Part II - Aug 10 & 11 - visiting in Missouri. (Day 16 & 17)

We left Omaha flying out over the Missouri River, then turning toward Springfield, Missouri.   

Of course I saw a bridge that was interesting.  The Illinois Central Missouri River Bridge  is a rail through double swing bridge completed in 1915.  It was taken out of service in 1980, and left permanently open. 

Did you know Omaha was this big?  Wow

We were very quickly over Iowa - it is just on the other side of the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska.   Once again, I am very inpressed with the farmers of our country - they really work hard, and I truly did not realize the extent of farming in our country. 

By the way, this is the West Shenadoah River above, and below is the small town of Shenadoah.  

 From 9,000 ft in the air, it really does look small. 

I was also intrigued by the quantity of Wind farms we kept seeing - did you realize it was this popular ? They really seemed to be every state we flew through. 

And we flew over Kansas City, Mo.  Notice the rail yards here.

These are major rail hubs for both Union Pacific and BNSF.  

Coming closer to Springfield, Missouri, we see farms again.  But most of these are ranches with hay fields.  There are a lot of cows and steers on these farms.

And then we land  - at the Springfield Airport

Spent the night in the 'country' - out on the farm - 160 acres of hayfields and woods.  Beautiful, quiet, and great starry skies at night.  The Pinkstons were great hosts! 

Rick and Pinkston relatives.  What a warm and fun gathering! 

Did I mention this is deer country?

Interestingly, where we were was also the center of the USA - population wise, as of 2010,

Which is actually very close to the town of Plato

Part II - Aug 9 in Omaha (Friday - Day 15)

Overall, we are very impressed with Omaha.  We liked the Hilton Garden Inn, and it is in a great location.   And very impressed with how much green space and pedestrian paths are available throughout the city.

I started the day with a nice run.  ConAgra has a nice pond and park behind its headquarters that connects with a path leading to the river and the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian bridge over the river to Iowa.

The path had a few monuments and historical markers as well as lookouts over the river. 

I saw a Lewis & Clark historical marker, as well as a very moving fireman monument,

This is where Clark split off from the Corps of Discovery with a small group to investigate the Nebraska side of the Missouri river on July 27,1804.  Clark and Private Rueben Field went ashore and  noticed a lot of mounds, which it's thought were the remnants of earth lodges of the Oto Indians.  They returned to the Corps the following evening, and then met on August 3rd with the Oto and Missourian Indians in this area. 

Did you notice e Pedestrian bridge in the top right photo?  The Bob Kerrey (former Nebraska Senator) bridge is a lovely 3,000 ft. cable Stayed bridge - solely for pedestrians and bicycles.  It is stated to be the longest pedestrian bridge connecting two states: Nebraska and Iowa.

Then Rick and I  walked  to the Durham Musuem, which is, actually, the old Union Station.  Omaha was a major linkage of railroads . Omaha was the eastern starting point of the Transcontinental  railroad that was authorized by President Lincoln in 1862.  The Union Pacific  Railroad built west from Omaha, and the Central Pacific Railroad built east from Sacramento.  They started in Omaha because there was no railroad bridge across the Missouri River.  The Union Pacific Railroad broke ground on December 2, 1863.    This Union Station opened on January 15, 1931 and was the 7th train depot in the city since 1866.  The last train left the station on May 2, 1971.  In order to be called a "union" station, a train depot must serve more than 1 railroad line.  This station served 7 different railroads! 

The station was done in the Art Deco style - which was pointed out as being very geometric!  It utilized the Art Deco architectural style (notice the outside of the building has the 'terraced form' ),   

By the way, that light fixture weighs 2,000 lbs.

The Swanson Family Gallery at one end of the station is shown below.  It is where the fancy restaurant, the Hayden House, was located.

The station also housed examples of rail cars used during its lifetime. 

This is the inside of the 1924 Corn Husker Club car.  One use was when it was attached on June 6, 1948 to President Harry S. Truman's train as he traveled west from Washington DC to Los Angeles, CA.  The press filled the car, reporting on Truman's Whistle Stop Tour - which coved 30,000 miles and stopped in over 200 towns.  

The Union Pacific National Command Pullman cars (this one was built in 1956) provided sleeping accommodations - for an extra charge, of course, you could have a berth (pull down bed).  When it took 2 days to travel from Chicago  to San Francisco, this could really make a difference!  

The Durham Musuem had, as well, many displays regarding the evolution of Omaha.  This included an electric car, which were more popular than gas cars until approximately 1910.   The car below could travel 70 miles on a charge, was easy to start, and did not have the noxious fumes of a gasoline car.   

However, the battery technology became stagnant, and gasoline cars engineering improved significantly. By the mid 1920's, most electric car companies went out of business because gasoline cars developed the easy to use electric ignition and mass production made them cheaper.   The last Rauch & Lang car was made in 1923. 

While the Union Station is no longer operational, the Union Pacific Railroad is.  

in fact, Omaha is the location of the Harriman Dispatch Center, which is the heart of the Union Pacific's communication network.  Over 900 dispatchers use satellites to coordinate over 850 trains and maintenance crews throughout the entire system of 32,000 miles of track.  

Other important business started in Omaha, as outlined at the Musuem, include:

Swanson Frozen foods - the first TV dinner was created in Omaha in 1952.

Valmont:  in 1952, Frank Xybach built a long sprinkler on wheels, with a centeef pivot.  He partnered with Valmont to manufacture these sytems -  which are the main irrigation tools used on farms.  And which we have seen many, many examples of as we flew over the vast farm landscape.  The circular farm plots are almost always examples of the Valmont  irrigation system.  

That wraps up our visit to the Durham Musuem.   It was a very educational morning, and very enjoyable. 

After a light lunch, we went to see the birthplace of Gerald Ford. 

And yes, while he was a congressman from Michigan, he actually was born in Omaha, NE.

Then we went a little north of the city, to the Mormon Trail Center, Winter Quarters.

It was very interesting to see the connections with our visit to Salt Lake City.  When they realized that they would not make it over the mountains before winter of 1846,  the Mormon pioneers decided to winter in Omaha.  They picked a section near the river, where they built 500 log cabins for the 2,500 pioneers.  Unfortunately, scurvy and disease claimed quite a few that winter (359).  Once they resumed their trek, this first group took four months to travel from Omaha to Salt Lake City.  Hmmm, it took us 6 hours yesterday.

On our way back to our hotels, we passed through Council Bluffs, Iowa --  and saw some interesting bridges.  Of course I had to take pictures.

When we returned to the city, I took a walk toward the center of the business district.  I had been told there was a statue park to see.  Boy, was that an understatement.  Turns out it's actually the combination of two parks spread out across 5 city blocks. 

The Pioneer Courage Park commemorates the wagon trains that left Omaha.  

As the wagon train proceeds, they disturb a nearby group of bison, causing them to stampede. (The beginning of the Spirit of Nebraska's Wilderness Park.)

And the stampeding buffalo flush a flock of geese from a near by pond.

And the geese take flight.

It is really quite incredible how these statues were incorporated throughout the streets.  And the statues themselves were incredibly detailed and realistic.  Very impressive.   And all sponsored by the First National Bank.

We finished the day with dinner at Spencer's - we just had to have Omaha beef .

  And it was very good.  A very nice way to end our stay in Omsha.  

The day was extremely satisfying.  We learned a lot about Omaha, as well as the history of the railroads.  We furthered our understanding of the Lewis & Clark Corp of Discovery's expedition, as well as getting a better appreciation of what was involved in being a pioneer.  It took a lot of courage and determination to pack up and travel across the unknown -- and a lot of faith that life would be better 'West'.  

We also got to see our Third president here.  Interestingly, they were all Republicans.  

We will be leaving the 'west' tomorrow, as we plan to be in Missouri for the weekend.  

PartII - Aug 8 Thursday Travel Utah to Nebraska

Today's goal is to fly to Omaha, Nebraska.  It will require a stop to refuel, and our plan is Cheyenne, Wyoming for a pit stop - we wouldn't make it on a single tank of gas with any headwind.  Once again, we have contingency plans, as there are predicted thunderstorms along our route.  

But in Ogden, it was a glorious morning.  

Our plane looked so pretty and eager to fly as we prepared to leave Ogden, Utah.  

It was a lovely takeoff toward the south, giving us a beautiful 270 degree turn - with a sweeping view of Antelope Island as we said good bye.

From the sky, this looked very much like a ski resort.    Not sure if it is Powder Mountain or Snow Basin.  We were East of Ogden , traveling at 15,000 ft.  Of course, that's above sea level, and Ogden was already 4,500 ft above sea level.

We traveled over the Cascade Range of mountains, lots of mountains in Utah. We are almost in Wyoming.   And when we are in Wyoming, guess what  - Mountains! 

8:35am MT. Of curse we have a 13 knot head wind  We dream of tail winds, but it doesn't happen often.  Some nice checkerboard layout of farms,  near Fort Bridge.

T

 Elk Mountain (11,156 ft).  just after Saratoga.   

And Medicine Bow peak (12193 ft)

We are probably flying over the Snow Pass within the Medicine Bow Range.  And I couldn't get a good picture of Laramie because we went directly over it!

Cheyenne airport, at 6,200 ft above sea level.  This was the highest airport we stopped at, and it is one of the highest in the country.  It is higher than Denver, and it is similar to landing on Mt. Washington  - which is 6,200 ft high!  

There was a C130 practicing landings.  Did a touch n go before us and after us.

Within 50 minutes we were leaving Cheyenne, heading east,  80 degrees, toward Omaha, NE

Not long after, we are in Nebraska.  Lots of fields.  Ended up bring mostly cloud cover over the whole state.

We ended up climbing to 15,000 ft to escape clouds, but ended up needing to descend to 11,000 ft.   Which worked out pretty well.   Some clouds, but not too bad.  

Omaha, Nebraska -- we have arrived!

Very busy airport.   There were two planes lined up and waiting for us to land.  And the runway is right next to the Missouri River.  Note the barge we flew over as we landed.

Once we were in Omaha. We settled in and were able to walk to their Old Market area -- which is a section of town with a lot of shops, restaurants, and bars.  We decided  to do something a little different and went to an Indian restaurant  (Indian One).  It was quite good.  We are starting to really like curried mussels!  

Part II - day 2 on July 27. A day in Columbus

Touring in Columbus, we decided to drive North and see the home of President William G. Harding.  Thankfully, google maps can get us there without too much problems, and a quick look with Yelp to find lunch.

Oh well, it looked interesting, but it really was just a hot dog shop.  It was lunch - just not exactly what we were hoping for.  Oh well.  

Went to Marion to see Warren G. Harding 's home.  We were surprised to find out that the home is 98% original furnishings.  And the tour guide was very interesting. 

PartIi - Aug 7: Salt Lake City, Utah

On Wednesday, I attended an organ recital at the Morman Tabernacle.  What a glorious sound that organ makes.  Wow. A very enjoyable recital.

Had a chance to be up close and  learn more about the organ.  There are a total of 337 keys, and the organist could be playing twelve at once.  There are 5 levels of keys for the hands and 3 for the feet.  While he played, his hands and feet were constantly moving.   There are 5 organists on staff here, and 4 of them have their doctorates in organ music (5th will soon).  The big pipes you see are just facades, the real pipes are behind them, and in the back of the building.   A total of 11,623 pipes in all.  One of the largest organs  in the world.

By the way, I forgot to include the  pictures of Assembly Hall yesterday, part of the Temple Square, which we toured Tuesday evening.

After the concert we left Salt Lake City and traveled to Antelope Island. 

 It is across a causeway  over the Salt Lake.

  It is now a State Park, but had ranches operating previously. Really gives you an understanding of what the pioneers must have felt when they first arrived here - as it was practically a desert.  But it is beautiful .  

 The island also has a significant herd of bison, as well as antelope, mule deer, and big horn sheep.   We at first saw only 5 bison, but then saw multiple herds.  We saw a mule deer and antelope, but couldn't get the cameras out fast enough. 

The bison are lactually laying on the salt that is the 'beach' of Salt Lake. 

We traveled to the far end of the island (it is 15 miles long) to see the original ranch, built in 1848.  

The ranch house above, the room to the left, was the original building. 

And there are horses there now.   It is next to a spring, which is nestled in the trees.

As we drove back out of the park, a bison decided to stroll across the road - right in front of us! 

It was pretty amazing seeing the bison that close.  And he was very close!

We finished our day in Ogden Utah, as we wanted a very early start in the morning, and the plane is hangered in Ogden.  Had dinner at a nice bistro - crab cake appetizer and then salads.

Oh, and did I mention the Fuzzy Peach dessert?  Sorry no pictures.  We ate it way too fast!

Next stop:  Omaha, Nebraska