A: Nebraska!

The answer to last week's mystery question has finally been revealed. (Sorry for my lateness. The bad part about going on awesome trips is having to work every single day once I come home.) I know what you are thinking. You went on a vacation to Nebraska? You know what I have to say to that? You're dang right I went on a vacation to Nebraska! It was epic!

This is me with Shealynn and Sarah as we prepared to take off on our adventure. Sarah is from Nebraska and invited Shealynn and I to visit her home state. The passenger seat in Sarah's car is very, very conducive to napping. I usually don't sleep in cars, but I found a way to fall asleep in that seat many times.

The Shimmy Tunnel.

This is the 2nd most exciting thing about driving through Wyoming on I-15.

Also, there are only two exciting things on I-15 in Wyoming.

The Kool-Aid elf who guided us on our tour of the Kool-Aid Museum. (Yeah, Nebraska is sounding cooler already isn't it?) This was also the last picture I was able to take before my camera kicked the bucket for the rest of the trip. Sadly, this means no pictures of my two Runza visits or my magical experience with fireflies. Quite the shame.

The Sky-Fari @ the Omaha Zoo. Your move, Hogle.

The Sky-Fari allows you to ride "on top" of giraffes. ;)

My life is going to have a hard time getting cooler than this.

Besides the Sky-Fari, the Omaha Zoo has a Desert Dome, Aquarium, and the Rainforest-thing that you see above.

After the zoo, we made our way to watch the College World Series. This was a pretty special year to go, as it was the very last year it was played in historic Rosenblatt Stadium. Now you are kicking yourself for not planning your Nebraska trip sooner, aren't you? Too late, buddy. Too too late.

The first game we watched was TCU vs. UCLA. It was probably in the nineties, temperature wise, but it felt like it was much hotter. I drank at least seven bottles of water, applied a few pounds of sunscreen, and Sarah's sister almost died. Besides that, it was a lot of fun.

We came back later in the evening to watch South Carolina play Clemson. The weather was so much better, and without the sun, you could actually watch the game.

Me, Sarah's sis Sam (alive!), Sarah, and Shealynn after the game. We are a little bruised and battered from our long day in the sun, but we are still a happy bunch. And why are we so happy? Because we are in Nebraska. And Nebraska is awesome. Deal with it.

Who Let The Hippos Out?

Today I went to Utah's famous Hogle Zoo. It was the first time I had been there in almost ten years and I must say I had a great time. The giraffes were great, the elephants were awesome, and the monkeys were up to their normal hijinks. There were a lot of new exhibits and I was impressed by the reasonably priced food although I didn't buy any. I did leave with one lingering question that I cannot get off my mind.

Where were the hippos?

As a child, I remember the dark, dank abyss that was the hippo exhibit. It was made of wall-to-wall concrete with non-existent lighting. It wasn't somewhere I liked going alone, but I always had to go there because, well, hippos are cool. I remember a few regular hippos and a pygmy one. Did they ever do anything cool? Nope. They swam. But I loved 'em and I was quite devastated not to see them today. So tell me Hogle Zoo, where the hippos at? Too pricey? Too angry? Too awesome?

:( = me at the zoo without hippos