The night leading into Day 29 of the trip was probably my worst night of sleep on the whole trip. The bed at the Motel 6 in Sidney, Nebraska just wasn't comfortable compared to a lot of the beds I slept on during the trip. Since I didn't sleep well, I headed out early the next morning. This was okay cause I was going to lose an hour heading from the Mountain Time Zone to the Central Time Zone.
It was a great day to drive from Sidney Nebraska to North Platte, Nebraska (which by the way is a very beautiful city). It took all about 2 hours to get from the hotel to my first stop of the day, the Golden Spike Tower and Visitors Center.
I will be the first to admit that I am not a train buff. I like looking at model trains, but watching real trains never really did much for me. However, the opportunity to go to the world's largest rail yard and look at it from the Golden Spike Tower was something I could not pass up.
As you enter the Golden Spike Tower, there is a nice gift shop that you enter and they take you to the side to watch a movie about the rail operations there in North Platte. I never realized that this was such a rail town for Union Pacific.
After watching a movie about the facility, you head up to the tower. You have the opportunity in the tower to go to the 7th floor and look at the rail yard in an open air observation deck. After looking at things there, you can go up to the 8th floor and talk with someone who used to work in the rail yard for Union Pacific. It was a lot of fun.
I think my favorite part was the fact that they have an area in the rail yard that sorts the railcar based on their destination. That is, a railcar comes to the top of the hill, it's determined based on the payload where it's going. The railcar gets pushed down the hill and directed onto the right track for a locomotive to take it to its destination. It was weird watching railcars just glide down a hill without anybody steering them or them connected to a locomotive.
After leaving the rail yard, I headed towards Omaha, Nebraska where I was going to eat a late lunch and visit a world-famous bar.
My first stop was at a place called the Highlander Accelerator. Here there was a bunch of smaller restaurants, one called the Big Mama's Kitchen. I got a famous chicken sandwich from there. It wasn't like a normal chicken sandwich you'd get a Chick-fil-A. It was served in a sub roll, with chunks of fried chicken in it. It was so good. I was so hungry at that point, I forgot to take a picture of it but you can take my word for it
Next, I went to the world famous Homy Inn. I had heard a lot about this place as it is one of the only places around that serves four different types of champagne on draft. I am not much of a champagne fan, so I went with a local beer and it was delicious. It reminded me of the ultimate dive bar. The people who work there were super nice and a lot of fun to talk with. After a couple beers, I headed back on the road.
I made one pit stop between Omaha and Des Moines. This was to a roadside attraction of a VW beetle that they turned into a spider in Avoca, Iowa. I'm a sucker for roadside attractions like this.
Next it was onward to Des Moines, Iowa. I had never been to Des Moines, other than just passing through. However, Des Moines has a reputation as an incredible beer city. I wanted to put that to a test. I booked a room at the Holiday Inn in downtown Des Moines as it was relatively cheap and was within walking distance of many bars and restaurants. I must say this was the nicest Holiday Inn I've ever been in.
Once I dropped all my things off at the room and got settled, I headed out for a mile and a half walk to Peace Tree Brewing Company. Oddly enough it was beer bingo night there. I didn't participate as I wasn't going to stick around long, but I had a really good time. The beers were pretty good.
Next up I walked across the street to 1717 Brewing. Once there I was super excited to see that they had a Black IPA and an ESB. Two styles I rarely see anymore.
After talking to some guys that work in environmental cleanup at 1717, I headed over to Zombie Burger + Drink Lab. There I got one of the most amazing burgers ever. It was called The Walking Ched. On there you had a hamburger, bacon, cheddar cheese, caramelized and red onions, macaroni and cheese, and mayonnaise. Oh, and did I forget to mention that the bun is made out of a deep fried macaroni and cheese patty? It was amazing. To make sure I was full, I also ordered the poutine.
Next up I walked to the El Bait Shop. However, as I was walking over there I ran into a place called Brenton Skate Plaza. That was pretty awesome. I had to get my picture taken with that sign.
El Bait Shop is a bar that has somewhere on the order of 150 beers on draft. I asked the bartender for something really good and local and he pointed me to the Mea Pulpa from Lion Bridge Brewing Company in double New England IPA. It was probably the most outstanding beer I had on the whole trip. I had a few more beers, was very tipsy, and decided it was time to head back to my hotel room.
Overall, Des Moines was amazing. I wish I had more time to hang out there. The downtown area is absolutely beautiful and there are ton of breweries and bars that you can walk to. I definitely hope to head back there sometime soon.
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