Freedom Park / River City Cruise
Visiting Freedom Park | River City Star Cruise on the Missouri | Omaha, NE | August 2022
As August was wrapping up, we decided to spend a Sunday afternoon downtown checking off a few more of our “Omaha Bucket List” items. We did really well accomplishing our goals for Nebraska and Iowa as a whole, and now most of the remaining places we have left to visit are all downtown. This is mostly because moving here during the pandemic made us more interested in outdoor activities, but also because the flood that happened here in 2019 closed several parks and attractions along the river.
We started our day with visiting Freedom Park, a park located just North of the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge along the river. This park is the home to 2 naval ships: the USS Hazard, a WWII minesweeper, and the USS Marlin, a training submarine. It has very limited hours — open only on Saturdays during the summer from 10-3. When we went, we could only tour the USS Hazard as the Marlin was still having some repairs and improvements from the flood, though we were able to see it from the outside. We enjoyed going on a self-guided tour, with Curtis right in his element showing me around and commenting on how much space was on the boat compared to a submarine. There were a few volunteers on board to answer questions. One of them asked if we had ever toured a Naval ship before and proudly told us he had also toured the USS Alabama — Curtis didn’t have the heart to tell him that not only had he toured other boats, but he had also “lived” on one!
After finishing at Freedom Park, we drove over to the Dam Bar & Grill. I had a gift card for the restaurant, and while we weren’t that interested in eating there, we found out that we could use the gift card for a cruise on the River City Star. We boarded the boat and claimed seats on the upper level for the best views and the fresh breeze. The cruise lasted for an hour and a half. It started by going North up to see the Illinois Central Missouri River Bridge, a railroad bridge that is currently not in use, then went down South underneath the Bob Kerrey bridge before returning to the dock at the restaurant. Overall it was a nice experience and a fun way to see the city, but probably not something we would do without the gift card.
After a fun day downtown, we got to spend way too long sitting in traffic, and decided this might be the last time we go downtown because the construction makes it so painful. After all our walks around and exploring the area, I think the Bob Kerrey pedestrian bridge will always be our favorite way to enjoy the city!
