NE Day 2- Postage, Primates, and Provisions
Today started out with a trip to Omaha’s Boys Town Village, a small suburb that doubles as the headquarters of the Boys Town organization, an orphanage and care center for at risk youth founded by Father Edward J Flanagan, who was famously portrayed by Spencer Tracy in heartwarming 1938 classic about the founding of the organization. While being there at all was a neat bit of history, the reason it initially showed up on my radar was a lot goofier. You see, beyond being a place known for helping thousands of disadvantaged young men, Boys Town is also the home of the World’s Largest Ball of Stamps. Who’s to say which is the greater accomplishment?
The Ball of Stamps began out of no loftier a place than boredom, when in 1953 the Boys Town Stamp Collecting Club started absentmindedly molding less valuable stamps into a ball. Boys kept adding to the ball, and it grew and it grew until 1955 when it caught the attention of Ripley’s Believe It or Not. When the Ripley’s people came to measure it, it was 32 inches in diameter, weighed 600 lbs, and the total stamp count was approximately 4,655,000 postage stamps! The numbers have not changed since, but shockingly no other postage stamp balls have really tried to usurp the throne. It does make for an oddly impressive site, and I thought the sunrise backdrop (also all stamps) was a particularly snazzy touch.
In case the ball didn’t give you enough a stamp fix, there were also collection cases of various stamps from around the world that had passed through the Boys Town collection and held either special historic or aesthetic value. I can’t say I really use paper mail too often so I’ve never paid much attention to stamps, but seeing the highlights of the collection really wowed me. I never realized what little works of art they could be! They also had stamps for sale to help fundraise for their organization so I couldn’t resist picking up a couple for my favorite philatelist, my uncle Larry. I’m not sure if they ever made it to him because of some hiccups a little later on in this road trip, but I was thinking of him!
After the ball of stamps, I went through a nearby drive through coffee chain called Scooter’s. They were a heck of a lot better than the average drive thru spot, and they had good coffee done quick which suited me just fine.
I was excited to get a go on because my main destination for the day was Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo which just about everyone I’d met thus far had said was a must see. The zoo began from humble origins in 1894 as a small public zoo called the Riverview Park Zoo. It slowly began expanding, and, with the help of a small $750,000 loan from Margaret Doorly (who asked that the zoo be renamed for her late husband), the zoo gradually expanded to its current size of over 130 acres. This tremendous zoo now houses over 900 different species of wildlife and is ranked as one of the top 5 greatest zoos in the world. Not too shabby for a what started as just a couple animals in a public park.
The zoo is divided into different habitats, including a full-size, world-class aquarium, the largest big cat complex in North America, and one of the largest geodesic domes in the World, but the exhibit I entered first was probably my favorite. I happened to start with the Lied Jungle, one of the largest indoor rainforests in the world. For some added curatorial pageantry, visitors enter the exhibit through a waterfall. On one side of the waterfall, you’re in the middle of Nebraska but then when you walk through the other side you’re totally immersed in a vibrant tropical forest. It absolutely blew me away.
While the scenery alone would have been jaw-dropping, the immersive environment also offers you insanely up close and personal encounters with the animals. The treetops were filled with monkeys and gibbons, weird mini-apes who look like hairy little old men. They also made the most shocking noises, which you can you see for yourself by clicking here.
I found this grump over here to be particularly lovable:
he’s just got a lot on his plate
Descending from the canopies, there was a habitat filled with more tapirs than I’d ever seen in one place. I’ve always really liked tapirs, because they might look the most like a Star Wars creature out of any real world animals (except of course whatever the hell is going on with those deep sea fish). They’re like a sweetly goofy hybrid of pigs, hippos, elephants, and anteaters. They’re pretty lazy and easy going, happy to just forage for food and wallow in mud, but their size and thick necks make them hard for predators to hunt so they’re sort of like the Big Lebowskis of the wild. They don’t bother anyone and no one bothers them, they just abide. In Japanese and Chinese folklore, they’re thought to eat nightmares which is awfully kind of them, and they also have one of the largest penis to body size ratio of any mammals so they’ve got that going for them. Sadly, due to human destruction of their natural habitats every species of tapir is considered either vulnerable or endangered so getting to see so many in one place really is a rare and special thing, and I’m happy the zoo’s doing its part for their conservation.
Next up there was an exhibit of tropical reptiles and amphibians including poison dart frogs and giant pythons. The animals were kinda creepy, but the colors they came in were so vivid, it was unbelievable.
A small stream courses through the jungle filled a plethor of aquatic and semi-aquatic critters. These included ays,, otters, tortoises, and pygmy hippopotamuses. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hippopotamus that close up before, so I wasn’t expecting it to be so slimy looking but I guess that what happens when you spend most of your day wallowing in the mud. I also don’t know what species of tortoises were there but they were so remarkably doofy looking.
Flying above visitors’ heads, the jungle was also filled with various creatures of the sky including brightly plumaged macaws and tiny furry fruit bats.
Leaving the jungle, there was a giant stone head. I’m not totally sure why, but it reminded me of Nickelodeon’s Legends of the Hidden Temple so I was still pretty happy about it.
Outside of the jungle was an enclosure of rare okapis, shorter relatives of giraffes with distinctive zebra-like patterns of fur around their legs. They’re incredibly endangered and the Omaha zoo is one of only a handful in the world that have them as part of concentration effort by a global organization called the Okapi Conservation Project. They were such unique looking animals, and it was kinda mesmerizing watching them trot about.
Next up, I went to check out the Aquarium on site which my Air BnB hosts had been really raving about. Outside there was an incredible dynamic sculpture of swimming stingrays that also doubled as a water fountain that all the little kids were playing in which was super adorable.
Walking into the aquarium, I made a beeline for my favorite part of any zoo, the penguin exhibit. These round doofuses, they fight, they squawk, and, despite thousands of years of evolving to walk on ice, they slip and fall all the time. The best part though is that somehow despite all that they always carry themselves with an absurd, pompous sort of dignity. They’re like if John Cleese was a flightless bird, and I always get a kick out of watching them.
Past the waterfowl, it was into the main aquarium which had a truly top notch of exotic fish, crustaceans, sea anemones, and coral. Looking at the aquatic habitats, you really get the impression that whatever is happening under the sea is on a totally different planet than what we have here on dry land. As stunning as the animals were, my favorite part was that a little kid (who I didn’t realize made a dramatic entrance into the photo on the bottom right) just turned to his mom and asked “Does the octopus take the clam’s pearls and sell them?” I sincerely, sincerely hope she said yes.
For the more tactile learners out there, there was a portable touch tank where visitors could have hands on experiences with sea stars and sea urchins.
The showstopper of the aquarium though is the shark tunnel, a 70 foot long tunnel through a tank filled with sharks and rays. It’s a surreal immersive experience that creates the sensation of casually strolling through the deep. It’s otherworldly, and even if the animals weren’t massive and captivating the experience would have been worth the price of admission.
Some experiences I could live without though, and actually diving into the tank filled with sharks like some of the workers were doing is a bridge way too far for this little comedian.
At the end of the tunnel was a big tank of ethereal floating jellyfish bobbing along and gently glowing like nature’s lava lamps.
My favorite part of the whole aquarium though was these two boys who were so strange looking they seem to simultaneously disprove both evolution and natural selection. The guy on the left has strong Igor vibes and the guy on the right can only be described as "oddly British”.
After the aquarium, I was on to the Butterfly and Insect Pavilion. The butterfly house was really beautiful with the lush greens of the foliage speckled by the sharp colors and striking designs of the various butterfly wings.
Out of the butterfly house, the pavilion had lots of different insects ranging from expertly camouflaged leafbugs, super spooky tarantulas (I took the photo and I can’t look at those fangs without shivering a little), and super chunky grasshoppers.
Next up was the Exploration Station, an interactive rotating display intended for a younger visitors to put the spotlight on different animals. When I was there, it was tortoises and some big old lizards who looked delightfully lazy.
After the indoor exhibits, it was back to the more expansive outdoor habitats. First up was the African Grasslands exhibits which did an admirable job recreating the natural habitats of these animals despite still being in the middle of Nebraska. The first animal I saw was an adorable small breed of antelope called a Klipspringer. These timid little guys like to hang out on the rockier highlands of their natural habitat so the zoo made them a sweet outcropping to hop around and hide in.
Next up was a meerkat habitat, and I had to respect the relatability of this guy just giving up and belly flopping near the entrance of his burrow rather than wanting to do all that climbing after a long day.
The heart of this exhibit though was a wide open grassland filled with free-roaming rhinos, antelopes, giraffes, and ostriches. I wouldn’t have thought of these guys as all being naturally amiable roommates, but that shows how much I know and it was really something seeing these big hulking creatures just going about their various businesses.
The giraffes were my favorite partially because they’re so improbable looking and partially because the zoo had a special giraffe encounter set up so they were super comfortable with people and would just right up to ya.
Next up was the elephant family quarters the indoor quarters for the largest elephant herd in North America. When I was there, it was right around lunch time so it was pretty neat seeing these gentle giants chow down on some leaves.
In the middle of the grasslands was the zoo’s Garden of the Senses, a loving arranged collection of herbs, flowers, and trees intended to dazzle your senses of sight, smell, and in theory taste though I’m sure the other visitors would judge you a bit for putting that last one to the test.
To make sure your sense of hearing wasn’t left out, the garden was also inhabited by different species of birds happy to flap, sing, and squawk their way about.
Past the Garden, there was a big lagoon featuring a summer tree house for the zoo’s primates to come swing and cool down in the hotter months. It looked like some prime zoo real estate.
On the other side of the lagoon, the first place I went was the Owens Sea Lion Shore, a state of the art habitat for sea lions that was under a pretty impressive renovation project to make it even more state of the art, utilizing water filtration systems, wave pools, and specialized feeding systems. These additions are intended to increase the quality of life of the animals by more accurately recreating a natural habitat and encouraging hunting and swimming skills that sadly tend to deteriorate in captivity.
After the sea lions, I finished up the Grassland exhibits which included long legged cranes, lazy lions, and playful antelope. Notably unlike the other side of the lagoon, these animals weren’t all living together with the lions kept separate for some reason or other.
My favorite animal to see here was a mountain sub-species of antelope called the Bongo. They have beautiful reddish brown coats with white stripes, and they’re unique among their species in that both males and females have long spiraling horns. They are incredibly nimble as they’ve evolved to be able to outrun predators through thick forests and craggy mountains, and it was extraordinary to see them running around. Naturally I related a lot more to this sleepy little lady who just planted herself right by the edge of the enclosure for an afternoon nap.
After the African Grasslands, I moved to the Asian Highlands where I was instantly enchanted by the Red Panda habitat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so active before, but the pandas in this exhibit were straight up scamps trotting around, mugging for the audience, and playfully climbing the trees. They were really adorable and fun to watch, even though they do look more like foxes or raccoons than pandas. They might also be cunning like a fox as well, as they’re somewhat notorious escape artists with at least two high profile break outs in the Birmingham Zoo in the UK and the National Zoo in DC.
The largest enclosure in the Asian highlands was a wide open field containing Indian Rhinos and Pere David’s Deer, a large deer that used to be native of China before going extinct in the wild. Conservation efforts in zoos like this have been successful though, and in dribs and drabs the deer are starting to be reintroduced back into their native habitats. While I was there, the deer were mostly cooling out in a big pool of muddy water, but the giant rhinos were being surprisingly active and it was incredible to see those behemoths in action.
From the Highlands, I moved on to the zoo’s Madagascar exhibits which showcase the impressive biodiversity found just on that island. I started cracking up as soon as I walked into the exhibit though because the only staircase down to the rest of the habitat was positively taken over by monkeys who were just sitting and chattering like teenagers on a stoop. Zoo staff had to gently shoo them away before I was allowed to keep going, because while they pride themselves on immersive experiences this was just a little too close for comfort.
Once I was able to proceed, I was greeted by dozens of species of lemurs in really cleverly designed habitats designed to recreate their Madagascar homes while providing them lots of opportunity to explore, play, hide, and interact. I was shocked that there were just so many different variations on the basic lemur formula I learned from the PBS show Zoboomafoo, but all of these guys looked so wildly different and they each had totally unique personalities.
Complementing the primates were some exotic reptiles and amphibians including some lusty turtles and beautifully colored tree frogs:
The most shocking organism I discovered there was not an animal, but the Baobab tree, which looks so improbably like it was planted upside down and just happened to start growing leaves out of its stubby roots. The ones in the actual habitat (left) were man-made to give the lemurs a sense of home, but when you see actual photos of the trees in Madagascar (right) the sculpted ones are crazily spot on.
After Madagascar, I went to the zoos aviary which is the third largest in the worlds and contains over 500 species of birds allowed to fly freely around. It made fo a fantastically colorful and dramatic stroll, but sadly most of the birds were just too damn fast to get good photos of. Luckily the flamingos and storks weren’t in any particular rush.
Next up was one of my favorite parts of the zoo, the Big Ape Habitats. I started with Gorilla Valley, which featured at least a dozen gorillas (including a dangerously cute baby) living on 2 acres of open land. I never get tired of watching the big apes like Gorillas and Orangutans because they have such distinct personalities and expressive faces so you really feel like you’re watching as sitcom family interact, with the babies driving the over-worked moms crazy while the big lug Silverbacks just lounge over by the side. Who knows what they’re really thinking, but when you see their big faces it’s hard not to at least project a vast range of emotions onto them.
In Orangutan Forest, my favorite apes were a little more lively than the sleepy gorillas and I watched for a while as one of the babies just kept jumping on his mom’s head trying to get her to play with him until she finally and really sweetly gave in. There’s something about how gentle Orangs and Gorillas are despite how huge and muscular they can be that I always find oddly moving and compelling to watch and I probably spend a good 20 minutes just hanging out with these goofy gingers.
After bidding farewell to the apes, I moved onto the Big Cat Complex, but we were hitting the point in the afternoon where they all just really wanted to nap so many of them went to the indoor parts of their habitat. I did however catch a tiger just splaying himself out by the entrance of his room giving visitors a nice reminder that these terrifying apex predators are still very much relatives of house cats.
After the tigers, I visited the Desert dome, which is the world’s largest glazed geodesic dome. The magnificent geometric structure, while being a real visual showstopper, is also super energy efficient as each panel can be adjusted to provide as much shade or a much light as possible to maintain the desert climate inside without racking up huge heating costs.
Inside the dome, is one of the world’s largest indoor deserts which brings together animals from the three largest desert ecosystems in the world: the Sonoran Desert in the Southwest US and Mexico, The Namib Desert of Southeastern Africa, and the Red Center of Australia. The wildlife included snakes, meerkats, hummingbirds, salamanders, wallabies, lizards, and roadrunners.
My favorite guy was this baby peccary, a type of wild boar found along the southwest. When they’re full grown, they can be real terrors especially if you encounter a pack of them but this little lump looked so peaceful all passed out on a cool rock (there’s definitely been a trend that my favorite animal in each habitat is always the laziest or grumpiest one there, but I’ve gotta be true to myself).
Underneath the desert dome is one of zoos coolest and eeriest exhibits, the Kingdom of the Night. This subterranean cave of wonders highlights nocturnal creatures from around the world in dim, haunting lighting. These included aardvarks, bush babies, alligators (including a white alligator), crocodiles, sloths, and even really bizzare looking cousins of crocodiles called gharials. Unfortunately because of the lighting my photos can’t really capture the place, so I’ll just have to be like everyone else I talked to in Omaha and say it’s just one more reason the zoo is a place you’ve gotta see for yourself.
After the zoo, my phone was dead and I was a sweaty mess because as you can tell from the photos it was a beautiful day, but I had still dressed in jeans because I was too lazy to dig through the backseat of my car to find a pair of shorts. To make up for my poor planning, I treated myself with a trip to Ted and Wally’s Ultra-Premium Ice Cream, Omaha’s premier place for home made ice cream. They had some really neat fancy flavors, but I opted to keep things cool and classic and got a truly exceptional mint chocolate chip which hit the spot beyond belief.
After cooling down, I got some more coffee and did some writing at a fantastically named cafe called Muglife. The cafe had a really cozy exposed brick interior with a perfect vibe for working or studying, and the tasty coffee was just icing on top.
After a little work, I got dinner at a fantastic seafood restaurant called Plank Seafood Provisions, which normally would have been out of my price range, but they had insane happy hour deals that were too good to pass up. We’re not allowed to have happy hour in Massachusetts because our state has a bad history with over-consuming alcohol if it gets too affordable (or at least that’s the only reason I can see for justifying the price of draft beer in some Boston bars), so I wonder how many great spots I’ve missed out on in this country because I just assumed I wouldn’t be able to afford to go them without even considering Happy Hour specials. I don’t know how a land-locked state got so good at seafood, but this place really knocked it out of the park. I got an appetizer of Chowder (they’re spelling) Fries, crispy taters drenched in creamy New England Clam Chowder with bits of good Middle-America sized chunks of bacon. It was a little gross in concept, but perfect in execution and it was the closest I’ve gotten to a chowdah outside of New England that actually tastes right. I complimented this with a delicious blackened mahi taco, with the fish grilled just right and lifted with a light tasty pineapple pico de gallo, a jalapeno crema for kick, and a lime for added freshness. It was fantastic, and I washed it all down with a house spiked lemonade since it was happy hour after, and it was a super refreshing blend of whiskey, white peach nectar, and fresh squeezed lemonade. This place really knocked my socks off.
After dinner, I went back to my air bnb to take a little nap before the mic (I guess I was inspired by all my favorite animals). When I walked in the sweet family I was staying with was all sitting on the couch, so I was excited to tell them I’d taken their suggestion and gone to the zoo. The little 2 year old responded first, but I couldn’t quite here her, so her flustered mom had to sheepishly explain "She said 'Fuck you’ but she knows she’s not supposed to say it so she whispered it.” I guess she didn’t like me interrupting her tv time, but rather than being offended as her mom worried I would be, I thought it was the possibly the funniest punctuation to today’s day trip I could have asked for.
Tonight’s open mic was particularly good because it was hosted in Omaha’s number one comedy theater for improv, stand up, and sketch, The Backline Comedy Theater. The mic was in cozy little black box theater, but because it was a real nice stage the place was positively packed with comics which gave the night an exciting buzz.
They also had a pretty exciting local beer selection which may have also added to me really enjoying the comedy that night. I got a deliciously rich vanilla coffee stout from Omaha’s Brickway Brewery and an interesting Moscow mule inspired blond ale from Kinkaider Brewing with hints of ginger and lime that made it feel more like you were drinking a nice cocktail than a beer.
My favorite comic of the night was a guy named Andy Martin who happened to be hosting. He made me laugh right off the bat by riffing on real moment when he said “I know someone in this audience is too high because when the lights went out and I heard someone say woah” He was really funny and loose off the cuff, but he also showed off some strong writing chops with dark one liners like “I’m glad my parents never put me in boyscouts because if I was better at tying knots I would have killed myself a long time ago”
Other Highlights:
Don Seager- My wife is farm raised so my next wife is gonna be free range
Keel De'Andre- I got too high and called in sick to work and I found out I was already at work
Steph Baldwin- You haven't seen me do comedy but to be fair neither have I (she’s legally blind for context)
Angie Sarda- I lost 87 lbs in one year so fuck anyone who thinks meth is bad
KJ- The cops said we detect some drugs and I said I'm pretty sure I finished that shit last night
Sam Bodrafon- Why would a white guy shave their head rather than balding naturally? Like you chose to be a skinhead rather than look like a middle aged man
Cameron Lodgson- My ex says stuff like “we're gonna be together forever" and I say we're already 0-1
As for me, my set actually went pretty well, but I flubbed the opening joke because I came in a little too low energy so even though the the next three and a half minutes went well all I could think about for the rest of the night was the 30 seconds I screwed up which is a pretty good indication of how a comics brain’s works. So it goes, but it was a good learning experience about the value of reading and appropriately matching the audience’s energy, and more importantly getting out of one’s own head.
Favorite Random Sightings: Kitchen Creature (kind of a creepy name for a kitchenware store); a big billboard for cold temperature underwear (apparently a thing guys want/need??) called Armachillos with the slogan “Put ‘em on ice!”; A bar that lets you bring and play vinyl records called Drastic Plastic; a tequila bar grossly called Eat the Worm; an insane antique store called The Imaginarium; and a poster for Underground Polka which is absolutely a music scene I want to know more about
Regional Observation: Omaha is home to the American Muslim Institute which is housed in a really gorgeous modern looking mosque. I wouldn’t have thought there would be a big enough Muslim population in Nebraska to make it an ideal spot for a headquarters, but that’s what you get for assuming, and it’s cool to see a city not just be accepting but super supportive of different faiths.
Albums Listened To: WBCN Naked Too by Various Artists (just a live version of Eagle Eye Cherry’s Save Tonight for a local Boston radio station); We Cool? by Jeff Rosenstock (an oddly ambitious DIY punk album that just pummels through so many different sub-genres with ease); We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service by A Tribe Called Quest (the final Tribe album due to Phife Dawg’s death, but a fantastic swan song from one of hip hop’s most pioneering groups)
Joke of the Day:
A priest, a monk, and a rabbit walk into a blood bank and the rabbit says, “I think I’m a Type-O”
Songs of the Day:
I miss the beautiful chaos that was the Chris Gethard show, and who ever decided to have the band play this song dressed like dogs is a weird genius
jazzy, funky, and poignant- vintage Tribe.