Highlights

YankeeTrailsGroups by US Tours Flexible Pricing:

• Customizable Comps
• Net Rates
• Luxury or First Class Hotels & Meals
• Motorcoach Transportation & Professional Tour Managers are available

Whatever you want, YankeeTrailsGroups by US Tours will be happy to structure tour prices to match your needs. Just let us know!

Itinerary

Day 1 – Omaha, NE – French Wine Dinner
Arrive today in Omaha, NE where you enjoy a three-night stay.

This evening, enjoy a French Wine Dinner at Le Voltaire featuring French classic cuisine in a romantic south of France atmosphere. The menu covers all the regions of France and offers the most extensive French wine list in Nebraska. Le Voltaire has received the Wine Spectator Award for its outstanding varieties of French wine for the past ten years. Tonight, enjoy a presentation on French Wine, Cuisines and traditions by the Chef. (D)

Day 2 – Omaha City Tour – Joslyn Castle – Riverboat Lunch Cruise – Hot Shops Workshop – Frontier Dinner

This morning, enjoy a guided driving tour of Omaha’s past, present and future. A professional guide will join your group for an overview of Omaha’s top points of interest. Your group will also have an opportunity to experience Pioneer Courage Park. The park features more than 100 larger-than-life sized bronze sculptures that tell the story of the pioneer’s westward journey. Visitors can walk among the wagons, oxen, horses and pioneers. This provides a great photo opportunity for groups. This unique public art display stretches six city blocks and features geese and bison flying and stampeding through downtown Omaha office buildings.

Next, you will be transported to Scotland with a visit to the historic 1903 Joslyn Castle. This 30-room stone mansion resembles a traditional Scottish castle. As your group enters through the huge front doors, they will be amazed by the craftsmanship of the elaborate wood interior, which comes from all parts of the world. Hear the fascinating story of George & Sarah Joslyn and how the couple shared their extraordinary wealth with the community.

Then it’s time for a Lunch Cruise on the River City Star Riverboat. Enjoy a Missouri River cruise and lunch onboard a 1940s era paddlewheel-style riverboat. The captain will provide a narrated tour of the various sights and landmarks along the river. Your group will cruise underneath the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, one of the longest pedestrian bridges to connect two states – NE and IA. Hear the story behind Freedom Park’s naval ships and learn more about the Mormon migration as they pass under the Mormon Bridge. The riverboat offers indoor seating with air conditioning.

The afternoon features a Group Workshop at the Hot Shops Art Center. Choose from the following options:

• Half Full – Cup Experience: Is your cup half full, or half empty? The cups created at the Hot Shops are always on their way to another full cup of potential. In this experience, see a demonstration and then decorate/design your own cup to keep.
• Ten-Digit – Clay Experience: Many days, the most action our fingers get is punching into a keyboard or swiping on a phone. In this experience, see a demonstration and then give your fingers a work-out with a 3-D molding experience. Each participant’s 3-D figure will be attached to the pot for a final themed piece.
• Unbreakable – Pottery Experience: All groups experience ups and downs, but those breaks become part of your larger story. In this experience, learn about the Japanese art of Kintsugi where broken pottery is mended. This art treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. Watch Tim Barry throw a bowl on the wheel. Each participant will then decorate a broken piece of the pot before it is repaired.
• Paint Party: This session is set up to be easy with fun-to-follow instruction. We will take you through a custom painting on an 11×14 canvas using acrylic paint. Your group will enjoy being creative no matter their skill level.
• Sneaker Design: Learn how to design and make a pair of sneakers into a work of wearable art. Workshop provides plain white canvas sneakers and will need student shoe sizes 2 weeks ahead of time. This workshop can be modified to a canvas bag session if desired.
• Art Fare: Feed your body and your imagination at this lunch and art demonstration. Select from lunch options and eat while you watch a live 30-minute demonstration by one of our many talented artists. Then, stretch your legs with a walk through the galleries and open studios.
• Art Fluid: Celebrate the end of the day by refueling your body and your imagination at this happy hour and art demonstration. Select from cocktails and snacks while you watch a live 30-minute demonstration by one of our many talented artists. Then, stretch your legs with a walk through the galleries and open studios.

Tonight, enjoy a Frontier Dinner at General George Crook’s Home complete with actors playing the part of the General and his wife, Mary. The year is 1879 and the place is Fort Omaha. A new Italianate style house, known as Quarters One, has just been built for its revered Army General and the most successful Plains Indian fighter in the country. To celebrate, General George Crook, Commander of the Department of the Platte and his wife Mary Tapscott Dailey Crook invite you to join them for dinner in their new home. After dinner, guests will be escorted throughout the historic home then retire to the Heirloom Garden for an evening stroll before boarding their carriages. This is a great way to relive history through the eyes of one of the country’s most famous generals. (B,L,D)

Day 3 – Strategic Air & Space Museum – Father Flanagan’s Boys Town Lunch and Tour – Durham Museum – OctoberFest Dinner at the German American Society

This morning, explore the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum, one of the nation’s premier aviation and space museums dedicated to the nation’s most prized and rarely displayed military aircraft. Walk among more than forty military airplanes and spacecraft from WWII to the Cold War, and experience state-of-the-art flight simulators.

Next, tour Father Flanagan’s Boys Town, a National Historic Landmark District. Preserved in time inside this world-renowned village are the Hall of History museum, historic chapels, gardens, and Father Flanagan’s 1920s home. In fact, it’s the stuff that movies are made of; Boys Town, the 1938 movie starring Spencer Tracey and Mickey Rooney, won two Academy Awards (one of which is on display in the Hall of History).

This afternoon, visit the Durham Museum, one of the first Art Deco train stations in the country. This Smithsonian affiliate houses restored train cars, 1940s storefronts, and the Byron Reed collection, which includes some of the world’s rarest coins and documents. Groups will have the chance to go inside a replica of Buffett’s grandfather’s grocery store, where at age 6, Warren made his first nickel. Be sure to enjoy a phosphate or malt at the museum’s authentic soda fountain.

End the day with an OctoberFest Dinner at the German American Society. Enjoy an evening of German dancing, singing and ethnic food. Your group will love the authentic meal and entertainment at Omaha’s German American Society. Choose from a meal selection of rouladen, sauerbraten or jagerschnitzel.

After dinner, the German American Society’s dance troupe performs, and the German men’s choir will lead your group in a traditional German sing-a-long. This is an energetic, audience participation-filled evening that will transport your group to Deutschland – no passport required. (B,L,D)

Day 4 – Depart for Home

After breakfast, depart for home. (B)

Tour Map