Council Bluffs, Iowa

This week I am working in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which is right next to Omaha, Nebraska (Nebraska is a new state for me and we flew into Omaha, so it counts).

We are staying at the Western Inn. Now, I was pretty afraid of the Western Inn before we got here and the first night, but now, I think it's a pretty good find. Priceline sadly failed us this week, so I had to start calling hotels/motels near the store and hope they would give us a good rate. Really, the only reason I was afraid (not really frightened, more apprehensive) was that the motel's full name is the Western Inn Motorlodge which is right next to the expressway and looks a bit shady from the outside. Also, there are no key card swipey locks which is pretty standard in all hotels, but a regular old key, and there is a ladder that is right outside my window (2nd floor). Also there is no chain from the inside. Sooooo...overall anyone can get into my room at anytime with a little prodding. However, I have gotten over these fears and think the rooms are clean, have free internet, free breakfast, free small dinners (hot dogs most days, chicken on Wednesdays), free orange juice or lemonade 24 hours a day, warm cookies at the front desk, a pool, and a book shelf that you can borrow or leave books at for others to read. They gave us a very affordable corporate rate and I've enjoyed it so far. I just keep things in front of the door just in case.

We went to downtown Omaha on Monday night to meet up with Kelsi and Joe M. We ate at the Upstream Brewery which had some good micro-brews and good food. Sitting and eating outside in the Market district I think it was called? was nice. Very cute brick streets, horse-drawn carriage rides, and reminded me a lot of St. Louis.

Council Bluffs has some history from the 1840's Lewis and Clark time which is pretty cool. Several monuments, museums, and old buildings still remain. A lot has to do with this being on the border to the west, and at some point it would be interesting to look up that history. I know there are a lot of railroad history, Wyatt Earp is buried here, this was part of a Mormon train, and Lewis and Clark came by. The store is next to the Kanesville Tabernacle which is the original building from 1847 http://www.lds.org/placestovisit/location/0,10634,1809-1-1-1,00.html, and the Squirrel Cage Jail http://www.thehistoricalsociety.org/Jail.htm is the original as well.

Non-historical fun, we went to the Horseshoe Casino tonight. For once, I actually came out even. I would have been ahead $30 after some good roulette playing, but I put my winnings to bet at craps and lost any winnings quickly. If we were better prepared, we would have gone earlier, sat at a slot machine for half an hour, got a free meal, and called it a day.

Back home Friday night!