Hi again all. This will be a shorter post since I just finished up a week of scout camp with my son and need to catch up on grown up things like mowing the lawn. And to be honest, it took quite a bit out of these 43-year old bones. I got blister on my toe that looks like the Superdome. It was the same camp that I went to as a scout thirty years ago. Things like that inevitably make you think of your childhood. We did lots of cool stuff when I was a kid. Camping with my family was by far my favorite activity of the summer though.

If you haven’t camped in a while, I suggest you think about it. It really allows you to reset a bit. We had a camper and a boat growing up. Lots of family and friends would join us. I have no clue how many people it would amount to. Dozens for sure, but it felt like a hundred. I don’t know how often we’d go out, but it felt like every weekend. The kids would be kids and the adults would do their thing.

Just like summer itself, those weekends seemed endless. What a great time. When it was finally time to pack, a sorrow would set in. That was mostly due to having to go back to the real world, but I think part of us knows that things like family campouts and school summers won’t go on forever.

There were also lots of trips to Omaha. One of my favorite places to go was to Supersaver Cinema. They’d play movies that had been out for a while. I didn’t care what the movie was. I wanted to see the crazy lights and take a trip to Omaha.

With all of those trips to Omaha, one place we never made it to was the Durham Museum. I made that right a few weeks ago. In case you are wondering, this is another place I found in 100 Things To Do In Nebraska Before You Die.

Durham Museum

I like the concept of the museum. It is the historic Union Station repurposed into a museum about Omaha. It is a beautiful building so it was very wise to retrofit instead of tear down. I think in America we’ve lost a lot of beautiful structures and history in our desire for the bigger and shinier.

The railroad played an enormous part in Omaha’s development so it is also a bit poetic to be the site of the city’s museum. The railroad was crucial to many towns’ growth. Whereas the lack of a railroad more than likely meant the downfall of the town. See Brownville, Nebraska as an example.

There are quite a few interesting things in Omaha’s history. Its neighbor, Bellevue, is actually older. Electric streetcars ran throughout and between Omaha and Council Bluffs at the turn of the 20th century. The B-29 Bombers the Enola Gay and Bock’s Car, that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively, were built at the Martin Plant in the city. By the 1950s, Omaha was home of the biggest stock yards in the world.

There were some other cools things at Durham too. There are several passenger train cars to walk through. It has a miniature of the Trans-Mississippi & International Exposition held in Omaha in 1898 (think the Chicago World’s Fair on a much smaller scale). As a temporary exhibit, there is Toytopia. It highlights toys of the past. It’s pretty interactive and included several classic arcade games. A huge hit for the kids and the kid in us for sure.

Make Memories

A friend and I were chatting recently about summers as a kid. We agreed that probably 95% of our summer was sitting around being bored. But, oh, that 5% is what we remember. Planning a vacation, going camping, or even just a few hours at the local museum with your family might seem like more hassle than it’s worth. And to be honest, for you, it will probably be mostly a headache. If you have kids, they will not show appreciation either. But just remember though, thirty years from now they will be talking about that 5%.

Upcoming Weeks and an Error

The Durham Museum was the last place I visited recently that I had yet to write about. We have our summer vacation coming up at the end of July, but I don’t have anything planned before that. And yes, our destination is filled to the brim with history. Last summer, my family and I made a trip across the pond to the United Kingdom. We experienced a whole of history on that excursion. Over the coming weeks, I am going to write about those experiences. I am sure a local historical excursion will happen too!

I noticed when I went to post this that comments were turned off. Several weeks ago, I noticed a bunch of settings changed on my site that I had to reconfigure. Now I know why no one was commenting anymore. My apologies and it should be fixed now!