Greetings from Lincoln, NE!

[vraiblonde]

I love my hometown and am so excited to show it off to Monello

We're staying at a cottage in a campground, and it's exceeded my expectations. The cottage is quite large, although one room, with a separate bathroom/shower. The pool and hot tub are right outside our door. Very cute and comfortable.

So far we've visited my family, and have gone down to the Haymarket a couple of times. When I was a kid, the Haymarket area was where the mail depot, manufacturing plants, and warehouses were. Today it is an entertainment district, with shops, restaurants, hotels, sports venues, and the main event arena.

Last night we sat in my folks' driveway and watched their neighborhood fireworks, which is not officially sanctioned and is just the people who live in that area buying illegal fireworks in MO, then setting them off in the street after a big neighborhood cookout and picnic. Like, serious aerial fireworks, not just little grounders.

And no, the cops did not show up. They don't care about things like that here.

On the list of things to do is visit the little neighborhoods that used to be towns but now make up the city of Lincoln; go to Pioneers Park so Monello can see some buffalo and eat chicken at Lee's; visit the ubercool state capitol (aka "The Penis of the Plains"); and hit up the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.

My son, his girlfriend, and their assorted children are also coming for a long weekend to see family and hang out, so that will be fun.

We're two months on the road now (four if you count our time living in the campground at Solomons) and it's going very well. Neither of us are tired of being transient or relocating; we're thoroughly enjoying going new places and seeing new things.

 

[Bobwhite]

I love my hometown and am so excited to show it off to Monello

We're staying at a cottage in a campground, and it's exceeded my expectations. The cottage is quite large, although one room, with a separate bathroom/shower. The pool and hot tub are right outside our door. Very cute and comfortable.

So far we've visited my family, and have gone down to the Haymarket a couple of times. When I was a kid, the Haymarket area was where the mail depot, manufacturing plants, and warehouses were. Today it is an entertainment district, with shops, restaurants, hotels, sports venues, and the main event arena.

Last night we sat in my folks' driveway and watched their neighborhood fireworks, which is not officially sanctioned and is just the people who live in that area buying illegal fireworks in MO, then setting them off in the street after a big neighborhood cookout and picnic. Like, serious aerial fireworks, not just little grounders.

And no, the cops did not show up. They don't care about things like that here.

On the list of things to do is visit the little neighborhoods that used to be towns but now make up the city of Lincoln; go to Pioneers Park so Monello can see some buffalo and eat chicken at Lee's; visit the ubercool state capitol (aka "The Penis of the Plains"); and hit up the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.

My son, his girlfriend, and their assorted children are also coming for a long weekend to see family and hang out, so that will be fun.

We're two months on the road now (four if you count our time living in the campground at Solomons) and it's going very well. Neither of us are tired of being transient or relocating; we're thoroughly enjoying going new places and seeing new things.

The Adventures of Vrai and Monello is my new favorite book.

 

[vraiblonde]

On one hand, I enjoy spending time with my family - most of them, anyway. On the other hand, when we don't have people to see we spend more time being tourists and visiting area attractions.

Tomorrow we're going to the Henry Doorly Zoo with my son and his family, but mostly we've just...lived. Which was kind of the idea: to experience places as a resident, not strictly as a tourist. We've eaten all the crap food that one can only get in Lincoln (cheese Frenchee, anyone?) so yesterday we went to a pho place so I could get my noodle soup fix. There's a section of town that is almost a Chinatown, with a number of Asian restaurants and markets. It hasn't yet been completely taken over, but give it time. I give this development two thumbs up because I'm a big fan of Asian food in all its subcats.

Aside: why do Asian markets always smell like armpits?

Getting around Lincoln is super easy because of the way the roads are laid out and the intercity highway system. There is no meaningful rush hour in this city of over a quarter million residents, but we did notice that whoever plans their construction zones and detours seems to be intellectually challenged because it's not clear just exactly where you're supposed to be driving.

This is one of those stops where there's plenty of stuff to do, but nothing terribly exciting and a must, so you can either keep busy or you can be like us and laze around. I'm currently reading a Mary Roach book called "Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War", which is an entertaining look at the more esoteric challenges our military personnel face when in the field. I now know exactly how penises are reconstructed and rebuilt, and have a heightened admiration for doctors and scientists.

 

[Monello]

My favorite part of Lincoln so far has been the Haymarket. I think it's great when city planners take an otherwise under utilized site and turn it into a destination. Kudos to whoever came up with this brilliant idea. It's dotted with a bunch of eateries and bars with a few other stores tossed in for good measure. Saturday they have a street farmer's market with a lot of foods for sale along with flowers and a few crafts. Local honey or free range meats anyone? We got on the street parking Saturday that was just a few steps from our destination. The old warehouses have kept their original charm. Many buildings still sport the vintage painted advertisements on their sides even though they are fading.

For food choices at the Haymarket there's Italian, 2 Irish Pubs, Brazilian, coffee shops, Pizzerias, Mexican, Sushi, Indian, Cajun, Seafood, Vegetarian, Brew pubs & burger joints. Many places offer outdoor seating. Most places offer up adult beverages. It's fun to sit and people watch while enjoying a cold drink. They have some of those pokemon monsters around as we saw several small groups of youngsters tracking them on their phones.

Just on the outskirts of the Haymarket there's a new donut shop that just opened last month. After dinner Saturday we walked off our meal and headed over to check out the donut shop. I kid you not, the line for that place was out the door. The donuts look like works of art. They have all kinds of things on them like M&Ms and other assorted goodies. There is a window into the kitchen where you can spy all the bakers & decorators hard at work. I did some research on the place and they have 62 employees. That is great when a small business can employ that many people.

The state capitol building towers over the Lincoln landscape. It's the 3rd tallest building in Nebraska. Driving in to town on I180, the town sits like a view from a post card. Crossing over the bridge, the town name is spelled out in large letters with a minor league baseball stadium, the sports arena and the University of Nebraska football stadium all laid out in front of you.

The downtown section of the city is laid out in a North South East West street pattern. It's easy to get around down town. Lots of the usual stores you find in most large city down towns and a vast selection of eating and drinking establishments. 1 such trip had us stop off at a pizzeria for some overdue nourishment. It was a quaint spot with a lot of character. It had the old tin roof and plenty of dark wood seating. The restaurant's surroundings were in sharp contrast to the pierced & tattooed employees.

1 of my short term goals is to make it to Lincoln when Nebraska has a home football game. I think I would really enjoy the atmosphere of a home game. Even if I don't actually attend the game, I think it would be a great time to head to the stadium area and watch the game in the bar.

I've had a few first time foods while here in Nebraska. The first was a commercial bierock, locally called a runza. It's a ground meat, onion and cabbage pocket sandwich. Mine also had mushrooms & swiss cheese in it. Had a loose meat sandwich that they refer to as a Tastee. A tastee is very similar to a sloppy joe sandwich in consistency. I had a frenchie sandwich that was very undewhelming. I was told to go to Don & Millies if I wanted the best frenchie in town. So I went and my 2nd attempt at eating a frenchie was much more pleasant than the first effort. A frenchie is a breaded and fried cheese sandwich. The next thing on the to-try list is the onion chip & dip. So it looks like another trip to Runza's is in order.

They have some awesome neighborhood fireworks displays here. I don't know how much money was spent on those but I did appreciate them. Apollo wasn't as appreciative. I'd say the 4th is his least favorite holiday.

On this leg of the trip we aren't experiencing Lincoln like we did our other stops. We aren't in tourist mode where we grab a guide and head to all the must see places. But each time head out I'm rewarded with different sights in the various places we go.

 

[Vince]

Your Dad take you golfing yet?

 

[vraiblonde]

Just on the outskirts of the Haymarket there's a new donut shop that just opened last month. After dinner Saturday we walked off our meal and headed over to check out the donut shop. I kid you not, the line for that place was out the door. The donuts look like works of art. They have all kinds of things on them like M&Ms and other assorted goodies. There is a window into the kitchen where you can spy all the bakers & decorators hard at work. I did some research on the place and they have 62 employees. That is great when a small business can employ that many people.

The name of this donut shop is Hurts Donut, and their slogan is "Wanna Hurts Donut?" Monello had never heard this before, so I had to, um, explain it to him.

We also had Valentino's pizza, which is a local legend and the pizza of my childhood. Yia Yia's is better, though.

Our problem with Saturday mornings is that the campground serves up homemade blueberry pancakes, sausage links, and hash browns for breakfast. It's a nice time to sit and enjoy the gorgeous weather, talk to the campers, and relax. This conflicts with the Farmers Market at the Haymarket, which has not only produce and local goods, but all kinds of food stands as well. A dilemma.

 

[vraiblonde]

Pics of Lincoln...







I'll get some pics of downtown and the Haymarket so you can see that yes indeed, Lincoln is a real city.

 

[Monello]

And they sell Baker's chocolates here!

https://www.bakerscandies.com

 

[vraiblonde]

Here's the thing about Lincoln:

We're looking for dive bars and no joy. The dives of my youth are perfectly respectable neighborhood taverns now. Tap Room, which used to be the dive of all dives is now super cute. My Mom said Luckie's was a dive - no. It's a Texas style BBQ joint.

I don't think it's because Lincoln is all fansy now, or because we've been to so many dives that they have to seriously represent to impress us. I think it's because former dives have upgraded, and now I just have to find the new dives. Bob's and Arnold's in Havelock have lost their dive-ness, which is a travesty. I'm thinking Sandy's on O. That might still be a dive. I hope.

But I seriously love my home town. I am still excited to come home and proud to show it off. One of the things I love best is *their* pride. I joke that when you see a photo of Nebraskans, if there are more than three people in the pic at least one of them will be sporting an article of clothing with GBR or Huskers on it. There is no place like Nebraska. Nebraska, the good life.

If it didn't get so cold in the winter and make me lose my tan lines, I'd come back and live here.

 

[Monello]

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