Into Iowa

Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge

As I have mentioned before, Google Maps keeps changing where I have been. As I ask it each week how to get from Cape Flattery to Miami, it keeps changing the route, including the path through Washington, which used to go over Highway 2, then switched to Highway 20, and now runs over I-90. A couple of days ago, Google Maps said the Bob Kerry Bridge was 1,844 miles from Cape Flattery; today it says 1,837. So bearing that uncertainty in mind, I am near Mineola, Iowa, about 18 miles past the bridge that spans the Nebraska-Iowa border.

I will write about Iowa next week (preview: there do not seem to be a lot of thrilling things to do in Iowa), but before I made it to Iowa, I passed through Omaha, Nebraska, last town in Nebraska and the biggest city I have visited so far (population 479,529.)

Surprisingly, at least to me, Omaha looks like a place you could spend a few days and find some things to do. Among them:

• Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. Depending on who you believe, it's either 160 or 130 acres of zoo and aquarium plus a replica of an Alaskan port town, with restaurants. Zooreview.org (I'm pretty sure this is a real thing and they're not spoofing me) gives it five paws out of five.
• The Old Market District. Cobblestones, 19th-century buildings, and places to eat.
• The Durham Museum. A big, restored, 1931 railway station.
• Lewis and Clark Landing. A 23-acre park next to the Missouri River. The river marks the boundary between Nebraska and Iowa. Since Lewis and Clark followed the Missouri River for most of their trip to the West Coast, they came through here.
• The Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge. A 3,000-foot pedestrian bridge runs across the Missouri River between Nebraska and Iowa, and it so happens that Google Maps sends me across this bridge on my way to Miami. It looks very cool. I would take that walk.

 Also, there are plenty of Runzas in Omaha.