Photo: Worlds Biggest Ball of Stamps, Roadside America

Are you making the 550 mile trek to Omaha, Nebraska for the hockey games between the Denver Pioneers and the University Nebraska – Omaha Mavericks this upcoming weekend? This destination offers a plethora of cultural and educational sites for visitors to the “Gateway to the West”, Omaha’s formal nickname. Others may know this city by its more informal nickname, “Rest Stop on I-80”.

While whale fishing is illegal in Nebraska, there is still plenty to do for the weary traveler.

Few visitors, or hardly anyone for that matter, know that Omaha was attacked by the Japanese during world War II. The Dundee neighborhood in Omaha commemorates the “Bombing of Dundee.” A Japanese incendiary balloon exploded there in 1945. The Japanese made many such devices, but most exploded over the west coast. Few made it so far inland as the Dundee balloon. The event is formally recognized by a brass plaque on  the outside wall of a building on the south side of Underwood Ave., just west of N. 50th St.

The highlight of the trip lies immediately to the west of Omaha in the suburb of Boys Town ( yes, that Boys Town) where the World’s Largest Ball of Stamps resides.

The ball is 32 inches in diameter, weighs 600 pounds, and contains a reported 4,655,000 canceled stamps. It was stuck together by the Boys Town Stamp Collecting Club starting in 1953. By July 1955 the Ball reached its current size. Work on the Stamp Ball essentially ceased at that point, as it has remained  – still the World’s Largest Ball of Stamps after almost 60 years!

The Stamp Ball is in the Leon Myers Stamp Center, which is part of the Boys Town Visitors Center.

As a bonus feature, LetsGoDU is providing a site layout (below) of UNO’s new $76 million dollar Baxter Arena so you can navigate your way to the game.

Safe travels and Go Pioneers!