The 12th State, or Back to the Homeland

My bucket list is a little lighter after last weekend. I ran a 5K in Nebraska, knocking off the 12th state I've done a 5K in.
I have a little history with Omaha, Nebraska, where the race took place. I was born there and my aunt lives there.
So I signed up for the Komen Race for the Cure in Omaha, hopped on an overbooked Delta flight and ran the race! I also had a wonderful visit with my aunt.
I arrived Oct. 4 to a very small airport, Eppley Airfield. I get so spoiled going through Atlanta, which is huge, that I suppose anything that only has one restaurant and one newsstand in the ENTIRE terminal will feel small to me.

Arriving in Omaha

On Saturday, Oct. 5, my aunt and I did a little touring, including driving by the hospital where I was born.

Where I was born, many, many years ago!

Then we parked and walked all over downtown Omaha. It was sunny and cool when we started but it got much cooler, cloudier and windy as the day went on. But we had fun anyway. We stopped for a bite to eat a Chinese restaurant that has been downtown in some shape or form since the 1940s.

Beautiful inlaid tables were all over the restaurant

The tables all had beautiful inlaid mother of pearl. We both had soup and egg rolls. It was kind of the perfect lunch, since it was so blustery outside.
Then we found the First National Sculpture Parks, which are throughout downtown.

Me with the bison

Me with the pioneers

In the photos of me with the pioneers, the press room of the Omaha World Herald is the building behind me. The Omaha World Herald's main office is an office tower a few blocks away. We had parked in a little park area, sort of at the start of the riverfront area.

Along the little riverfront area

We were going to walk over to the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge but we drove over instead, so I got to visit Iowa as well.
As you can see, there is a line on the bridge denoting the two states. And my aunt says this is the only pedestrian bridge traversing the Missouri River.

In both states

The Omaha skyline, seen from Iowa

 The Iowa side has a nice park area as well, including an amphitheater.
My aunt then was showing me a few more of the sites and she wanted to show me the Joslyn Art Museum. We weren't going to go in, but we were walking around the outside and I could see a Dale Chihuly glass sculpture inside, so we went in. The admission is free, thanks to a generous donor, but we got there just 15 minutes before closing. We did a very brisk walk through some of the exhibits, and I did get to see the Post-Impressionists room, my favorites! Got to see a couple Monets, a Renoir, and several others.

The Joslyn Art Museum

Dale Chihuly artwork

It was fun, even if a bit brief!
The race was cold, and what else?, rainy! I even brought my rain poncho, but left it at the condo. It wasn't raining when we left for the race, which was held at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, which is the convention center.

Ready to start

Bundled up! It was cold

There were a few hills on the course, but not too bad. We did go by some of Creighton University's buildings/campus. That was nice. Otherwise, I didn't recognize too much of it from Saturday's walk. But then, it was raining, so I kind of kept my head down.
In all, it was a great weekend!
At the airport Sunday after the race, I was struck by how small the airport was, but thankfully, there was this:

821 miles to Atlanta, 20 feet to the bar. Ha! 

 I didn't partake, but it was a funny sign.
I've run races in four states this year. I can't believe I got that many in! I really thought I'd sort of get two per year, and it would take me a long time to get them all in. It still will likely take a long time to get them all in, but that's part of the fun
Although I was born in Nebraska, we moved to New York when I was four. But I spent many of my childhood summers in Trenton, Nebr., visiting my grandparents. Trenton is all the way across the state. The very last time I was in Nebraska, prior to this past weekend, was for my grandparents' funeral in 2009. They died within a week of each other at the ages of 95.
It was nice to revisit my home town, none of which I remember. It was even better to visit with my aunt and pick up my 12th state.