Well, as we continue to be tourists in our new town...we have embarked on two more touristy adventures this weekend. One was good, one, uh, not so much...
Friday night was Nebraska's "Balloon and Wine festival" - not too far from here (about 10 minutes from our house) so we decided to go check it out. I thought that it would be cool to see a sky full of hot air balloons and I knew the kids would get a kick out of it, too. (There was also a wine tasting part, but we really thought that the balloons would be a big enough draw for us...) It was advertised that "all balloons would launch by 7:30 and at 9:30 there would be a "balloon glow" - after dark, all of the ballons would turn on their fire at the same time and they would "glow" in the sky - sounded cool... We got to the grounds around 6:45 and there was a huge line of people watining to get in... as we made it to the front of the line, it was a little after 7 and we had seen a couple of ballons launch from just behind the building near the ticket stand. It was very cool to see them. We dutifully paid our $10 (for the whole family - cute, huh?) to get in and then we waited around. There were a few "kid" things for ellie and nathan - pony rides, big inflatable slides, live nusic (nathan LOVED that, of course). Most people were gathering on this hill to watch the launch (we thought). We waited and waited around for a while - at around 8:15 we overheard one of the festival workers tell someone that the 7:00 launch was "done...there were 4 total" and the next event was at 9:30 pm. As Ellie so eloquently stated - "this is the weirdest festival...4 balloons...come on...that's not a launch, right?" We had to agree - we elected NOt to wait around for over an hour to see 4 balloons "glow" at 9:30...so we headed home. They can't all be winners, and I don't think I would recommend the balloon and wine "festival" to a friend... :)
This morning, we headed out to the Wildlife Safari - where you drive your car through "natural habitats" and see wildlife indiginous to Nebraska, I guess. It was a lot of bison, elk, deer, cranes, etc. Not the most exciting animals, but sort of cool to see them so up close. there was even one part where you could get out of your car and walk a 1 mile trail to see wolves, bears, owls and lots of other animals. It was not a hot day here and it was very woodsy and forest preserve-y there. Some of the animals were hard to spot, but it was nice to walk and "hike" in some parts -- Frank led us up one trail that was kind of tough (especially for me and ellie in our flip-flops), but we were all troopers... come to find out on the way down that we were on the part of the trail labeled "most difficult" - man, we are like williams vs. wild! It was fun - I don't know if we'll be rushing back every weekend or anything, but it was different and pretty and definitely worth seeing.
Tourist attractions still on the "to-do" list -- the Durham Museum, the train (for nathan) at the zoo, and of course, a restaurant we have in chicago...Famous Dave's...(dream big!)
We'll keep you posted.
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