Rivers Edge Park

We have a new park in Council  Bluffs, right by the Missouri River. They have been planning this park for several years, and it was scheduled to be built and opened way before this, but then in 2011 the Missouri River flooded and this area was under water. So it was put on hold until the flood danger was over and they could begin work on it. This picture shows the Great Lawn part of the park, where they can hold concerts and other large group activities. 

This park was built on the west side of the levee that was paved many years ago and is used as a walking and biking trail. (I have spent many hours on this trail!) As you enter the park from the east, you walk over the levee and down some steps. You can see they have built some seating right into the west side of the levee. 

 We are right across the river from Omaha, Ne...that is the Omaha skyline in the distance. Back in 2008  a walking bridge was built across the river in cooperation with both cities to join their riverfront development with ours. I took these pix one of the first times I walked over it.

 It's really a work of art, and is used by walkers and bikers every day. There are walking paths on both sides of the river, so people from both cities can stroll to their hearts content.

 This is the Omaha side, it is more developed now than it was back then. They have a sea of tall waving lights in that "dirt" area that is really pretty at night.

So finally, on Memorial weekend, the Rivers Edge Park was opened with lots of different activities. There were concerts, the Beach Boys (17,000 came!) being the most famous to play there so far, and a food truck night. My daughters and I went down for the food truck event, there were also blues and jazz bands playing. 

The Lawn is flanked by 2 smaller areas that have newly planted trees and grass.  This is one of those areas. The food trucks were just beyond this area. 

We walked down to the rivers edge to see what had changed there, and really nothing has. They have left it with its normal bank for now. That is the I80 bridge to Omaha on the left of the picture. 

You can see the walking bridge in the distance on this picture. It's exciting to have such a pretty place to go to for events and just to hang out if you want to.

This is the grandstand that was sent up for the bands and other events for the grand opening. The sound system was very good, we could hear even when sitting on the "step seating" to the east.

There are plans to build a shopping/restaurant area to the east of the park, so the area is still growing. There will also be picnic areas and trails going north along the river between the river and the levee. It will be fun to watch it happen!

Family Fun

While my daughter and her husband were here from Seattle, we had to take them to the Pedestrian bridge. They haven't been here since it was built. My other daughter and her dogs came too. Here is my daughter who lives here and my son-in-law with a little attitude.

Here are my 2 daughters and SIL, and the dogs. It was a very windy, cloudy day, but we enjoyed our walk anyway.
Yesterday, my sister and her husband were here and so we walked the bridge with them. They were here last year, but usually come in the winter so not conducive to walking.  It was a much nicer day, see the sun?

We walked a little ways down the river and had a drink at a local restaurant and enjoyed the beautiful day. This is a sculpture next to the river...it is titled " Labor".

Those men are 8' tall.

Then we came back to our house and grilled, my other daughter and boyfriend came also. It was a great time!

Today I loaded a quilt onto the frame, and hopefully will get a little quilted every day. I also went shopping for flowers, so am anxious to get them planted.

Weekend Stuff....Class...Shopping...Walking...Chatting...all in all a good one!

Saturday started with a UFO class. 6 ladies came and worked on UnFinished Objects and chatted up a storm for 4 hours. These days are always fun and yesterday was especially so because a gal who was in a motorcycle accident 10 weeks ago is finally feeling better and able to drive, so came in to see friends and work on her LeMoyne Star Stack~n~Whack. It turned out that 4 of them worked on that quilt, so we got to see the patterns as they got the blocks done. My sister Deb also stopped in, as she was down shopping with friends, so after class was over, I shopped with her for a little while.




Later in the evening, I went for a walk on the Pedestrian Bridge (a suspended bridge over the Missouri River linking Omaha, Ne and Council Bluffs, IA) with my sis-in-law Denise and her grandson. He had been to some Halloween parties so had camouflage paint on his face, not dirt! I have gone before, but always during the day. It was beautiful last night, coolish but not cold. The lights are awesome at night. There are some stick things in a garden that sway in the breeze and have lights on top. They are so cool, but I didn't get a pic as I only had my phone & I didn't think it would take well. Next time I will take my camera....

I have been busy today updating my website with some new classes, did some paperwork for class and last but the most fun, I did some machine quilting. I haven't done much lately as I have been babying my back, but did a table runner so it didn't take long. I did a meandering stitch, which I like to do and it works well on small projects.

Sunday walk

It was such a beautiful day today so I wanted to go for a walk. I decided to go see the new Pedestrian Bridge as it opened last week and I have been dying to walk over it. We have been watching it go up all summer, and I have seen it lit up at night, what an awesome sight. This bridge spans the Missouri River that separates Council Bluffs, IA and Omaha, Ne. On the Omaha side they have been working on their Riverfront project for many years. They have achieved a beautiful area of parks, and walkways. Hopefully the Council Bluffs side will be beautiful as well once they finish it. Some work has been done, but we have a long ways to go.

On the IA side, the ramp starts near Playland Park and takes you over rough riverfront ground that will someday be a park.
The bridge curves around and gradually rises over the river. It is a suspended bridge, so you can feel a little movement on it. Today there were many people crossing from both directions. It was windy today so once out over the water, the wind was pretty strong.
I am coming up to the first tower.
Boy it is tall, it sort of freaks me out to look up at it.
This is the Omaha side ramp that curves around to bring you down from the bridge (or up to the bridge, depending on which way you are coming from). I am not sure but the circular area seems like a meeting place or arena area. There was an Indian tent on the other side, but I didn't go down to see what it was. I assume it was monument of some kind. I will go check it out another day. What a great walk!