Nebraska Tourism Guide - Omaha Travel Information, Hotels and History.

Nebraska Tourism Guide - Omaha Travel Information, Hotels and History. Learn What to do in Nebraska and Where to Go. Check out Travel Deals, Discount Omaha Hotels and More.

Though modern transcontinental travelers tend to see the State of NEBRASKA in much the same light as did the early pioneers, heading west during the Gold Rush, as just another monotonous expanse of prairie to get through as fast as possible - this flat and sparsely populated State in fact encompasses quite a few places of interest. However, its most appealing cities, commercial Omaha and the livelier state capital, Lincoln, are separated by a good three hundred miles of underwhelming, livestock rearing flatlands from the western Panhandle, where the landscape finally erupts into giant sand hills and valleys, broken by towering rocky columns and hemmed in by sheer faced buttes.

Western Nebraska was still embroiled in vicious and bloody battles against Indians long after the east had been settled; from the first serious uprising in 1854, it was 36 years before the American Army could make white control unchallengeable. Close to the South Dakota state line, Fort Robinson, where Crazy Horse was murdered, remains one of the most evocative historic sites of the great West.

Without navigatable rivers, the State of Nebraska had to rely solely on the railroads to help populate the region. During the 1870's and 1880's, rail companies, encouraged by grants that allowed them to accumulate one-sixth of the state, laid down such a comprehensive network of tracks that virtually every farmer was within a days cattle drive of the nearest halt. Thus the buffalo hunting country of the Sioux and Pawnee was turned into high yield farmland, which today has few rivals in terms of beef production.
Omaha Nebraska
Although OMAHA is the largest and most easterly city in Nebraska, it is visibly a prosperous place, with a great zoo, multiple museums and a lively entertainment quarter, the atmosphere remains subdued and for the most part suburban. As a major terminus on the first transcontinental railroad, Omaha Nebraska made a logical substitute to distant Chicago as a marketplace for Wyoming and Nebraska ranchers to sell their herds of cattle. By 1900 massive stockyards had spread along the southern edge of town, and the city still handles well over one million head of livestock per year.

In downtown Omaha Nebraska you will find good bars and cafés along the cobbled streets of the Old Market district, plus interesting specialist shops such as the Antiquarian Bookstore, 1215 Harney St. tel 402-341-8077, packed with dusty volumes (and local bohemians). The nearby Heartland Park of America , at Eighth and Douglas streets - ideal for a picnic - holds a huge, water-blasting fountain. Train buffs will be impressed with the Durham Western Heritage Museum , converted from the Union Pacific Railroad station, at 801 S 10th St. (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm; $5). Old train cars and huge model train sets are featured alongside a gallery of Omaha history. Behind its pink-marble Art Deco exterior, the Joslyn Art Museum , 2200 Dodge St (Tues-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm; $6, free Sat before noon), contains an eclectic selection of Indian art and twentieth-century American paintings.

The Great Plains Black Museum, in the city's predominantly black north side at 2213 Lake St Tues-Sat 10am-2pm: free, presents the history of African American people on the prairies. One stimulating section focuses on blacks in the frontier army: where recently freed slaves, who could find no work in the Deep South after the Civil War, were often sent as advance parties into the most hostile and dangerous regions. It was the area Indians that first called them buffalo soldiers, for the reason that their tightly curled hair and the color of their skin.

Malcolm X was born in Omaha Nebraska on May 1925, though his family moved to Michigan immediately thereafter, in the face of Ku Klux Klan death threats to his father, a preacher who followed the back to Africa teachings of Marcus Garvey. Omaha tourist authorities do not promote his birth site, at 34th and Evans Sts formerly 3448 Pinkney St., probably because the residents of the surrounding neighborhood use it as a dumping ground for old TVs, bent car parts, ragged furniture and other debris. Years of debate over how to develop the site have yielded a solitary placard, hidden behind some trees, offering a brief biography. By way of contrast, the lavish birthplace of President Gerald R. Ford , at 32nd St and Woolworth Avenue, is also open to the public; he too moved to Michigan as an infant, after his parents separated (Tues-Fri 1pm-4pm; $2).

The Henry Doorly Zoo, 3701 S 10th St. daily 9.30am-5pm; $8.00, rightfully considers itself one of the best zoos in the U.S. It started off with two buffalo borrowed from Buffalo Bill; now there's a gigantic free flying aviary, some rare white Siberian tigers, a splendid bear canyon, and the large Kingdoms of the Seas Aquarium.

Twenty eight miles SouthWest of Omaha Nebraska at exit 426 on I-80 is a welcome diversion for those seeking relief from pioneer museums. The Strategic Air and Space Museum daily 9am-5pm: $7.00 is located inside two huge hangers containing giant 1950s- and 1960s era war planes designed and built by the Martin Bomber Company of Omaha Nebraska. Films, photos and exhibits concentrate on WWII and the Cold War, the latter highlights various weapons including an Atlas D Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, located just outside the museum entrance.

Nebraska Tourism and Hotels Information
Nebraska Tourism