I kind of fell out of love with posting here for a bit, but after the week I had… Well, I just HAVE to put this in writing!
This will just be a catch-up post, I’m not going to dive into great detail about the outings we’ve been on as much of it doesn’t warrant a full post, but just wait until I get to the weekend starting on June 22, which WILL require likely TWO posts.
Henry Doorly Zoo, Omaha
My last post was a quick discussion on our shakedown trip to Lake Wapello in early May.
Two weeks after that, we took a quick couple-day trip to Omaha to go to the Henry Doorly Zoo. I’d heard Omaha’s zoo was one of wonder, and sure it did not disappoint. It was worlds above the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines (and the premium price tag reflected that.)
As much as the zoo has to offer, and as big as it is, we only saw about half of it. Compounding that was the fact that it was apparently Field Trip Day at the park, hundreds of kids roaming the park in color-coordinated shirts and all the noise that followed. I did take some pictures (and video that I haven’t compiled yet). I think the high point of that trip was the gorilla that was not happy with me as I stood watching them through the glass in the enclosure. He ran up to the window and slapped it, apparently threatened by my presence.
The day after our visit to the zoo, we returned home.
Iowa Cubs
We had tickets for the Iowa Cubs (triple A affiliate of the Chicago club) two weeks later, on May 30. Brandy had an extremely rough day that day at work and elected to not join me, so I went solo on that adventure. It had been a long while since I’d been to a minor league baseball game and forgotten the charm of the ridiculous on-field contests and the local advertisements strewn throughout the stadium. I have a couple of photos from that trip as well.
A Week at Backbone State Park
The week after my trip to Des Moines for the ballgame, Brandy was in Northern California enjoying the Redwoods at a handful of new properties she picked up for work. She picked up something while on that trip, COVID, maybe? and was sick for a couple of weeks post-return.
That did not stop us from making the week-long trip with the RV to Backbone State Park that we’d already booked and had planned, though it should have.
We arrived on June 8 and were immediately struck by a poor signal with our Starlink making it exceptionally difficult to work. Coupled with Brandy’s illness, we struggled to make it an enjoyable trip. The romance of traveling with this fifth wheel was lost on that trip and, spoilers, we don’t think we will have it much longer.
I went out for one hike during the stay, just as I was starting to come down with whatever it was she’d brought back. I didn’t take enough pictures to bother putting them up on the Photo Diary but if you’ve seen any pictures from my previous visit to Backbone State Park, you’ll get the idea.
All Caught Up
As I mentioned I am not going into great detail about these outings as they were so short and uneventful that they don’t warrant full posts (though pictures are up on the Photo Diary). At this point, I will leave the post here, but I will begin work on the next couple of posts that outline a crazy hectic week that I encountered (and that Brandy joined me on halfway through); those posts promise to be a wild ride so, stick around, won’t you?
-Phil