Omaha was next on our trip. We spent two nights here, right across the street from the College World Series Stadium. That is one nice stadium. Our first night in town we stopped at a restaurant called “M’s Pub”. No food pictures, but the food was really good. We shared a couple of appetizers. More than enough food late in the day.
Omaha is very easy to drive around. Well marked and laid out. We visited Boys Town. Quite interesting place. Another old movie (“Boys Town” with Spencer Tracey and Micky Rooney) that influenced my wife. They have done a superb job taking care of this place.
I saw something that caught my eye while driving around Boys Town. The following two pictures are self explanatory.
On our way back from Boys Town, we stopped at the Omaha Union Station. This former railroad station has been restored and is now a museum. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to see the Egyptian Exhibit. There used to be a train exhibit, but we understand that it had been moved back across the river to Council Bluffs, IA.
For dinner we went to a highly recommended restaurant called Piccolo’s (also known as Piccolo Pete’s).
We heard that this is one of Warren Buffet’s favorite steak restaurants. My wife and I split a ribeye steak. Served with each meal (even a split meal) are bread and butter, a choice of spaghetti, mostaccioli or the vegetable of the day, a choice of french fries, baked or hash brown potatoes, and a salad with choice of dressing. Way too much food. They cut their own meat right at the restaurant. Good food, old time atmosphere. I would love to go back and try other items on the menu. I saw two plates of their fried chicken. Boy, did that look good!
Heading further west. Stopped in Kearney for lunch at a the Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill. The smell of a wood fire and a restaurant just seem to go together. My wife had a PP sandwich. I finally decided that I couldn’t eat the three combo plate, so I settled on the two combo plate. I had the PP and their specially made hot link sausage. They had brisket and beef burnt ends as other choices. I also ordered BBQ beans (which were really good) and their smoked mac and cheese (okay). The picture doesn’t do this lunch justice. The PP looked more like pulled bark. It was so good.
The manager came around and introduced himself. They were using a pellet grill (I don’t remember which one he told me) for smoking all their meat. They make their own rubs and sauces. I told him about LTBBQ and Savor Spices. He is looking forward to talking to Tim. I think he would like to be able to have his spices and sauces packaged for sale in the restaurant. Two of their habanero based sauces are shown below. They are called Widow Maker Extreme and Widow Maker Hot. Actually, they are not very hot. They are flavorful, however.
Our next little venture off the main highway was to the town of Gothenburg. This was the site of an original Pony Express Station. Interesting little museum. Bought another postcard for our grandson there.
Next upon our adventure was North Platte. We spent the night in North Platte. Had one of the worst meals I can remember in recent times. Zero flavor in a steak and cheese sandwich. Salt, pepper and hot sauce didn’t help, at all.
The next day we went to the Buffalo Bill Cody’s Scout’s Rest Ranch. My wife had visited there 45 years ago. I have been through North Platte several times, but this was my first visit to the ranch. I could live there today as long as I didn’t have to maintain the house. It was nice.
On our way out of North Platte I saw the Hub Bar. Picture not the best, but now we know where Hub must hang out when he goes to NE.
After the ranch visit we were off to Alliance, NE, the home of Carhenge. Since we got a late start after visiting the ranch we had to stop for lunch in Ogallala. I had previously posted about the lunch options they offered.
You have to want to go to Carhenge. You won’t just happen upon it. It was kind of cool. We had previously visited the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX, so it was a natural that we had to visit Carhenge. Here are a few pictures to whet your palette.
Headed back with hopes of stopping for the night in Kearney. Spotted a town called Paxton. We had been told that we could get a great meal at Ole’s Big Game Steakhouse in Paxton. We gave it a try. The owner greeted us at the door. We arrived just before the evening crowds showed up. Neither of us was really hungry, so we elected to try a couple of their specials. My wife had chicken parmesan. I had the homemade burger with blue cheese crumbles and bacon crumbles. Oh, my!! It was outstanding!!
I was stuffed just from the burger. Did I mention that it was outstanding?? As we were getting ready to leave, I saw four guys getting their steaks delivered. Each steak pretty well filled their plates. I want to visit this place again, with an appetite.
When we tried to stop in Kearney we found out that there was a teacher convention taking up all the rooms in town. In fact, we had trouble getting a room in Grand Island, about an hour further east. By the time we got to our room I had put over 600 miles on the car for the day. I was whipped!
The next morning headed to Lincoln to see the University of Nebraska. Another nice place. Omaha and Lincoln have both “re-purposed” old buildings in their downtown areas. They are now offices, stores, restaurants and high-end apartments/condos. The U of N has a nice statue outside one of their campus buildings.
We are headed home, but not without a few more stops. Next stop is Independence, MO. Another needlework store. On to Columbia and the University of Missouri. Another great college town. On to Collinsville, just outside St. Louis. They claim to have the World’s Largest Ketchup Bottle. Thankfully this was a drive-by opportunity. Grab a picture or two and head back to the highway.
Onward to Paducah, KY. We didn’t have time to actually go down to the water front where we will be staying at the end of September, but we liked what we saw. From Paducah we headed to Knoxville, TN. Had some shopping to do while we were there. The liquor store was my main shopping trip. My wife was looking for another shirt for out grandson from the University of Tennessee. We spent the night and made it home about 1:00 the next day. Time to rest up for our next trip.
Hope you enjoyed the trip and pictures. We did. In case you haven’t figured it out, we do like to visit the “World’s Largest …”. Love those balls of twine.
Art
