Holy Family Shrine and Omaha Botanical Gardens

 

Since we had gone to Mass last night, Travalon and I were able to hit the road right away. First we got coffee at a place called Barista's Daily Grind, where they accidentally made two lattes for me so we tipped them extra. Our first real stop was a huge antiques mall somewhere east of Lincoln, where I found some beautiful rosaries. Photos soon. We had runzas for lunch again, since they are so delicious, and then we stopped at the Holy Family Shrine a bit west of Omaha. You can see it from the highway, and I had always wondered what it was. Guess what - I bought a couple of rosaries there. Here are photos of the shrine. (We still haven't gotten a sim card for Travalon's good camera, so these are all off our cell phones.)

This is a view of the inside:

And this is the view from inside the shrine:

Here I am in front of the underground gift shop:

We went back to Omaha and toured the botanical gardens, which are right near the zoo. Here are some photos from inside the conservatory:

These are blooming voodoo lilies, smaller cousins of the titan arum:

Then we explored the extensive outdoor gardens. There were a few things in bloom, and the weather was perfect. Here I am with a giant Jenga game.

We thought this label on the ground was so random, but later we realized it was for someone riding the tram that tours the gardens.

There were small trains running on this track! And as we walked along, we saw a real train below us, since the gardens are on top of a bluff.

The Japanese garden is under construction.

These are koi in the exhibit hall. The exhibit was blown glass prairie flowers.

I liked this sculpture out in the gardens.

We drove through downtown Omaha and went across the river to a park in Council Bluffs, Iowa from which you could get a great view of downtown Omaha. Sorry, we forgot to take a photo. Then we drove to Des Moines, and we saw some cute water towers along the way, like this smiley face one:

And this one that looks like a hot-air balloon:

This is a photo of the chandeliers in the Mexican restaurant in Kearney. They look like prickly pear cacti!

I liked the facade of this Irish pub in the old downtown of Kearney, where the streets are brick.

We stopped in Walnut, Iowa, which advertises fifteen antiques shops. By the time we got there, only one was still open. I didn't find anything, but Travalon got a comic book and a mug with Monty Python quotes. Here is a shot of their quaint downtown, which also has brick streets.

We are staying outside of Des Moines at the Hotel Renovo, which has a lovely pool and hot tub. We had them all to ourselves, since not as many people travel on Sunday night, and those who do might be business people who are going to bed early instead of swimming. The pool was warmer than at the hotel in Kearney, but not as warm as the one in Lincoln. It was like a Goldilocks pool - just right!

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