already copious amounts of cupcake and litter all over the patio). The cupcakes are still relatively amazing, but just get them to go.

See, you can't fake great 'cakes. I think the best one this time was the "White", which is a vanilla bean taste explosion.

Warning: Only for Roadtrips

Only useful if you have a long drive, otherwise, watch out.

Brit's Pub, Minneapolis, MN

In case you didn't know, this is never a bad way to spend a gorgeous summer afternoon. Highly recommended.

Minocqua, WI

After a fun-filled weekend in Manitowish Waters, WI (say that ten times fast!), I stopped off in Minocqua to check out the main drag and have lunch. I'd heard about this city when I lived in Milwaukee, from native Wisconsinites, but never really understood its place in WI outdoor adventures.

 

My take - It seems as though people from IL go as far north as Lake Geneva or The Dells... but people in WI go much further north to Minocqua and beyond. They know why too... a lot less peolpe and a lot more wilderness and outdoor adventures.

 

I get the impression that Minocqua is the Jersey Shore of Wisconsin, and I mean that in the nicest way. They have their version of the Shore Store, where you can emblozon a t-shirt with any slogan you want, and many you don't and one of the largest sports stores I've ever been in, with tons of Packer and Bears stuff.

 

It's an "island city" and has a very relaxed, small town vibe. I had a great time walking that strip, popping into the shops, and having a relaxed brunch before getting back on the road.

 

Uber-custom cheesehead beer coozie anyone? 

 

 

 A three foot, hand-made, $600 bobble-head of Clay Matthews anyone?

 

Nothing starts the day right like Packers labelled waffles... 

 

...Except Packers labelled toast 

 

The Mother Load 

 

Who doesn't hate the Cleatues Robot on FOX?