Scavenger Hunt: Discovering Downtown

Big cities can have amazing downtowns filled with history and overflowing with culture.  While Omaha is not an exception to the rule, we've been downtown enough that we decided to go with a little of the "unknown" history facts.  At least that was our plan.

Our first stop on this part of the adventure was to the birth place of Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States.  While the original house is no longer standing , they've made the grounds into a pretty garden with a few exhibits on the President.  Mr C, of course, was interested to see that Pres. Ford was a golfer; however he wasn't impressed with the golf clubs they had in the exhibit.  He thought that he had a few too many to fit the regulations of the PGA today.

Next up was where the "history" gets a little tricky.  My husband and I both thought that a big arch located on the edge of the "Mall" was part of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition of 1898 that included a number of exhibits and temporary buildings.  Come to find out the Arch was actually part of the First Bank of the United States.  We didn't really mind the mix up though, as the walk around the lake and the beautiful late summer weather made up for the blunder.  We had a great stroll outside.

At the next location, we skipped the Art Museum (weather was too nice to be inside) and we had a great time in the outside maze and park.  They really don't make Marble buildings like this anymore and it is nice once in awhile to just enjoy the beauty.  Mr C was thrilled that we didn't have to trek through the art, I think he was just nervous that once again our family would set off an alarm by getting too close to the paintings.  Just saying that might happen to us on a regular basis when we museum shop!

Miss A was thrilled that she knew the answer to the next clue; the first State Capitol for Nebraska was actually in Omaha and that building is now used as a high school!  Since it was Sunday, we didn't see any actual students which might have bummed Mr C as he'd heard this school actually allowed "girls!" amazing.

Our final downtown stop was at the World Headquarters of Con Agra.  On the edge of their campus, they have a Statue of Chef Boyardee.  The most hilarious part of this clue is that Miss A had actually mentioned that it was too bad that the statue wasn't on the scavenger hunt when we were nearby by earlier during the Mississippi Expo stop.  However, when we actually were going to the spot she didn't figure out the clue!

The scavenger hunt is almost over; but we have a few great stops ahead.....