nebraska - the good life

The title is a direct quote from the sign that welcomes people to Omaha, and I'd say it's quite true. It's been the good life these past few days. Today was another day of relaxing and then a bit of exploring. The first half of my day was uneventful - some HGTV, Today Show, etc. The second half I ventured out to run some errands and sightsee on my own.

I was hoping to get a good photo of the Omaha skyline and I read about a place called the "Heartland of America Park". The title alone sold me, and it appeared that it would be a good spot to get my shot. So I drove down and it was beautiful - the weather again is around 80 degrees - the park had a nice path around a lake that had a fountain (that is a bit dangerous with the wind when carrying a camera!) and a great view of the city. I believe Con Agra had something to do with the park because there were signs all over explaining how Con Agra is being healthy with their Healthy Choice food (or something like that), and there were pathways that led from the main trail to entrances for only Con Agra employees. End of the story - the park was lovely and I believe I may have even gotten some color on my bright white skin. Or so I'd like to think.

Next - no stop to the midwest would be complete without a trip to Walmart. And since I'm pretty sure I've never been to one before, there was no better time to go than now, when I'm here in Nebraska. I was a little bit nervous about what I'd encounter, and as I pulled up to the Walmart Superstore I was intimidated by the sheer size of it. And when I stepped inside I was completely overwhelmed. It's a warehouse. That never ends. With aisles and aisles of everything. Everything! It was actually - dare I say it - nice, in that everything was clean and organized as far as I could tell. Now personally, I prefer Target, and lo and behold, there was one just a few doors down, so I hopped in my car (I'm not in New York anymore - I can drive!) and drove the two minutes it took to get there, went inside, and spent about an hour just browsing. It was so peaceful - I'm used to it being more chaotic and crowded, but I guess more people out here go to Walmart. I felt the need to buy something after being in there for so long, so I bought a new toothbrush and toothpaste.

So that was my day. It's supposed to thunderstorm tonight, and I'm ok with it because it's been absolutely beautiful the rest of the time I've been here. Tomorrow I'm off on my drive through Nebraska into Colorado, stopping in Denver. I haven't heard the most promising things about my 7 1/2 hour drive tomorrow, and the map's lack of ANYTHING along I-80 makes me a bit nervous, but I'll make it through and report back on what I encounter, if anything.