#Blessed in Hawaii - Hawaiian Adventures, Part 2

Earth date:  February 28 - 29, 2020

Did you know that in rain forests it frequently rains?  Yes, of course you did.

In lovely Hawaii, a brief, light spritz of rain is called a blessing, or so we learned from a quite informative Lyft driver, who also awarded correct answers to Hawaiian culture quiz questions with ginger chew candies.  Naturally, my achiever kicked in.

We also learned that lots of blessings falling at the same time is a deluge.  And in Hilo, Hawaii offers a plethora of blessings.  While we skirted blessings on Friday, we were drenched in blessings hiking in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on Saturday.  #weareblessed

On Friday, we were lucky.  We snuck in and out of blessings as we toured up the coast on Hawaii Belt Road from Hilo to Honomu and on to Waipi'o Valley lookout.  And you know what comes with most blessings?  RAINBOWS!  Lots of rainbows.  Partial and full and double.  Hawaii is not stingy with the rainbows.

View from our hotel patio overlooking Hilo's bay

Mahalo, indeed.

We saw wondrous sites, starting with views from the Onomea Bay Trail...

We were cruising the Pepeeko Maikai scenic route in Papaiko and happened upon a trail down to a crazy beautiful beach.

The sky was blue and billowy, the foliage verdant and the ocean mighty.

Just beautiful.

At Akaka Falls, there's a short trail to the tall waterfall (442 feet).



















Surf pounds the black basalt shore in marvelous sprays at Laupāhoehoe Beach Park.  This beach is not one to bring a beach chair and catch the rays.  It's more of a sit serenely while appreciating the power of mother earth and realize you're a blip on the Almighty's creation timeline.

Waipi'o Valley Overlook offered views of the lush valley, taro fields and black sand beach accessible via four-wheel drive, horse or foot.  Not today thanks, and the Chevy Equinox is not up to four-wheeling either.  Besides, malasadas at Tex Drive-in are calling our name.  They are calling yours, too.  If you're real quiet you can hear them.

Waipi'o Valley Overlook

Malasadas are doughnuts with tasty fillings.  Tex Drive-in is located in Honoka'a, which used to be a sugar plantation, like much of the area.  Instead of pure sugar, they now grow malasadas.  Wait... did you hear that?  I can hear them.... calling for you.










Saturday is officially Volcano Day.  Because after you eat a malasada you have to hike.  5 miles per malasada.  Check.

We started our trek at Devastation Trailhead.  Excellent name for a trailhead, don't you think?  I'm either eager to see devastation or warned that it will be experienced.  Inspiring, indeed.  Off we go, headed towards Kīlauea Iki crater.

Friends, to make this trek an easy one, we are following the blue bouncing ball.  Did you spot it?

Through scraggly bush growing gamely on black rock, up through verdant rainforest on Byron Ridge overlooking the Kīlauea summit caldera (an active VOLCANO) and down the cooled "bathtub ring" of lava into the basin of Kīlauea Iki crater.  Kīlauea Iki was a molten lava lake in 1959 that has cooled over a period of 30ish years.

Steam pockets were still venting, and in fact we warmed our chilled hands over one.  Handy.  Which helped a great deal until we got drenched with cold, fat droplets just before reaching our car on the way back.  Karma for something, I'm sure.

Last stop on this hike was Thurston Lava Tube - yes an actual natural 400' tube created by cooled lava.  Mind. Blown.

It's like the rainforest paradise beckons into a vast black hole with a cheery trail, leading you right into it.  Of course we will head straight in despite warnings of falling rock and the big red sign that warns "enter at your own risk."  I mean the lady in front of us was on her phone the whole time - totally watching out for falling rocks.  Who has time for magma viewing with tik tok anyways?

Anyways, the lava tube was created 550 years ago by "vigorous streams of lava"(oh really?  is there another kind of lava?) that left a long tunnel behind when the molten magma drained away.  All kidding aside, it was pretty cool to walk through a tube of LAVA with stalactites of pointy magma above your head.




Then we made our way back, catching awesome views of the crater (LAVA LAKE) valley.

Still following the bouncing blue ball along the rim of the valley overlooking a cooled lake of MAGMA

Final stop of the day was almost at the foot of the windy Chain of Craters road, which is really just what it sounds like - road that passes a chain of volcanic craters, one after the other.  We passed lava flows from various years - 1969, 1971, 1974 - and I felt a sort of calmness about it all.  I attribute chaos and destruction with anything related to volcanoes, like the decimation of Pompeii.  But I felt an eerie calmness at Hawai'i Volcano National Park, as each magma flow was tidily labeled as in a science project.  We later ventured out to see the 2018 flow that wiped out a neighborhood.  It was amazing - not in a "that's so cool amazing way," but in a "OMG it's amazing that this suburb is now covered in a tall wall of black rock" way.

We stop to check out petroglyphs.  We're walking over rocky terrain, the wind fierce and sharp in the eyes.  We stop at an info board that describes how tribes used to live on this land and scrape together enough top soil to grow sweet potatoes.  I couldn't help but wonder why they wouldn't make their way nonchalant-like over to the lovely beaches on the western shore of the island.  Why live in a barren, craggy, windswept plain where lava flows every few years?  I admit, I am curious, but I haven't done any homework other than wonder.  I should keep my opinions to my chubby, western self and simply admire the tenacity of such a people.

They indeed had a reverence for the land, as the Pu'u Loa Petroglyphs demonstrated.  They chiseled signs into the craggy rock - circles and people shapes.  Circles, lots of circles and circles within circles and bitty holes.  It's a site that makes you think, and is still considered a holy place to local tribes.

And then... we're tired.  And it's time for dinner.

In the next adventure, Friends, we explore yet more lovely sites and decide it's time to snorkel.  Yes, we snorkel and there's video!

Birthday in Paradise, Hawaiian Adventures Part 1

Earth date:  February 25 - 27, 2020

Back in November 2019...
HB says to BB:  "Hawaii in February. Want to do it?"
BB to HB:  "Sure."

a few months later...
HB says to BB:  "Are you getting excited about February?  Are you glad we picked Hawaii?"
BB to HB:  "You picked Hawaii.  It's your birthday."
HB:  "But you wanted to go, too!  So, 'we' picked it."
BB:  Flatly, "It was your birthday pick."
HB:  "Ok. Whatever.  But you do want to go to Hawaii?"
BB:  "Sure."
HB:  /sigh

So here we are, adventuring in Hawaii.  HB is torturing BB with this trip that so far has yielded good food, great views and a lovely beach sunset.

Absorbing the sunset on Magic Island.
Honolulu did it up right for my birthday.

Honolulu from Diamond Head trek

So far we've hiked to this view.

Ali'iolani Hale, Hawaii's State Supreme Court Building

Walked through historic Honolulu.

Magic Island at Ala Moana Park

Enjoyed a lovely sunset at Ala Moana park.







And eaten birthday cookies.  Cheers.



I imagined Hawaii like a warmer version of beloved New Zealand.  But it's not.  It's lovely, yes.  But different... except VOLCANOES!  Yep, more volcanoes, with which I seem to have a strange fascination... because magma.  This trip I have simple goals - walk through a lava tube, see lava, visit Mauna Kea (dormant), visit Mauna Lao or Hualalai or Kilauea (active; I'm not picky), not get burned by magma or fall into a magma pool.  I've already achieved one goal of not stumbling, teetering into another hiker and launching them off the side of Diamond Head.  I'm achievement oriented, so I like goals.  I also like not hurting others.  So, already this trip has been a win.

As I mentioned, I'm fascinated by how the islands were formed, though not fascinated enough to quit my job and go into volcanology, though it would be cool to say, "I'm a volcanologist."  Not a vulcan, mind you, though that would be equally cool.

The archipelago that is Hawai'i was formed by a hot spot under the Pacific tectonic plate, which spews molten lava up through the Earth's crust.  Enough eruptions happen over the course of a few dozen millenia to form volcanoes in the ocean, which become islands.  As the Pacific Plate shifts (approx 3" a year), the volcano islands become dormant, because they are no longer over the hot spot.  The first eruption began 70-40 million years ago.  The paradise that is Hawai'i has been in the works for quite some time.  Hawaii is still growing, evidenced by the recent eruptions in 2018, and there is a new island forming, called Lo'ihi, which should emerge as an island in the next 10,000 to 100,000 years.  I'm humbled when I think of the magnificence of this place and the length of time it's been in the making.  We are but a blip on the face of mighty Earth.  If you'd like to learn more, articles from these sites were informative:  The Timeline of Plate Tectonics and Smithsonian Magazine.

On Thursday we flew from Honolulu to Hilo on the Big Island, and were looking forward to a slower pace and less big city.  Hilo did not disappoint.  Downtown is a quaint affair overlooking the bay, and the food options have been spot on.  Though our pocket book is not amused.  Dinner, tasty bev and ice cream at Hilo Bay Cafe was delish.

We're in between CST and HST time, so it's early to bed and early to rise.  That's ok.  Friday adventures are awaiting.  Part 2 will be here, once posted.

NZ Adventures #13: And That's a Wrap Folks

Earth Date:  Monday, November 26 through Thursday, November 28, 2018

It's not lost on me that I'm writing this post one year after our NZ adventure.  It's taken me a whole year to complete this series.  Yeah, I'm slow.  As we've remembered our trip via Google Photos pops this week, it's reminded me how much I treasure New Zealand... enough to troll residency info with the hope that there's a hidden clause specifically for long, lost non-relatives or just really awesome people like us who want to make a home there.  Turns out NZ'ers are a choosy lot.

That's a wrap...

This post wraps up the chronicle of a wonderful adventure exploring the two splendid islands that make up New Zealand.  We have one last long drive to finally see the friends we crossed the world to visit.

Check out yesterday's reallly long drive to the Fjord here.

It's Monday, and we are looking at a six-hour drive from Queenstown to Christchurch through the heart of the South Island.  Jayme is on course to get there, and of course, I still suffered from the #wemustseeallthethings neurotic completer/finisher complex.

We head out on Hwy 6 -- goodbye Queenstown -- turning north on Hwy 8 at the wee community of Cromwell, capital of stone fruit.  Nope, not kidding.  They even have a sculpture of very large fruit highlighting their town's welcome signage.  Because they can.  We make it two hours before I get antsy and have to snap pics of something beautiful.  Just past Twizel (yep, Twizel), we stop to admire Lake Pukaki.

The lovely turquoise color of the water is caused by glacial flour, which is super fine rock particles from glacial erosion.  I understand it is a gluten-free flour.

As we descend out of the Otago region and into Canterbury towards the East Coast, the weather turns rainy.  We push on towards Christchurch.

I'm reduced to taking pics from the car window.  Wait, are those sheep?!  In case you missed it, sheep are a thing here.

Christchurch

Finally!  We arrived mid-day, located our hotel and after a brief rest, hoofed it across Hagley Park to meet up with our friends.


It was a great afternoon and evening, seeing the city from their point-of-view.  What struck me most about Christchurch is the resiliency of the citizens and the love Jeremy and Matt conveyed for their city when they showed us sites that had been destroyed by the earthquake of 2011 that shook their world, and were in the process of being re-built.  There are still many buildings in crumbles, but the hustle and bustle of the city was apparent.

Important to note here:

• Shorts in blustery spring is a thing
• Scooter, scooters everywhere
• Every downtown is cute

Oh, and

• Jeremy and I do not selfie well...

The destruction caused by the earthquake was particularly apparent seeing Christchurch Cathedral.  One portion of the church is lovely and intact.  The other side, rubble.

As of last year, there was still debate as to whether it should be rebuilt.  Christchurch was settled by sponsorship of the Church of England as an Anglican community, so the church has strong roots in the foundation of Christchurch.  Christchurch was the first official city in New Zealand, gaining a royal charter in 1856.

Debate even between Matt and Jeremy was that the church represented dated, conservative views, so we should let it go.  But it was a central and grounding building rooted firmly in Christchurch's history, so it should be preserved.  I get both points-of-view.  According to Wikipedia, design and stabilization work has begun in 2019, so we'll see.  Apparently the cost will be astronomical.

A wander through the lovely Christchurch Botanic Gardens was on the sightseeing tour.  It's funny how when you're showing your hometown to visitors, you take them to places you don't usually go.  Botanic gardens typically fall into that category.  We wandered around, we conversed, it was great.

Botanic gardens can be tiring, so we needed a dinner chaser.  Vegan nachos at C1 Espresso.  Yes, thank you.

A neat outcome of earthquake resiliency is that business owners in Christchurch are re-purposing old buildings, such as CI Espresso in an old post office.  They deliver food to your table via pneumatic tubes, like you used to use at the bank drive-thru.  They distinguished the women's and men's rooms with Leia and Stormtrooper action figures.  50 points for ok nachos.  100 points for well representing #nerdlife.

TranzAlpine Train

On Tuesday, Jeremy bought tickets for the four of us to take the TranzAlpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth.  The train transverses the island from east to west in about five hours -- across the Canterbury Plains up into the Southern Alps and across to the West Coast.  Another one of those things many NZers hadn't done, including Matt.  New adventures all around!

Sights were lovely, as they are.  It was cloudy, so we didn't get the magnificent backdrop of soaring peaks, but we didn't mind.  I am entranced by any New Zealand landscape.

It was the visiting that was most fun, anyways.

Arthur's Pass is the mid-point on the line.  There's not much about, other than old industrial equipment and a few very poor shanties.  But it does offer a nice stop to stretch your legs.

It was remarkable to see the foliage change from the eastern side of the Alps to the western side.  The west receives more rainfall and was definitely more tropical.  Not less lovely, just more tropical.

And ahhhhh, we're back to the West Coast, which is where God has deemed we will live one day.

The train line ends at Greymouth Station.  We grab a bite to eat at DP1 Squared (rewind!), and have just enough time to run through Countdown (Jayme's favorite) for snackage before the train arrives and we head back to Christchurch.

We spent the evening at Jeremy and Matt's place, keeping it real with take out and RuPaul's Drag Race.  We're in our room and tucked into bed by 9:30pm.  It was a good day.

The Last Day

It's the final day of this adventure before traveling begins.  And we begin it with a bang by sleeping in!

Today, we shop.  I'd decided we hadn't secured enough souvenirs, so it was shopping day.  Jayme helped by being uber grumpy.  We found a mall.  Their malls are defunct just like many of ours, and we found diddly squat.  We headed back into city center, finally found a parking spot and head into shopping.  Jeremy and Matt meet us there for lunch, and then we drive out to a harbor town, Lyttelton.  It's rainy but we make the best of it and find a cute stretch of shops to explore.

A nice dinner with Jeremy tops off the evening.  Hard to believe we are homeward bound tomorrow.

Heading Home

All good things must come to an end.  But not just yet.  There are still a few hours to hang out.  After check out and errands... at Countdown, I cajole Jayme into hanging out at Hagley Park for a bit.  He wanted to head to the airport at 11am for a 5pm flight.  No.  Nope.  Not sitting for that many hours at the airport.  I spent our last $20NZD on a salad at the botanic garden's cafe, and we wandered through the greenhouse.  The day was lovely one, and while I was ready to be home, I could have continued exploring this extraordinary island.

Have we talked about the trees in NZ?  If not, we should, they are amazing, as you can see.

Finally, Jayme can stand it no longer, and we head to the airport.  Fine, let's turn in the car early to avoid another day's fees.  And we scored an earlier flight to Auckland, which just meant sitting in the international terminal for hours.  But that's ok, they had food and shopping.

CHC ➔ AUK ➔ SFO ➔ DFW ⬥ November 29, 2018, ~1:00pm (scheduled 5:00pm) arriving November 29, 2018 @ 6:38pm. Yes, Friends, we traveled for 24 hours.  It was long, but the trip was so worth it.  We wizened up from the flight to NZ, and purchased bulkhead seats, making the longest stretch more bearable on the legs.

We were late leaving Auckland, which put us late for our connector in San Francisco, which then meant we were on an American flight vs <other un-named US airline>, which meant collecting our bags and changing terminals, which meant going back through security while we are tired and jet lagged.  Adventures, indeed.

You know what makes your house look really good?  Being away for three weeks.  Hello Dallas.

But for three weeks, we were in freakin' New Zealand!  And it was grand.

If you're just joining the series, catch episode #1 here.

Tara's Birthday - St Louis Style

Birthdays should be celebrated with an adventure.  And just so, for her birthday, Tara and I jetted over to St Louis for the day to see what we might see.  And a lovely day it was - leaving behind the hot, sunny 90s for clear, blue 80s was a treat.

An 8:40am flight was perfect - not too early, but not too late to squeeze in a good day of adventuring.

Adventuring with Tara is a bit different from adventuring with my Boo.  Tara is game for the slow wander in a gift shop or reading details at a museum.  It's a stroll through a garden catching up on all the things.  And today was a good day for a leisurely exploration of a town new to both Tara and I. 

Plus, at this point, we've decided that experiences are great gifts -- better than more stuff.  So, it was a day of celebrating one of my favorite people.  Happy (belated, at this point) birthday, Tara!  You're a blessing indeed!

We were in town by 10:30am-ish.  Enough time to decide we needed a car for the day and to scope out lunch. 

Checking out well rated vegan restaurants is a thing now, and Tara was game for a food adventure at Lulu's Local Eatery.  In the land of southern cookin' and BBQ, vegan is a bit hard to come by.  Lulu's perseveres.  The sweet potato tots with spicy sauce - big win.

Next on the agenda, the Missouri Botanical Gardens for an afternoon stroll. 

Despite being late in the season, the gardens were lovely with late blooming flowers.

The people watching was rich, what with ladies hobbling in heels and men pulling at neckties as they ambled towards one of the several weddings hosted that afternoon.  Ladies, burgundy and navy are in for late summer weddings.










A fun thing about the day's trip was that we created the itinerary as we went, and Tara, being the birthday girl, called the shots.  So next up - the Anheuser-Busch flagship brewery.  Walking about in the afternoon sunshine made beer sound good!

Tours were full, but we decided a beer in the Biergarten would hit the spot.  I tried an original Budweiser - the beer brewed to appeal to all tastes, as we learned in the brewery.  And pretzels... of course, pretzels. 



And finally, the arch.

We'd been a talking about seeing the arch for a while, so we made sure there was time for a visit.  It was our final stop, and pretty neat.  It commemorates the "gateway to the West" and is dedicated to the American people.  I don't know about you, but I'm a better American person on account of the arch. /shrug

Sure, the arch is neat, but I'm not quite sure I grasp the point.  In reading up on the history, I learned that the design of the arch was determined in a competition, which a Finnish-American architect, Eero Saarinen, won in 1947.  It was finished in 1965.  It is meant to symbolize the pioneering spirit of the men and women who won the west.  I'm not sure all parties involved would celebrate the "winning" of the west.  To be technical, St Louis was founded near the intersection of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers where Lewis & Clark began their western expedition.

The Museum of Westward Expansion, under the arch, is a good one, and worth the time.  I enjoyed learning about the rich history of St Louis, founded by French traders, Pierre Laclede and his stepson Auguste Chouteau, via their monopoly on fur trading with the local American Indian Osage tribe.  The St Louis settlement was rich in diversity and seemed to be open in thought for the times.  I'm intrigued to learn more. 

We were back at the airport in time for a 7:00pm-ish flight.  Adventure complete.  The only thing we missed throughout the day was a celebratory cupcake.  All in all, a great day with my great Friend.

NZ Adventures #12: When a Sound is Really a Fjord, Who Cares?

Earth Date:  Sunday, November 25, 2018

Driving through cascade-tastic valleys?
Yeah. Whatever.

It's Milford Sound Day!  It really should become an official holiday.  Not sure how Hallmark would work with that one, and while I want everyone to marvel in the majesty of Milford, I don't want them to on the same day.  It's a pickle.

Anyways, it's one of the places I've been jonesing to see, but it's also a really long day of driving, and we know how Jayme's felt about driving.  Not that I blame him.  Plus, he's a tough customer and is just so-so intrigued.  I'm hoping the Sound will wow him.

We have a tour booked at 12:45pm, so we head out early for an almost four hour drive to Piopiotahi, aka Milford Sound.

To the Sound that's really a fjord.  But really, it's so beautiful, who cares.  Well, maybe the marine biologist people, but the regular ol' tourist persons like us don't really care.  We just want to ooo and ahh, and gaze up in awe at the majestic heights and spritely waterfalls.

Milford Sound is a fjord in Fiordland National Park.

- A sound is a large ocean inlet.
- A fjord is a narrow ocean channel forged by the formation and recession of glaciers characterized by steep, vertical walls and a flat ocean floor.

We didn't get a close look at the ocean floor, but we can validate that the valley walls were pretty steep and vertical.  Steep, vertical and majestic.  Really, majestic is the best word for a place like Milford Sound.

The Drive

But first, the journey is it's own kind of majestic...

To get to Milford Sound, we drove through lovely pastures, foot hills, beech forest and finally up into cascade-tastic valleys of waterfalls to Homer tunnel and out the other side to more beautiful scenery.

Homer Tunnel is a 1.2km pass through the Darran mountain range.  It was started in 1935 and completed in 1954.  Thank you to the hard working folk who blasted through the range to open up the road to Milford.

It's one-lane, so we lined up with all the other rides to wait our turn.  Which really just offered a nice stretch-your-legs break and opportunity to capture the falls vaulting down the valley walls.

The drive to the Sound is a funny area.  You're driving through craggy wilderness with a line of cars, then all the sudden parking!  NZ has carved out a few cramped parking spaces and a commercial boat dock for the five or so tourist companies offering tours of the Sound.  And that's pretty much it.  Beauty + tourist trap boat docks.

Milford Sound

But it's really all about this...

The cruise was awesome, awe-inspiring and wonderful.  They take you right under some of the wispy falls.  They also offer factoids about the sights.  But you know how pilots often sound during their flight announcements -- like Charlie Brown's teacher?  That's about what the Captain sounded like.  But I'm sure the info was helpful and fascinating.
















Seal Rock is a fave basking zone for fur seals, and this day they were out in full force enjoying the sunshine.

Lady Bowen Falls

The two permanent falls are Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls.

Lady Bowen Falls is fed by Bowen River which flows through the northern Fiordlands and drops 531 feet into the Sound.  A cool factoid:  the Falls provides hydroelectric power for the tiny Milford Sound settlement.

Stirling Falls leaps off a valley between the Lion and Elephant Mountains.

The other falls find their ways down the cliffs shifting into new patterns as they make new paths.

Stirling Falls

Those wispy falls over the lovely striations in the cliff face... /sigh

The cruise was an hour and 45 minutes; the drive was four hours.  It was worth it:

I hope Grumpy, I mean Jayme, also agrees.

Pictures don't do Milford Sound one bit of justice.  God did a really good thing when he forged this place. 

Goodbye Milford Sound/Fjord.  You are lovely.














Any sights along the way?  Sure, but we are not stopping.  Nope.  We were on a mission to and from Milford Sound.  I complained, "but you said we could stop on the way back." "What I said was 'that the sights would be there on the way back.'"  Devious semanticist.

Whatever.  I will take pictures.

Lovely views along Hwy 94/Te Anau Milford Hwy

Tomorrow, we are headed to Christchurch to see Jeremy and Matt, leaving one final episode.

Unexpected Discoveries in Omaha

I took a work trip with a few colleagues to Omaha last month.  It was a quick one-night stay in the downtown area.  I'd not had the privilege of visiting Omaha before this trip, so I was eager to fit in whatever bit of adventure Monday evenings offer in Omaha.  Plus, summer days in the 80°s was a treat compared to the Easy Bake Oven of the Texas summer.  You know what else?  To traverse Omaha from the airport, you visit both Nebraska and Iowa.  Bam.  Two states, one trip.

Separate from the effective meeting with our business partners, we did find time for some adventuring.  Shall we?

You know that Instagram -- you see something fun and immediately post your friends.  Well, newly into Instagram this year (#don'tjudge), I love some of the suggestions from the vegan folks I follow.  A restaurant called Modern Love was recommended on an Instagram post, so I text my colleague in charge of this adventure, with a joking "let's check out this place while we're in OMA."  Vegan comfort food.  Yes, we must have that in Omaha, land of beef & potatoes. 

The effective executor that she is (#shemakesitlookeasy), she let the business partners who we were visiting know that we'd be dining there for the evening.  Who knew I had such clout, to subject an entire party of like 10 people to vegan dining.  (I'll have to explore the extent of this tormentation...uh, clout, further.)  Upon apologizing sheepishly, I heard more than once, "they serve drinks, it'll be great."  Indeed.  Well, Modern Love was fab, and unless they are good liars, everyone in the party enjoyed their meals and the cashew cheese.  I especially enjoyed the cashew cheese and would consume mass quantities of said cashew cheese if I had the opportunity to dine there regularly (#friedmozzerellaFTW).  So, friendly business partners, should you read this post -- Thank you!  For hosting a great discussion and for a lively and tasty dinner!

While at dinner, a party member who is a local, suggested we check out a speakeasy down the way.  Of course we have to check out a speakeasy down the way!  Business, shmusiness - every day is an adventure.  We are told to say that "we're looking for the wicked rabbit" to the purveyor of fine cigars and spirits at the Looking Glass.

Our friendly hotel shuttle driver informs us with a pseudo-chuckle that it's still light outside and it might be shameful to get a drink before dark.  So of course, we invite him along.  But he doesn't drink.  Still, he is full of opinions.  We are not dismayed.  While it's only 8:30pm and still light outside, we clump into the tiny, fancy Looking Glass.  With a smirk, the clerk tells us to find the White Rabbit.  I'm overwhelmed with the number of sparkling bottles on the polished wooden shelves, so thank goodness an eagle eye in our party finds the pesky rabbit -- a bottle of vodka that's like a handle to a door in the wall.

Hello, retro 20s in the Wicked Rabbit!  We enter to cheers from those lined up at the bar, and make our way to a cozy corner of the sumptuous little place, and order a slew of fun drinks.  The long, elegant space is all gold leaf, dark leather and heavy velvet drapery with low flickering candles.

Vespa, Hanky Panky, Old Fashioned, Vodka OJ & a Martini

Drinks arrived with quirky orange peel adornments fastened with hat pins.  Such fun!

This was my first time at a speak easy, so of course I need to research.  "Speak easy" comes  loosely from "speak softly shop" during prohibition times across the 1800s in western countries.  They've recently come into vogue after a 2007 discovery of underground rooms in Binghamton, NY, which were thought to have been speakeasies back in the day. 

One drink, and we're happy to slip out the side door to stroll the block or two back to our hotel for an early evening, what with it being a school night and all.

Here's to fun work trips with great colleagues + a few adventures on the side.

Omaha, I'm intrigued and will be back to explore further.