Omaha

We arrive in Omaha before 12pm (woohoo!) and meet our couchsurfing hosts Daniel and Diana who are really friendly and welcoming. Diana tells us that the zoo is one of the best in the USA so we decide we have to go! It's not only a zoo but an aquarium as well. It's massive! The best thing is that most of the animals have large enclosures and there's been a real effort to make them seem natural; lots of native plants, rocks and such. There is an indoor rainforest, where lots of species can interact and a desert dome which has loads of different species of bats - cool! We soon realise why people seem to be in a rush, there's definitely not enough time to get round everything in this zoo. We hardly have anytime to race around the nocturnal section but it's so dark we probably didn't miss much! We did at least get to see an Aye-Aye in there, peering out with it's massive eyes and pointing it's long ET-esque fingers about. We see a lion being fed and it's really weird to see that he has been trained to sit, lie down and get up. He seems more like a pet cat but a big one. We've never seen that before. There's Komodo Dragons, hippos, rhinos, snakes, lemurs, sharks, rays, one octopus, the list just goes on...

We get kicked out at 6.30 and drive to the old market in the centre. Stopping for a drink the barmaid gets very flustered when she sees our English driving licence I.D's as apparently they're not allowed to accept anything other than passports. She finally gives us our drinks and warns that we won't get served anywhere else without passports which is strange as she's the first person to question our ID's in the 6 weeks we've been in the USA. We chance another bar which accepts our I.D's with no problem, phew! (And hands us a smaller bill!)
We make our way back to the house where we have good wine and good conversation with Daniel and Diana. They're keen to know where we've been and they've done their research because they really want to see our northern lights photos

The next morning we are treated to bacon and eggs for breakfast and wait for the thunderstorm to stop before setting off to Mitchell in South Dakota. It's definitely not rain to be driving in!

After a looong drive we get to Lake Niobara park. It's scenic but so cold and quiet, we don't stay for long. James runs around taking a few pictures while Christine makes the wise choice of enjoying the view from the warm car. We cross the Missouri river over a huge bridge, enter South Dakota and finally arrive in Mitchell. After checking in we go for a massive Mexican meal with margaritas, aaarrriibaaa!!