The sign above says it all. For the first time since we bought our new old house more than two years ago, Marion and I are on a road trip. Not just a weekend getaway, but a bonafide, see-things-we-haven’t-seen-before road trip.
The aforementioned sign is on Nebraska Highway 92. It points the way to a town indeed named Wahoo. We didn’t stop there. Nor did we stop in Surprise, Nebraska. But we’re glad to know they exist. Nebraska has been one delightful surprise after another to us. The whole trip has been, and we’ve only just started.
Some of the surprises have been culinary. Many have not. Like the coyote we saw crossing the road at night outside Galena, Illinois. The stylish, friendly Hotel Deco XV where we stayed in Omaha, which had started life in the 1930s as an office building. The Nebraska statehouse in Lincoln, also completed in the 1930s—beautiful details at every turn.
On the culinary side, the big surprise is how non-beef-centric our meals have been so far. Yes, on our third day in Nebraska, we have finally eaten steak, but as steak frites for lunch in a French restaurant in Omaha (our third meal in a French restaurant in Omaha). Our other notable Omaha meal was Vietnamese.
One surprise counts as both non-culinary and culinary (sort of). Returning to our hotel after one of our French dinners, we happened on an impossibly tiny cigar and spirits store, The Looking Glass. As we examined various bottles of wine, Marion noticed that one seemed stuck to the shelf. The proprietor showed us why—it was the handle to a moving shelf which revealed a private cocktail lounge beyond, The Wicked Rabbit. Which you accessed through The Looking Glass, of course.
Here are the cocktails we had. The one on the right was a Paloma, a tequila and grapefruit-based classic. All we remember of the other is that it had gin, raspberries and an egg white.
There are many more stories and photos I should be sharing now, but it’s late here in Grand Island, Nebraska, and we head further west tomorrow, where more surprises await us.
Road trip! Who doesn’t like one? Have fun. I’ve been to Lincoln before — a lot of really good food out that way.
Ooooh, a secret cocktail room! Sort of like that spy-themed place in Milwaukee, but seemingly more refined. Would LOVE to stumble across something like that!
p.s. Safe travels!
Wow, what fun! I love the secret bar.
Have a marvelous trip!
Thanks, guys. The trip was awesome. Anita, that Milwaukee place is called SafeHouse. I just saw that they’re opening a location in Chicago soon.