Homer's Travels: A Friday Of History, Birding, and Beer

Saturday, November 29, 2008

A Friday Of History, Birding, and Beer

Yesterday was fun.  We had a lazy morning before heading out to DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge .  Before we left, the Wife made everyone a big breakfast that was yummy in the tummy.

We met the Wife's brother (TE) at the DeSoto visitor's center and we walked through the excellent display of items recovered from the Bertrand Steamboat.  The Bertrand had been loaded full of supplies for the mining communities along the Missouri River in Montana when it got stuck.  Here are a few pictures (most of my pictures didn't come out due to the low lighting and the lack of a tri-pod).

After walking through the displays and watching a very brief video about the excavation of the Bertrand and rancid lard and butter, we went to the observation areas and looked at the geese.  There were nowhere near the numbers that we'd hoped (500,000 have stopped there in past migratory seasons), but we did see quite a few.  We watched as a flock or two came in for a landing, landing on the ice covered lake.  The refuge is also known for migratory predators and we managed to see five bald eagles.  Most were perched in distant trees too far for a picture.  We left the visitor's center and drove to another bird observation blind but literally, the geese flew away just as we pulled up.  I guess they heard we were coming. Pictures of the geese can be found here along with a couple other DeSoto pictures I'd taken earlier.

At that point we'd had enough history and birding so we went back to Omaha where, since our party included the Best Man, Matron of Honor, the GodSon, and the Altar Boy, we found a bar and enjoyed some imported beer.  The Best man chose Crescent Moon Ale House.   The place was dominated by husker fans and it was a close game so the place was pretty loud.  We ordered some beer and appetizers and talked loudly over the cheers.

For Dinner we went to Spaghetti Works where just about everyone over ate - especially me.  I was more stuffed there than I was on Thanksgiving.  Being stuffed, we decided to walk some of the food off and we strolled through the old market.  The downtown area was all lit up with Christmas lights.


We walked around ogling the lights and some of us went down the long slides near the Gene Leahy Mall.  I added a few pictures I took to my Omaha Flicker set.

Today, after another lazy morning we're probably going back to the Old market area to browse the stores, ride the slide again, walk the pedestrian bridge, and visit the Durham museum.

3 comments:

  1. The lights are pretty.

    I think I felt a twinge of Christmas spirit...

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  2. The picture of downtown all lit up is exceptionally cool!

    I don't think I'm feeling JaG's "twinge" yet, though...

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  3. JaG: They are better in person.

    GH: Thans! Get a Twinging!

    ReplyDelete