Omaha, Nebraska

Heading there for Memorial Day weekend with some high shool-aged students. Anything fun, cool, off-beat and family friendly?\ \ Please keep it clean and save the pointless bitchery for the "Is Gale Harold Really Gay" thread. I''m looking for real suggestions.\ \ Thanks :-)

• And of course that''s high SCHOOL-aged kids. We''re not going to shool.

• I hope you like steak.... cause that''s what your gonna be eating - a lot.\ \ You can go to warren Buffet''s house and sift thru his garbage. Probably a few good investment ideas written on the back of Wendy''s sacks.\ \ It''s kind of a pretty little town and the people, while provincial, are very nice. It''s the Des Moines of Ne. after all, so go out and have a wacky time!!!

• The zoo (family friendly, right?) is pretty good. They have an indoor jungle that''s really cool. It''s unique because from the time you walk in to the time you walk out you seem to be going uphill. I''m not sure how that works.\ \ The Old Market area downtown has nice restaurants and shops.\ \ The old train station is now the Western Heritage Museum. It''s worth a look, but just barely.\ \ The Joslyn Art Museum is better than you expect it to be, and they get good traveling exhibits too.\ \ If you like Military, the SAC (Strategic Air Command) museum is very good. An overview of the Cold War and a bunch of planes and things on exhibit. \ \ My favorite museum is the Union Pacific Railroad Museum. They have some quirky things like a lampshade made out of the tanned hide of the a man who robbed one of their trains and the skull of another guy who fucked with them.

  http://uprrmuseum.org/

• SAC Museum:

  http://www.strategicairandspace.com/

• I love Omaha. I go up every year for a bowling tournament in February called ICE BOWL. The zoo is fantastic as is the Old Market area.\ \ If you get a chance to slip away without the kids check out DC''s (the gay cowboy bar), Flixx and Flixx Show Lounge. Both very nice clubs. \ \ Funky food? Leo''s Diner in Benson, NE (just a little west of downtown) fantastic old timey diner. King Kong Fast Food (on Dodge) gyros, etc. Bohemian Cafe.\ \ If you are feeling down and ugly and need a lift go to the WalMart in Council Bluff, IA and you will emerge from the experience feeling like a SUPER MODEL!!!

  JohnEric

• You''re taking a group of HS age students to Omaha, Nebraska, for Memorial day. My only question would be: \ \ [bold]WWWHYYYYYYYYYYYY[/bold]?!!???!?\ \ Dude, seriously, there''s virtually nothing to do. \ \ You can certainly try the suggestions listed above; the Old Market area is interesting for, say, 30 minutes. There''s a brand-new footbridge that goes from downtown Omaha to an uninhabited marshy swamp in Council Bluffs. And 3-4 malls. And that''s about it.

• 64% of all business said they did not hire in the past year and have no plans to do so in the following year. Of these business about half say they believe the affordable care act will cost them profits and they will wait till after it's fully implemented to increase staff.

• You could slowly drive by that one billionaire's house.

• oops old thread

• If you troll-dar R7, you'll see some of her nasty handiwork all over the site today. Among it, asking an OP if they are "an AIDS infected homo".

• I lived there briefly years ago. It is a more lively place these days and have heard it is now a fun city. You can always take a little trip east into Iowa, beautiful country heading that way. Not suggesting Iowa is beautiful just the part of Iowa across the Missouri from Omaha. My high school buddy's parents owned a famous steak house there for many years, Ross' Steak house on 72nd. I heard it is not longer Ross owned.

• R10, it's Mel Gibson. He has found DL after his nightly self - Google.

• Ross' Steak House? Gone for years. It was next to the Aksarben horse race track, and when they tore that down the business really suffered. Then the casinos opened, and their cheap buffets really zapped all the Omaha restaurants. Ross' closed shortly after that, but I think the Lorello family had sold it long before the end. Ross was a big gambler. In the 60's the casinos would send the private plane to Omaha to fly him to the casino. Well, one time he lost too much and couldn't pay his markers. After that there was a large Italian fellow sitting at the bar right next to the cash register, and every night he would collect all the money the restaurant had taken in. He would give Ross back enough to operate on and keep the rest. It took about 2 months for him to get the markers paid, and during those two months he became a much loved local celebrity. He was quite charming, he told endless stories about Vegas, and actually boosted traffic. The locals were sorry to see him go, and they talked about him for years.

• Oh, in case you're wondering about Aksarben Race Track, Aksarben is Nebraska spelled backwards. Aksarben was a club sort of copied after the Carnival Krewes in New Orleans that ran Omaha for decades. Still exists in a muted form.

• [R13] I knew about his gambling problem, not from the family but from others. He was reputed to be a syndicate crime figure but I doubt it. I would stay with them when I visited. Little Ross, the son and I went to the same private military high school in Missouri. At some school functions his sister was my date. I appreciate your responding to my post.

• [quote] If you troll-dar [R7], you'll see some of her nasty handiwork all over the site today. Among it, asking an OP if they are "an AIDS infected homo". I was wondering what kind of dumb cunt bumps a thread about Memorial Day weekend and Omaha Fucking Nebraska from two years ago. And now I know.

• [R16] I didn't even notice it was an old thread. It would be helpful if the threads also listed the date of creation.

• I'd have to imagine the only thing worse than visiting Omaha, Nebraska is visiting Omaha, Nebraska in January.

• He might been mobbed up, that's very possible. If nothing else he was the guy who knew the guy, that's for sure, and I'll guarantee you could have placed a bet on a sporting event at his restaurant. Omaha was always a strange town for the mob, because Meyer Lansky controlled it (and Council Bluffs where they had the dog track). For every Italian there was a Jew, and it was all about making money, not the usual violence and drama. The mob guys were respected businessmen. Omaha is famous for its insurance companies, but it was also the home of the major bookie operations, the place where other bookies around the country laid-off their bets and balanced their books. Lansky ran that for decades. One of the downtown Vegas casinos was also run by Omaha boys The rumor was that his local guy was Hymie Zorinsky who ran HZ Vending. He was the distributor for Rockola Jukeboxes, slot machines, vending machines, cigarettes--if you put a coin in a slot in Omaha, HZ was involved somehow. Hymie was a real character. He looked like Groucho Marx, right down to the cigar, and a more charming fellow you could never hope to meet. His son Ed became Mayor of Omaha and a US Senator.

• [quote]I hope you like steak.... cause that's what your gonna be eating - a lot. Really, that's all there is to eat in a "provincial" "town" of 400,000 people? I hate the "flyover" attitude on this board. Some of you don't know anything at all about the Midwest. There was a thread about Iowa a few weeks ago, and all some posters could do was quote lines from "The Music Man." News flash: the Midwest is more fabulous than some of you will ever know.

• Omaha is the ne plus ultra of the prairie.

• [R20] Iowa bred, born and raised. What's interesting about Iowa? Just name a few things.

• I was unimpressed with the steak I had in Omaha. Some restaurant where the waiters dressed up as monks.

• [quote]What's interesting about Iowa? Just name a few things. Grant Wood alone is worth a trip. There is also that Writing Program at the University that used to be well thought of, but now is a a place you can buy yourself into. Visiting there would be a chance to see up close the final days of American Literature.

• [quote]I hate the "flyover" attitude on this board. Agree. It's tiresome and extremely provincial. Sneering about flyovers more or less marks a poster as a rube.

• I went to the University, don't recall meeting any work shop writer although I am familiar with many of them.

• Who cares if it's an old thread fuckface! Now I'm going to go to every single thread and bump it!!!! bump bump bump

• Corn! some call it maize

• You aren't familiar with the U of Iowa's writing program?

• r10 Well are you?

• [R29] If you are talking to me the former Iowan, of course I am familiar with the writing programs. My post said I never met any of the writers although I was at the U. I did say I was familiar with them. John Irving and Jane Smiley among the attendees. My favorite novel about Iowans was 1000 Acres, it was a story I knew first hand. My grandfather homesteaded in Iowa a hundred years ago in Wright County

• Good r31 -- we can bond over Grant Wood.

  R24

• r20 here. r25, you can suck it. For r22: Same-sex marriage. Grant Wood. Iowa State Fair Incredible state parks Tons and tons of culture and history. The arts are alive and thriving in may cities and towns. Iowa is pretty awesome.

  http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DqLZZ6JD0g9Y