Thanksgiving in Nebraska

I recently discovered that I’ve visited more foreign countries than U.S. states. And so it was with much interest that I accepted the invitation from my brother, Aaron, and his fiancée, Megan, to join them for Thanksgiving in Nebraska. While I considering geography an area of my expertise, I must confess I placed Nebraska far too south in my brain. It shares a border with South Dakota and Omaha is about as far north as Chicago. Now you know, too.

The trip started off with a ride to the airport from good pal, Marta. My flight to Chicago was smooth and I even had time to stop off for a pint before catching my connection to Omaha. Once there, I was met by Megan, who showed me all the sites of Omaha and took me to get some coffee while we waited for my brother’s flight to land in an hour. After all of that, we still had the better part of 45 minutes to kill, so we drove around, picked up a bag of sugar for Thanksgiving and stopped by the site of their impending wedding. Finally, Aaron arrived and they drove to Shelton, NE while I slept in the back of the car.

Thanksgiving was a fun day. I met Megan’s family, all of whom were delightful and accomodating. Aaron and I tossed around the football and chatted with the future in-laws before sitting down to an excellent feast of the usual suspects: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn casserole, green bean casserole, squash and gravy. Megan Grammie took us out for a tour of Greater Shelton afterward, pointing out their family corn fields and the grave of a pioneer woman who was rumored to be poisoned by Indians. Good stuff.

The evening was spent playing parlor games, including Werewolf. After several false starts, everyone got the hang of it and reveled in the lying, backstabbing and indignance that make it such a great family game.

Friday was spent attending the Nebraska v Colorado football game in Lincoln, which apparently becomes the 3rd largest city in the state during game days. For sure, Nebraskans love their college football team, particularly their defense, which they’ve dubbed “The Blackshirts”. The carnival atmosphere was shattered when Colorado scored a touchdown on their second play 54 seconds into the game. They added another two plays later to make it 14-0, before Nebraska decided not to disappoint the 85,000 rabid fans. Back and forth the game went, until Nebraska’s kicked hit a 57-yard field goal with about a minute left and won the game. It was a great day out and a real slice of Americana.

Saturday allowed us the opportunity to check out the inside of a Nebraskan movie theater, which was virtually indistinguishable from those in Connecticut. Megan, Aaron and I took in the latest James Bond flick, which I’d give a solid B+. Aaron reinforced his credentials as the family curmudgeon with a less-than-glowing review, but I enjoyed it. We stopped at a Nebraska souvernir store and then at Cabela’s, where our fancy city dress made us more of a spectacle than the stuffed antelope, industrial meat grinders and camo pajamas for sale.

One of the highlights of the trip was Saturday night at the Sportsman, a serious meat-eating establishment in Gibbon, Nebraska that compares favorably to the legendary Silver Swan in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. For until $10, patrons can get a “Man’s Cut” of delicious prime rib, a trip to the salad bar and a complimentary mini-bottle of White Zinfandel. I’m proud to say that I downed the Man’s Cut in one sitting, and didn’t have to eat again for at least another 24 hours.

Sunday was meant to be a traveling day, first driving from Shelton to Omaha, then flying home. Everything went to plan early on, as we made it back to Omaha with time to grab a burger at a local brewery and some freshly made ice cream before heading to the airport. I checked in, bade farewell to Aaron and Megan, and made my way to the terminal. That’s when the fun started.

Because of the East Coast weather, my 4:10 PM flight to Newark, NJ was delayed 2 hours. Then two more hours. Finally, we left a little after 9 PM, landing around 1 AM. There were quite a few people still milling around, having missed their connections and had their outbound flights delayed. With the Continental customer service line about 200 people long, I washed up a bit, got some water, stood in line for a bit and then decided to lie down for some sleep and get my boarding pass for Hartford in a few hours. I found an unoccupied spot in the terminal, fluffed my hoodie into a pillow and lay down for a nap at about 3 AM.

At 3:45 AM, a woman went around waking everyone up, telling them they had to leave the terminal and re-enter. This was apparently due to “security regulations.” Since I was awake and the new Continental line was relatively short, I figured I might as well sort out my boarding pass. An hour later, it was taken care of, and I wandered over to the proper terminal, stopping in a coffee shop for a mocha and finding my gate a couple of hours before my 8:30 AM flight.

I finally landed in Hartford at 9:30 AM on 45 minutes of sleep. I was 90% sure my bag wouldn’t make it, and debated whether I should even check the luggage belt or just go straight to the customer service office. Miraculously, it was there and I sensed things were finally going my way. My colleague, Ali, had agreed to pick me up and I went straight to work. After a full day, I returned home, exhausted, at 7 PM, made a simple meal, and went to sleep, putting an end to a memorable and enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend.

You can see a few more pictures of the weekend on Flickr.