Our 1st Anniversary Trip to Omaha

We brainstormed for months over how to celebrate our first anniversary.

We talked about driving to Chicago (reminiscent of our honeymoon). We thought about road tripping to Wyoming to where we got engaged. In the end, we decided a shorter trip would fit our schedules better. So we booked a hotel, and headed to Omaha for the weekend.

We arrived in Omaha on Friday, checked into our hotel, and walked around The Old Market in downtown Omaha. This was the area where we had our engagement pictures taken, and where hubs and I spent our last real date before our wedding. Hubs chose Tokyo Sushi for dinner, and we stuffed ourselves, unabashedly, with eel, seaweed, and rice. Our 1st Anniversary Trip to Omaha

I wanted to get a picture of hubs looking at the menu for this blog post, but I shouldn’t have mentioned it to him, because he began making silly faces. #blogginghusbandfail

Saturday we got up and ate breakfast at the Culprit Cafe which is my all-time favorite place to get coffee in Omaha. I knew that it would be a hard sell to get my meat/buffet-loving-husband into this quirky coffee shop for breakfast. He only sighed once, when our quiche and galette arrived and the plates were about the size of saucers, but he admitted that the food was all manners of delicious, if somewhat lacking in volume. Our 1st Anniversary Trip to Omaha

A friend of mine and I stumbled upon this café a few months ago. We had planned to eat at a renowned burger joint up the street but it was packed, then we went next door into Grace Cafe and realized that it was a restaurant for the homeless (whoops!). So we circled the block and decided on Culprit. We ordered Cool Hand Lukes with the flavor of the day: Butterscotch with Burnt Brown Sugar. I am not a big fan of butterscotch in general, but this coffee quickly won me over. I have thought about it ever since, and even hubby admitted that it was incredibly good coffee.Our 1st Anniversary Trip to OmahaOur 1st Anniversary Trip to OmahaAfter breakfast, we had a few hours to kill, so we hit up a few Omaha thrift stores. Hubs proceeded to find armfuls of treasures (including The Encyclopedia of Music which hasn’t left his side since, and a record conducted by Leonard Bernstein), and I found absolutely nothing except for one shimmery, retro dress. I am not taking him thrifting with me again. Our 1st Anniversary Trip to Omaha
We ate a rather regrettable lunch at King Kong’s where they served us crunchy rice and green beans instead of fries, soggy salad, and they smothered the gyros in sour cream instead of tzatzki sauce. I was so disappointed I didn’t even take a picture.

Then we went to check in for our sightseeing boat trip on the Missouri River. Our 1st Anniversary Trip to OmahaOur 1st Anniversary Trip to OmahaWe had SUCH a good time on this cruise. We drank watermelon juice, waved at all the speed boats that tore by, and stood at the bow of the boat for the return trip. A few tips for next time: bring sunscreen (if you’re me), sneak in snacks (they were incredibly expensive), wear a floppy hat (because you just must when you are on a cruise, yes?).
Our 1st Anniversary Trip to OmahaOur 1st Anniversary Trip to Omaha
Our 1st Anniversary Trip to OmahaWe boated underneath the Bob Kerry Pedestrian bridge which I have always wanted to see. This bridge connects Nebraska to Iowa, and you can actually stand with one foot in each state. The captain said that the designer built it so that it mimicked the shape of the Missouri river. 
Our 1st Anniversary Trip to OmahaOur 1st Anniversary Trip to OmahaI forgot to bring the pearls hubs bought for me on our honeymoon so I wore this necklace the whole trip. I love that when I bought this, a portion of the proceedings go to providing clean water in Africa. My dress was the same one I wore when we left our reception. I thought about wearing my wedding dress, but that might have been overkill. 😉
Our 1st Anniversary Trip to Omaha
Saturday evening we went and saw a Jazz Trio perform. They were incredibly good. I felt like I was transported to New Orleans for the evening.

The next day we packed up, made a quick stop in Lincoln to run a few errands, and headed home. One year is on the books!

What did you do for your first anniversary? Have you ever been to Omaha?

8 thoughts on “Our 1st Anniversary Trip to Omaha”

  1. I’m currently going through your old (and new-congratulations!) posts. I love this one too though! Little get always like this with things planned out are my favorite. I’m so happy for you and Saia

  2. We loved going to both Lincoln and Omaha for dates. I used to go up to the Old Market with my friend Leah, later with Mitch. If we could find good record stores and coffee, Mitch was always thrilled. 🙂 I love the Old Market with its brick roads, flower boxes, and burning incense–it always smelled so good! I am so glad you guys did something special for your anniversary. Even on a tight budget, it is worth it to celebrate! We usually go somewhere and explore for our anniversaries as well. Yay for adventure!

    1. The Old Market is so dreamy, isn’t it? I just love being down there. It is so magical! We bought a few records while we were there too! I found a record with music conducted by Leonard Bernstein (Saia’s all-time fave conductor) and S was so thrilled!

  3. I’ve never been to Nebraska… looks like you had a lovely first anniversary. For our first anniversary we stayed at the bed and breakfast where we spent the first part of our honeymoon (before flying to Iceland), but this time we had a newborn! We then visited a butterfly conservatory, saw Les Mis at a theatre in Rochester, NY, visited family (we moved across the country right after we got married), and went to Niagara Falls. Whew! By the way, I adore your white dress!

    1. What a wonderful memory, Margaret! We LOVE Les Mis. We saw it together when I flew to Maui to visit my hubby’s family. Such a powerful show. I bawled my way through it. Ha! So beautiful. I love how you celebrated your anniversary!

  4. Looks like a fun trip! I love that you wore a special dress for the occasion. 🙂 If only we could wear our wedding dresses again without it being overkill. For our first year anniversary we spent a few nights in a beach town we always dream we will move to eventually.

  5. Oh Bethie, what a fun post about such a special time! I love the pictures, too. Now I feel like a trip to Omaha! I’ve been there before but you’ve given me all kinds of fun ideas for what to do next time I have a weekend free!

Leave a Reply. I read every comment!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.