The Metro Region

The Metro Region

Missouri River

Magnificent views of the Missouri River can be found at the Mt. Vernon Gardens in Omaha, a small version of George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate situated atop a Missouri River bluff. Down below, scenic cruises on the Missouri River provide a different perspective of the river culture that has thrived here for generations. Omaha’s Old Market, a turn-of-the-century brick marketplace with brick streets, is home to many fine restaurants and quaint shops.

Henry Doorly Zoo

The Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha is incredible. Among many other things, it boasts the largest nocturnal exhibit in the world, home to more than 75 animal species. Visitors are treated to four unique nocturnal environments: a canyon area, with fishing cats and naked mole rats; an African diorama, where one can stand inside a Baobab tree; a wet cave complete with stalagmites, stalactites, and blind cave fish; and finally a Eucalyptus Forest, home to Parma wallabies and other Australian animals.

Museums

The museums in and around Lincoln touch on a wide variety of subjects, from Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephones at the Frank H. Woods Telephone Pioneer Museum to the evolution of roller skating at the National Museum of Roller Skating (the only museum of its kind in the world). The University of Nebraska State Museum of Natural History and Mueller Planetarium in Lincoln is home to an outstanding collection of fossil elephants, a large selection of Nebraska fossils, dinosaurs and American Indian exhibits.