OMAHA (Click here for Omaha Links)
Omaha has a metro area population over 625,000 and offers big city amenities and small town friendliness-and a cost of living far below national averages.
Located at the center of the Great Plains region, on the western bank of the Missouri River, the city is surprisingly green and hilly. Omaha is home to financial, communication, insurance, rail and agricultural business headquarters. Eppley Airfield is a Midwestern transportation hub. Omaha is also widely known as a restaurant town, with ethnic dining available as well as famous Nebraska beef.
An especially interesting part of downtown is the "Old Market" area, which boasts numerous specialty shops, restaurants and fine arts opportunities: galleries, dinner theaters, opera and ballet companies, and the nearby Orpheum theater, home of the Omaha Symphony.
Omaha is also home to the nationally recognized Henry Doorly Zoo, which includes the Kingdoms of the Seas Aquarium and the Lied Jungle, the world's largest indoor tropical rain forest. Other attractions include the Omaha Playhouse, an internationally acclaimed community theater, Joslyn Art Museum, the 1,100-acre Fontenelle Forest Nature Center, Girls and Boys Town, a Triple-A minor league baseball team and an NCAA Division I hockey team (UNO Mavericks).
Quality school systems educate students who regularly rank high on nationwide college entrance exams. Local universities include Creighton University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The University of Nebraska at Lincoln, 50 miles away, is home to the nationally known Cornhusker football team.
Omaha is rooted firmly in the history of the Great Plains. It's a city of clean air and open spaces. A city of neighborhoods-and neighbors.
Pictures on right: Rosenblatt Stadium, Heartland of America Park, Old Market, Botanical Gardens (top to bottom)
