The Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha bills itself as having the world's largest indoor rainforest, and the world's largest indoor desert inside the world's largest geodesic dome. In the rainforest, you climb across rope bridges and see over 90 species of animals at different canopy levels. There are animals from Asian, African and South American rainforests.
The geodesic dome is really cool; it's 13 stories high and has no support columns. It features animals and plants from three deserts: Namib (southern Africa), the Red (Australia) and Sonoran (southwest US.).
Other zoo highlights include a drive-through (in your own car) wildlife safari, a gorilla habitat where the apes have acres to roam, and a new skyfari ride that give visitors a treetop view of the entire zoo.
Take a tour of Joslyn Castle, a 1903 castle on the National Register of Historic Places. The castle and its magnificent grounds are open on the first and third Sunday every month; guided tours are at 1, 2, and 3 p.m.. There is gorgeous wood throughout the mansion, plaster detail, stained glass and a hand painted ceiling. Some of the original furniture is still in the house, which is rented out for private function.
The Old Market is a downtown shopping and dining district. There are over 30 restaurants here, plus galleries and boutiques. Cobblestone or brick streets and historic lampposts, plus horse and carriage rides, transport you back to the turn of the last century. What is particularly nice is that most of the cafes and restaurants are local; there a couple of independent bookstores and the antiques shops and clothing stores are completely different from any mall.
One of Lincoln's most famous native sons is William Jennings Bryan, "The Great Commoner." His Fairview mansion is now part of the BryanLGH Medical Center campus; you can tour a small museum there and see the statue of Bryan out front.
Learn about the German-Russian immigrants who settled Lincoln at American Historical Society of Germans From Russia. There is a blacksmith shop, a chapel and a summer kitchen on display.
The Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center nature preserve has miles of walking trials, hundreds of species of birds, and most, impressively, over 350 different prairie grasses and wildflowers. The center is on National Register of Historic Places because it was used as a short-cut to the Oregon Trail in the 1800s; you can find wagon ruts that have been preserved. Be sure to check out the "green" education building, which is energy efficient and was built from reclaimed and renewable materials.
