Day 4: Omaha
I will never again refer to the Midwest as a barren gulch bereft of civilization. Iowa has wifi at roadside rest stops.
Tuesday dawned foggy again, slowing our hurtling down I-29 to a mere 70mph.
We added several hours to our travel time for the day with an essential detour: Mitchell, South Dakota, for the famed Corn Palace. It is a big concert venue and gym for Dakota Wesleyan U. Covered with murals made entirely of CORN.
We arrived as this year's mural was being dismantled. David snapped a photo of a sad, tossed-away cob:
This year the murals won't be completely changing. It was a rare, failed crop. The Corn Palace Overlords pulled together just enough corn to change the year display at the front. So, visit next year and you too can see the rodeo theme.
After paying tribute to corn, we got back on the highway. We cleverly decided to take state roads to Sioux City and rejoin the interstate there. "We'll see more little towns and local colour and such on the state roads!" we figured.
Trip for future travelers: State roads in South Dakota are @!$%^$ BORING. We passed corn. Every few dozen miles we'd pass a farm. Then more corn. Then a cow. Then corn, corn, corn, corn, corn.
This is what South Dakota looks like:
Then we crossed the border into Iowa! This is what Iowa looks like:
But eventually we did start seeing trees and towns and other novel sights.
Our hotel was actually in Council Bluffs, but we wanted to see Nebraska, so we hopped the border for dinner to go check out Omaha's old marketplace area. It's quite pretty -- cobblestone streets, interesting shops, water -- and a swan.
Then we randomly stumbled across a COMPLETELY AWESOME bookstore, the Antiquarium. It is exactly what a used bookstore should be: old; totally packed with books, some left in the same spot for decades; twisty and mazelike; all wood and glass ... we only had an hour before our dinner reservation, and I had to be pried out, after spending lots of money. All it lacked was cats. I got a business card and may do more buying by mail -- the store had an awesome collection of ephemera from the Roycroft press.
We went to dinner at V Mertz and I finally got to try olive-oil poached fish. (Plus zucchini blossoms stuffed with bell-pepper mousse. Yum.) Between the books and the dinner, we definitely did our part to stimulate Omaha's economy.
Tomorrow: Kansas City baseball and bbq ...
Tuesday dawned foggy again, slowing our hurtling down I-29 to a mere 70mph.
We added several hours to our travel time for the day with an essential detour: Mitchell, South Dakota, for the famed Corn Palace. It is a big concert venue and gym for Dakota Wesleyan U. Covered with murals made entirely of CORN.
We arrived as this year's mural was being dismantled. David snapped a photo of a sad, tossed-away cob:
This year the murals won't be completely changing. It was a rare, failed crop. The Corn Palace Overlords pulled together just enough corn to change the year display at the front. So, visit next year and you too can see the rodeo theme.
After paying tribute to corn, we got back on the highway. We cleverly decided to take state roads to Sioux City and rejoin the interstate there. "We'll see more little towns and local colour and such on the state roads!" we figured.
Trip for future travelers: State roads in South Dakota are @!$%^$ BORING. We passed corn. Every few dozen miles we'd pass a farm. Then more corn. Then a cow. Then corn, corn, corn, corn, corn.
This is what South Dakota looks like:
Then we crossed the border into Iowa! This is what Iowa looks like:
But eventually we did start seeing trees and towns and other novel sights.
Our hotel was actually in Council Bluffs, but we wanted to see Nebraska, so we hopped the border for dinner to go check out Omaha's old marketplace area. It's quite pretty -- cobblestone streets, interesting shops, water -- and a swan.
Then we randomly stumbled across a COMPLETELY AWESOME bookstore, the Antiquarium. It is exactly what a used bookstore should be: old; totally packed with books, some left in the same spot for decades; twisty and mazelike; all wood and glass ... we only had an hour before our dinner reservation, and I had to be pried out, after spending lots of money. All it lacked was cats. I got a business card and may do more buying by mail -- the store had an awesome collection of ephemera from the Roycroft press.
We went to dinner at V Mertz and I finally got to try olive-oil poached fish. (Plus zucchini blossoms stuffed with bell-pepper mousse. Yum.) Between the books and the dinner, we definitely did our part to stimulate Omaha's economy.
Tomorrow: Kansas City baseball and bbq ...