How My Family of 5 Traveled to Omaha on $1000 Budget Part 2: The Trip Fri & Sat
Phase 2: The Trip – Arrival & Friday Night
We packed up & hit the road by 10am, making one pit stop along the way before entering Iowa. Our GPS route was estimated to be about 6 hours and 10 minutes, so we arrived just under 7 hours with the pit stop and encountered nearly blinding heavy rainfall.
The first night proceeded mostly as planned with the addition of the kids learning how to play Billiards since there was one in the lounge area. All the kids were antsy from being in the car for hours, so the pool was a great idea to burn off the kid energy before getting settled in for the evening.
The pool was a rectangular size with the deepest part at 5 feet and a ladder to climb in & out. The shallow end was 3 feet high with stairs to walk down to enter. There were yellow chairs in corners with small tables to leave your towels and red Adirondack chairs on both ends of the pool. Though not a large pool, it provided ample space and fun for what we wanted for the kids by choosing a hotel with a pool.
The Lounge area in Tru by Hilton had several games like an oversized Connect 4 game, the Billiards table, board games, a Banana tile game, magazines, lots of seating with a couple of tall round tables, some blue chairs and a L shaped couch with a coffee table, plus several tables along the wall and a community dining table. There was plenty of space for us to spread out or congregate if other guests were in the lounge area as well. They also had a separate area with computer space, egg-shaped chairs and more tables. It all felt welcoming.
The first night we ordered Pizza Hut, using the coupons for the kids and then did a group order for the adults. We contributed about $40 for the pizza cost. The rest of the evening we spent playing Billiards, chatting and taking it easy. Though it felt low-key, it was still a jampacked day with travel, pool, playtime and eating all before we took the elevator to our rooms.
The hotel room had two queen beds just as we had booked, a TV with a welcome message, a tiny mini-fridge, microwave, small bench, a small desk, a nightstand between the beds, and the full-size bathroom. One of our favorite parts of the room hands down was the shampoo, conditioner and body wash that was installed in the shower wall. The devices were tubes that when squeezed the liquid dispersed, but the scent was some kind of honey scent that was purely divine. It smelled amazing. The water was immediately hot, no waiting for it to warm up or get to the right temperature, so it made rotating the kids for showers after the pool quick work. The beds were made with white cozy linens. Though the room didn’t have a lot of extra space in the area, that was okay since we didn’t plan to spend tons of time in the actual rooms outside of changing, sleeping and getting ready for the day/night, which made the room perfect for what we needed.
Phase 3 – The Trip: Saturday
We had breakfast around 9am and had selected breakfast of croissant egg, cheese and sausage sandwiches, waffles and some yogurt before finishing, getting everyone ready to head out for the day’s adventures.
Our first stop for Saturday was to visit the Omaha Visitor Center (which opened at 10am) and pick up a FREE backpack for each kid as a part of the Omai Kid Adventure. There are 12 free pins that can be collected around Omaha at various attractions, so I would highly recommend making the Visitor Center a first stop as the backpack is handy for the kids, fun, and you can attach the pins to it as they are collected. Our kids loved it. When you stop by the Visitor Center, be sure to sign their guestbook too!
We parked in a lot just down the road from the Visitor Center, however, if you’ve never been to Omaha or a large city of it size, I’d suggest taking the time to review their parking map this way you can determine whether you will park in a garage or a surface lot. We parked in a city surface lot which has a pay-by-phone ability so you can pay your parking fee or extend your timeframe and pay without having to walk all the way back to your vehicle. From the Visitor Center, our plan was to go to the Slides, then the Bob Bridge to the Splashpad as the rainy weather had held off.
Back when my sisters and I had visited as kids, “the slides” were surrounded by trees in a sandy area with picnic tables a little way up from the slides. They were fast and tons of abandoned cardboard that soon made the slides faster. From sliding on my stomach and getting a mouth full of sand to my sister “t-rex” walking up the slide after that halfway bump, to racing each other on each of the two slides; it was simple fun, and we were worn out. But those are bygone days.
Fast forward to present day and Omaha has built up the area around “the slides” with a splashpad, park, and picnic areas and only a few minutes’ walk from the Visitor Center. This area is named Gene Leahy Mall, with the slides near 11th and Farman Streets. Previously called Central Park Mall, it was renamed after a mayor of Omaha sometime in the 90s and is part of a larger space referred to collectively as The Riverfront. The Riverfront officially consists of Gene Leahy Mall, Lewis & Clark Landing , and Heartland of America along with the Kiewit Luminarium (one of the 12 attractions part of Omai’s Adventure) all of which are nestled around the Missouri River.
Nearly all of Riverfront’s amenities are free to the public making it both an amazing community gathering place for locals, as well as a tourist attraction. Depending on when you might visit, they do have a calendar of events that can be reviewed in case there is an activity or program that might be of interest to you. Some of these programs may have a cost, so plan your budget accordingly.
It’s no wonder with such a focus on community engagement, the Riverfront was bustling with families that hot afternoon. The kids had just as much fun going down those slides as we did (though there were significantly more people compared to our visit several decades ago).
The August heat was tolerable at this time, so after the slides we let the kids play in the splash pad. I can say one thing I wished I had done differently for the kids was to either have an extra set of clothes in the car or had them wear their swimsuits to better play in the area as we didn’t initially plan for us to do it as early in our adventures as we did. So, I would say to dress for wet play and bring a change of clothes so they can have as much fun as possible. Between the splashpad and the slides, it is easy to spend an afternoon just in those places, but we wanted to visit other spots that day, so we corralled the kiddos to make our trek onward.
Our next stop was to walk to the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge, which turned out to be a bit longer of a walk than we had anticipated, but still a lot of fun to see everything. During this time, we passed the Kiewit Luminarium, and the Lewis & Clark Landing (which was still under construction during our visit, slated for completion in September 2023). The Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge spans the Missouri River connecting Iowa and Nebraska. About halfway across the bridge, walkers encounter the Iowa and Nebraska state line. Those who stand between both the states on the bridge are said to be “bobbing”. I liked being able to “stand in two places at once” and briefly be in both Iowa and Nebraska. The kids even tried to do “the bridge” gymnastic position on the bridge too. We didn’t follow it all the way across into Iowa and turned around to go underneath the bridge for our next visit.
Underneath the bridge is Omar, the blue troll and brother to Omai from Omai’s Adventure. So, we stopped there for some photos as well before we went into the Lewis & Clark Trail Experience to cool down some from all the walking and look around. By this time, it was lunch and had gotten hot, so we decided to make our way to the vehicles again for the lunch boxes. Once back at the city surface parking lot, we realized we had misunderstood what one of the gentlemen tried explaining for it and had only selected for a 2 hour window when you can actually select for a 4 hour window – this ended up costing us extra on parking fees, so instead of ordering a lunch we ate our packed snacks and lunch with the kids and then ordered a small snack at the restaurant that the others were going to eat at so we could keep our dining out budget for dinner.
After cooling down and eating, we found ourselves nearby the Old Market District and stopped in at the Fairmont Mercantile Hollywood Candy Treats & Amusements. My sister gave all six of her nieces and nephews $5 each to spend in the candy store. I would certainly say it’s a family friendly environment and should be visited when in the area and even adults feel like a kid in this candy store. With it being mid afternoon at that point it was a great indoor activity as well as wandering the Old Market a little more to go into various shops breaking up the summer heat.
After a little while my youngest was exhausted and needed a nap before we met up for dinner, so we divided, leaving my sisters to continue in the Old Market Adventures while we headed back to the hotel to rest up before convening with the others for Saturday night dinner. We were going to a Mexican restaurant, but the one we planned ended up with an event and no seating for some time. Instead we pivoted and found Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant a short drive down the road. Eating out in a restaurant is always a special treat for the kids as it’s something we don’t typically do. This meal was the most expensive of the trip at about $60 after tip. We rounded the night by hanging out outside on the patio seating area of Tru by Hilton by playing Scattegories while the kids played a few of their games.
If you haven’t read how we planned and budgeted for the Omaha trip, check out Part 1: Planning of the How My Family of 5 Traveled to Omaha on $1000 series, and don’t forget to read about the last two days in Part 3!