Big City Sights--TRIP 3 (2012)

It was a grey morning with sprinkles. That's good for Nebraska, but with only five inches of rain for the year, the state needs a lot more precipitation.
Over the course of our travels Andy and I have made some observations. 1. We have noticed many more hawks along the road as we drive. They perch on telephone poles and fence posts, checking out the fields and roadside right-of-ways. It's a joy to see these beautiful birds of prey making a comeback. 2. Newer motels include more outlets in the rooms. Every night I need to charge the GPS, (Little Red's cigarette lighter shorted out two years ago and, no, it's not the fuse) the camera battery, Andy's electric razor, the cell phone and the laptop. So often we have to juggle plugs. Architects and electricians need to know that.  3. Andy thinks telephones in motel rooms may become obsolete in a few years. If most people who travel carry cell phones, the landlines serve little purpose beyond calling the front desk.  4. Billboards in some states are a terrible distraction. Missouri was particularly horrible on Interstate #70. Nebraska isn't bad. Of the states we have traveled, the three worst are South Dakota, Georgia and Missouri. It's such an unnecessary eyesore, and the small Interstate signs near each exit are much easier to read and follow. 5. Nebraska, as a whole, is clean. And Omaha is immaculate. The Cornhuskers must take pride in the environs.

The exterior of the Joslyn Art Museum is covered with
slabs of Georgia Pink marble.

Our first major stop was Joslyn Art Museum, primarily because admission on Saturday morning between 10:00 a.m. and noon is free. Such a deal saved us $12.00!  In addition, the weather forecast promised clearing by afternoon. What better place to spend a cloudy morning?
The Museum, built as a gift to the people of Omaha from Sarah Joslyn in memory of her husband George, a prominent Omaha businessman and community leader, was designed as a cultural center for the arts.

The Hailstorm by Thomas Hart Benton
 exemplifies realism in art.

The building itself is a piece of art, constructed in 1931 for three million dollars with 38 types of marble from around the world--Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and Morocco--and 250 boxcars of Georgia Pink marble. The 1994 addition for special exhibitions and the collection of modern and contemporary art is clad in the same Georgia Pink marble. In 2009, the Museum added a sculpture garden, a Discovery garden, flowing water features, enhanced entrances and drives, renovated and expanded parking, landscaped greens, granite pathways, an entrance plaza and sculptures.

Andy poses at the indoor mosaic
in the main foyer.

Yellow Ascending by
Sugarman reached skyward.

We marveled at the huge and colorful glass sculpture Inside Et Out, 2000, by Dale Chihuly. Works varied from the modern like Goerge Segal's 1970, Time Square at Night to Andy's favorite The Hailstorm, 1940, by Thomas Hart Benton, to a hide and beaded Cheyenne Indian vest, 1880.  I photographed Small Country Inn at Bordighera by Claude Monet, 1884, said to be his best of 40 about life on the French-Italian border when he experimented with light and color in nature. Andy posed for me by the indoor dry fountain and urged me to photograph Allan Houser's Peaceful Serenity, 1992.

Noodles and Doodles, a sculpture by
Mathew Placzek, attracted young
and old alike.

In shirt sleeves at 68 degrees, we strolled through the Peter Kiewit Foundation Sculpture Garden and the Dorothy and Stanley Truhlsen Discovery Garden. The longer the sun stayed out between clouds, the warmer it got. Especially fun for photographs were Noodles and Doodles, 2009, by Matthew Placzek; Yellow Ascending, 1977, by George Sugarman; Story Telling Hut, 2009, made of willow and roughleaf dogwood saplings by Patrick Dougherty; and Pencil Bench, 2009 by Ron Parks.  I also got a picture of the Georgia Pink marble accenting Kenneth Snelson's 1983 sculpture in stainless steel, Able Charlie. It was lovely to be outside and what a perfect place to pass the time!

Kids of all ages played hide and seek
inside Story Telling Hut by Dougherty. 

The Veterans Memorial honors
those who died in World War II.

The Veterans Memorial, honoring those from Douglas County who died in World War II, graced the highest hill in the city, or at least the highest one we could see. The white marble and bronze statues and plaques contrasted sharply to the grassy Memorial Park with its changing leaves. White rose blossoms, nipped by the early frost, clung to the bushes, their fragrance still evident. We stopped for lunch: apples, cookies, Sierra Mist. Joggers and dog walkers passed by. Clouds moved in and threatened rain. It would be good for Omaha. Just as we finished eating, a recreation adult soccer game ended, and the men returned to their cars. From what we have seen, Omaha is a nice place to live.

Bronze statues downtown celebrate
Omaha's 150 anniversary in 2004.

Downtown, the First National Spirit of Nebraska Wilderness and Pioneer Park celebrated the 150th anniversary of the city of Omaha. Bronze statues of American bison and Canada geese and of pioneers in their covered wagons moving West encircled three city blocks. Yellow leaves and autumn flower gardens accented the bronze one-and-a-half life size castings.

One-and-a-half times life size statues
of pioneers settle in Omaha.

One plaque explained "The ground on which these sculptures rest was open prairie until relatively recently--1854. For centuries, bison roamed here and geese populated the skies. When the pioneers first arrived, they startled the bison, which in turn flushed the geese. There were no skyscrapers here. There were no traffic lights, which is why today's mythic creatures run through the very objects that make up downtown, behaving the way they have since the beginning of time. That experience lies at the core of these two parks."

Spirit of Nebraska Wilderness statues
ignore traditional boundaries.

With more than 2500 tons of limestone, comprising 125 truckloads, landscape artist Jim Reeves designed and transformed the sites into two connecting sculpture gardens. "Follow the wagon train west, watch the buffalo wrap around the corner of 15th and Dodge, admire the Canada geese at all four corners of 16th and Dodge, and follow their migration into the Tower Winter Garden." And we did.Heartland of America Park provided photo ops for a wedding party. "I've never seen a bride in red," said Andy. The dress, layer upon layer of bright red bouffant netting, draped off the bride's shoulders.

Migrating geese fly over downtown
Omaha in the Spirit of Nebraska.

Her attendants, in thigh-high strapless black cocktail dresses with red cumberbuns, fluttered around her in the rose garden as she primped. A patient photographer waited as the sun came in and out. The guys just stood around. Up above on the street level, the white limo waited too. "I've never seen a stretch limo that long," said Andy. It had at least ten windows on each side. "I wonder what one like that costs!" On the pond below us the mallards and swans quacked and squawked.  Two people across the water tossed bread crumbs.  A literal line of at least 100 ducks swam furiously toward the cement drain, clambered out of the water and waddled up the drain and over the grassy hill to the sidewalk. Talk about keeping your ducks in a row!  The hungry quackers were hysterical.

President Gerald Ford dedicated the
rose garden to his wife First Lady Betty.

From there we headed to the Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Conservation Center. The house was gone, but the residential corner, converted into a rose garden, was dedicated to First Lady Betty Ford who dedicated it to the people of Omaha. The main building offered appointment-only tours, but a covered display center included information about the Fords and broadcast both of them speaking to visitors. Folding chairs set up nearby suggested a wedding ceremony would be held here. All the attendants had gathered--two adults in chocolate brown gowns and three little girls in layers of white ruffles and brown cumberbuns. One of them climbed a cement embankment and slid down. They were waiting for the bride and groom. The mother of one arrived. Gerald Ford kept talking. "I wonder if they arranged to turn him off during the ceremony," I said to Andy.
"I wouldn't count on it," he answered, chuckling. "This is a public area."
"It's loud," I said. "They won't be able to hear anything!  It's more of a Presidential backdrop than they may have anticipated for their wedding." And it really looked like rain any minute.

The bronze statue of a family pulling a
handcart in their western migration
commemorates the Mormon Trail of 1847. 

The sun came in and out by the time we reached the Mormon Trail Center. Here 4000 pioneers, who had followed Brigham Young west in 1847-1848, took temporary shelter from their journey. They had arrived too late to press on through the Rockies, so land that would become Omaha was their temporary home for the winter. The first wagon train arrived on June 14, 1846. Lots were assigned and a city sprang up overnight, with houses built of logs and roofed with prairie sod or willow branches. But by July, plague infected the pioneers. Too late they discovered the swamp of mosquitoes, and 600 died of swamp fever, privation or exposure. The next year survivors pushed westward to found Salt Lake City and 700 other settlements from Canada to Mexico.

From the Veterans Memorial the
clouds afforded a spectacular sunset.

"I can't get over how hilly it is here in Omaha," said Andy, as a light turned red on one steep slope. "Even considering it's right on the Missouri River, it's really hilly."
Before dark, we drove back to the Veterans Memorial to walk the park and photograph the sunset. There behind the footpath around the Memorial were more sculptures, including Jake Balcom's Ascension, 2009.
"This is actually the latest we've been out on the whole trip," said Andy. It was 7:30 p.m. on a lovely autumn night and still 73 degrees.