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Dates we were there:    7/21/99    7/22/99    7/23/99    7/24/99

Cities & Places we visited

    OMAHA
    We arrived in Omaha from Nauvoo, Illinois on the evening of the 21st and spent the evening with the  Dave and Paula Welch family (Dave was a fellow missionary in Italy with Brian). 
    The next day we planned on going to the Henry Doorly Zoo (by Dave's recommendation) in the morning and to Winter Quarters in the afternoon.  As had become the norm, we got a late start and ended up going to the zoo in the afternoon.   As Dave had told us, that is a fantastic zoo!  We spent a lot of time in the aquarium and the large indoor rain forest.  Those places were fascinating and we had a hard time pulling ourselves away from them.  Once we did, we were only able to see a small part of the rest of the zoo.  This due to the late hour and the fact that we were totally exhausted (the heat was unbearable!) 
    When we left the zoo, we headed right to McDonalds.  We had dessert first! (Ice cream!)  And THEN had something to eat.  It was nice to just sit and relax (even in McDonalds).
    When we were rested, we drove to Winter Quarters.  We spent some enjoyable, relaxing time at the visitors' center learning a little more about the pioneers who spent the winter of 1846-1847 here.
    We then spent another unscheduled night at Welch's.  Once again things were taking longer than planned so since we had no more firm reservations, we added a day to our trip and stayed the night for some much needed rest.  After a good nights rest, we went to see a most fascinating street intersection and then continued west across Nebraska.

    OGALLALA
        We ended up stopping here for the night.   By this time our schedule was so out of whack and we  didn't have any reservations anywhere so we just hoped we could find something decent and not too much money (it was getting slim!).  We found a nice hotel with a pool (a requirement since we hadn't swam for a few days), although it was a tiny one.

    CHIMNEY ROCK       
        If you've never seen Chimney Rock, it's amazing.  Right there, in the middle of no-where, this pillar just sticks up.   It's easy to see why this was a major landmark for the pioneers.  We only stayed long enough to get some pictures.