Things to Do in Lincoln in May

Lincoln's trail network is, quietly, one of the best urban cycling systems in the American Midwest. The MoPac Trail follows the old Missouri Pacific Railroad corridor east from downtown through farmland where the horizon line is so flat you can watch a storm cell build from 80 km (50 miles) away. In May, the adjacent tallgrass prairie strips are shin-high and green. Meadowlarks are calling from fence posts. The trail surface, crushed limestone and paved sections, is firm and dry between storms. The Jamaica North Trail loops through residential Lincoln and connects to Antelope Park, where the creek runs clear enough to see the sandy bottom. You will likely have long stretches entirely to yourself on weekday mornings. The air smells like warm earth and clover. Around mid-month the wild plum thickets along the rail corridor bloom white and sweet.

Most state capitols are domed Greek Revival buildings that blur together in memory. Nebraska's is a 120-meter (400-foot) Art Deco tower rising from the flat prairie like a limestone obelisk, topped by a bronze figure of The Sower casting seed into the wind. The interior is the real reward. Hildreth Meiere's mosaic floors glow in jewel tones under vaulted ceilings. The legislative chamber's wood paneling has the warm, slightly dusty scent of a building that has been continuously cared for since 1932. May's midday light pours through the east windows and turns the marble corridors almost gold. Take the elevator to the observation deck on a clear afternoon. You can see the grain elevators at the edge of town and, beyond them, the rolling farmland that explains why this building exists at all.

Lincoln's Sunken Gardens sit in a former city dump that was terraced into a 0.6-hectare (1.5-acre) formal garden during the Depression. This is the kind of civic project that would never get funded today and cannot be replicated. May catches the garden in its first true flush. The annual beds are freshly planted. The perennial borders are thick with bearded irises in purple and copper. The reflecting pool at the lowest terrace mirrors the whole composition back at you. Early mornings are best. By 7 AM the light is soft, the air still cool enough to smell the damp soil under the peonies, and the only sound is birdsong and the trickle of the fountain. By mid-afternoon on a warm weekend, the paths get crowded with families and wedding photographers. The adjacent park benches under the mature elms make a pleasant spot to sit with coffee and watch the light change.

Pioneers Park Nature Center keeps a small herd of American bison on 260 hectares (640 acres) of restored tallgrass prairie and oak woodland at Lincoln's southwestern edge. In May, calves are typically on the ground. They are rust-colored, wobbly, staying close to the herd while the adults graze through big bluestem that is just beginning its summer growth spurt. The 5 km (3 miles) of unpaved trails wind through habitats that look essentially the same as they did before European settlement: coneflowers, milkweed, the scratch of grasshoppers launching ahead of your steps. The outdoor raptor and wildlife exhibits include bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, and white-tailed deer in naturalized enclosures. The smell out here on a warm May morning is worth the drive. Sun on prairie grass, a faint sweetness from wildflowers. This is the opposite of every strip-mall experience you have ever had in Nebraska.

Wilderness Park is a 600-hectare (1,480-acre) strip of riparian forest following Salt Creek through Lincoln's southwest corridor. It feels wild. This surprises visitors expecting flat, tame Midwest parkland. The trails, about 30 km (19 miles) of them, dip through dense cottonwood and hackberry canopy where the air is noticeably cooler and damper than the surrounding city, cross Salt Creek on timber bridges, and climb modest bluffs with views over the floodplain. May is prime timing: the creek runs strong from spring rains, the forest floor is carpeted with Virginia waterleaf and wild ginger, and migrating warblers and tanagers are still passing through. The mud after a storm is real. Ankle-deep in low sections. Check the weather forecast and wear boots with traction. The Jamaica North trailhead connects directly from the city trail network.

The Haymarket is Lincoln's converted railroad warehouse district, eight or nine square blocks of brick buildings from the early 1900s that now hold the city's densest concentration of restaurants, bars, and the Saturday morning Farmers' Market. On a May evening, when the temperatures drop to around 15°C (59°F) and the brick radiates the day's stored warmth, the patios fill up and the neighborhood hums. The smell of wood-fired pizza from the older Italian spots mixes with charcoal smoke from the barbecue places and, if you walk past the right alley, the yeasty exhale of a working brewery. Valentino's, which has been serving Lincoln since 1957, is the kind of institution where the pizza tastes like local memory. Not the best slice you will ever eat. But the one that tells you where you are. The Haymarket's real strength is its walkability. You can cover the whole district on foot in an evening, sampling as you go, without ever needing to drive.