Family Fun in Omaha
*Disclosure: We worked with Visit Omaha and were given free tickets to some attractions. As always, all opinions are my own.*
Omaha, Nebraska is filled with family fun attractions and activities. From a fun walk across Bob the Bridge to Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, there is plenty for families to do.
Something that I think is really fun about Omaha is that there are giant blue push pins placed around the city. The pins are located at 15 of Omaha’s fun attractions. We were able to make it to 5 of these attractions but I would have loved to visit more.
We started off our weekend in Omaha by heading to the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge. Bob is a 3000 foot long bridge that takes you across the Missouri River. A walk across it will take you from Omaha, Nebraska to Iowa. You can even go bobbing and stand in both states at the same time. There are also signs on the floor that let you know which animals are found there. We didn’t see any animals but we did find a lot of animal tracks in the mud once we got to the Iowa side of the bridge. The boys had fun trying to figure out which animals the tracks belonged to. We really enjoyed the time we spent at Bob and the boys even wanted to visit again before we left. The boys also happen to love checking out Bob’s twitter and listening to his voice on the videos.
One of the attractions that we were really looking forward to was the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. This is a really cool zoo with so much to do. One of our favorite exhibits was the Kingdoms of the Night exhibit. This exhibit is located in the same building as the Desert Dome but we noticed that many of the people visiting left after seeing the Desert Dome and didn’t continue on to Kingdoms of the Night. Make sure to check out both of them. They’re both really cool. Another favorite exhibit was the Bay Family Children’s Adventure Trails. This exhibit is interactive with tons of fun activities for kids. The Henry Doorly Zoo is a must do for families traveling to Omaha.
Our next stop was the Durham Museum. This history museum is housed in Omaha’s beautiful Union Station. We enjoyed checking out the trains and the streetcar and taking a look into Omaha’s past, as well as the traveling exhibits.
While looking out at the city from Bob the Bridge we saw this huge spray of water coming from somewhere. So of course we had to find out what it was and where it was coming from. I figured out that it was coming from the Heartland of America Park. In the middle of the park there is the Heartland of America Fountain that sprays 300 feet into the air. We went to the park to go see it up close and it’s really fun to watch. They also have a light show at night that I was hoping to see but we were a little too early and the boys were hungry.
The last attraction we made it to was the Old Market district. We only walked around for a little bit but there are lots of shops and restaurants. We wanted to try a Reuben sandwich, which originated in Omaha, but the place we picked closed early. I asked the boys if they wanted to pick a different restaurant but they didn’t want to. So, we just ordered a Reuben from our hotel.
Besides the places we went to, there are so many other attractions to visit. The Joslyn Art Museum and Lauritzen Gardens were two attractions that I really wanted to go to as well.
You can find a map of the giant blue push pins on the Visit Omaha website.
Have you ever visited Omaha?
