Westfield Gateway Mall

A typical thing to do in Lincoln on the weekends is go to the Westfield Gateway Mall. I recently visited the mall.

On the outside lines after lines of cars are parked in the gigantic parking lots. It's not that noisy but every once in awhile you hear the beeping of a car alarm. Creative building designs accent the doors inviting you to come in and enjoy. Different textures on the building pops out at you creating different lines. You go from smooth to bumping as run your hand against the side of the building. At night the lights shines against the entrance illuminating it for all to see.

As walk in to the inside the volume of sound changes. You can hear people chattering and kids screaming. The pitter patter of feet on the tiled floor echo through the mall. You can smell the food court's hamburgers, chicken, and pizza as well. When you walk by the Chinese place passes out free samples of teriakyi chicken. It taste sweet and tender, causing your mouth to salivate uncontrollably. Down from the food court you can hear the sound of the carousel going around and around playing the typical amusement park music. Every time an parent walks by their kids beg for permission to go on a ride. When they don't get there way they drag their feet and pout as mom or dad is struggling to keep calm while pulling their child through the mall. Teens are walking around looking for a girl to hit on or a hot boy to cross their path. None holding shopping bags because they are just there to walk around. Elderly zoom past as there on mission to speed walk to keep healthy.

Many things happen at Gateway. It's filled with different kinds of people with different purposes to be at the mall. It is a community within the community of Lincoln.

Building Structure

Heading south down 70th and there it is, the taco shack. It's not really a noticeable place. In fact I probably wouldn't have know it's there if it wasn't for the big sign saying Taco Inn. Even though it might not seem that fancy it's one of the hot spots in Lincoln.

Outside it seems pretty quiet except for the loud echoing sound of the drive through. "How may I help you?" echos as a car would pull up. The drive through menu board looks pretty out dated. Much like the rest of Taco Inn.

Yeah you could say that Taco Inn is pretty much old school. It's not like other fast food places. There is a different personality to this place.

Unlike other fast food establishments Taco Inn takes orders by writing your order up on a board in abbreviations. They don't use a fancy cash register that puts the order up on a TV monitor. Each order has to be ringed up one at a time.

Inside you will find all kinds of costumers. Young, old, nurses, and mail men can be found in the dinning. Some are regulars that come often and know the employees by name and others are just stopping to eat on break. The dinning room is cold and filled with the smell of tacos. There are fake plants place in there to add a nice homier touch. The booths are hard and not cushioned, but not horrible unbearable. You can hear the slight sound of the radio but it is very hard to hear. In the background of all the conversations happening between the customers you can hear the employees. Some getting angry because nothings going right and some laughing at the guy in drive through saying "I'll have ahhh...". One girl is running to the back in fear that she will get cheese smash in her face.

In this little taco shack there is always a story to be told. Whether it's about the customer, employee, or just the place its self. There is tons of personality here. Just stop by sometime and find out for your self the wonders of Taco Inn.