Oklahoma City trip

Well today we returned from our weekend trip to Oklahoma City.

On the way up there, we had to go through a series of small, Texas towns to a large city called Gainesville, then you have to turn right and the HWY takes you straight into Oklahoma City. Well, I somehow missed the exit, and ended up getting on the HWY that leads you into New Mexico! About thirty minutes later my mom was like, "Are you sure we're on the right road?" After we passed through a German/Texas town called, Muenster, which had many signs advertising their special bratwurst (I had to pull over to the side of the road to snap a photo of that), we knew we had missed the exit somewhere. So, I pulled around and about thirty minutes later we came to an exit that said, "Oklahoma City traffic exit here." "How could we have missed that?"

After finally getting on the correct HWY, we drove through Oklahoma and about thirty minutes later we saw rocky cliffs on each side of the HWY. I felt like I was driving through the Georgia mountains again. If you have ever been to Georgia, then you should know what I'm talking about. Anyways, who knew there were cliffs in Oklahoma? I always thought it was a flat, plain state.

Well, around ten o'clock we reached Oklahoma City, and we drove straight to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. Oh, it was beautiful at night! All the walls were lit up, and the memorial chairs seemed to float in the air. There was a lot of light, so I took a few photos, I just hope they show up! The original chain fence is still there, and everyday people still come from all over the world to put some kind of artifact on the walls. Across from the memorial is a church called, St. Josephs. After the explosion, the church was totally ruined. When they rebuilt it, a statue of a crying Jesus was added to the courtyard. The statue was placed in a position the overlooks the memorial.

Anyway, next we headed toward the Bombing Memorial Museum. Of course it's closed at night, but there is a sidewalk made out of chalkboard, and close by is a box a coloured chalk where you can write a message. Actually, it's for the children, but nobody seems to care who uses it. At the front of the museum there is a wall, that is made out of painted tile. Children from all over the world mailed in painted tile expressing their feelings.

After the memorial, we decided to find a hotel. We drove through Bricktown (the square), where a baseball game was going on, so we got stuck in traffic. I also noticed that there were a lot of cool looking buildings here. The huge circular, Ford building, a bunch of beautiful, old hotels, the riverwalk, and a Fox news station. We got lost, thanks to my brother who wanted to drive, and thirty minutes later we ended up at the Best Western Hotel near the capital building.

After checking in, we had a midnight dinner of Pizza Hut pizza, watched two episodes of, That 70s show and went to sleep.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel at ten thirty, bought some new cameras, and headed toward the capital building, where we discovered that a college graduation was going on. I stopped and took some photos of the front of the building and saw one of the politicians walk out. He had on a suit, was carrying a briefcase, and his name tag was clipped on his jacket.

After that, we headed back towards the bombing memorial, so we could take a tour of the museum. We bought our tickets and a elevator took us to the third floor where we got to see several different exibts describing the events of that day. The before, after, and the room after room of photos of the victims. I think that was the most emotional part. Of course looking at the photos of the children who were killed, and seeing the personal toys that the parents donated to the museum.

After leaving the museum, I bought some a t-shirt, postcards, and a coin at the giftshop, and we headed outside again to the memorial. During the day it was about ten times as crowded. But it was so beautiful!! We saw the "Tree of Life." This tree was planted in the early 20s, when this spot was actually the backyard of someone's house! In the early 50s, the house was torn down, and that is when the downtown began to grow. The tree survived the blast, and now it's enclosed by a beautiful brick wall.
We left the tree, and took some more photos of the memorial chairs, the water pond, and the walls that say, 9:01 and 9:03.

Next, we tried to find the Haunted House restaurant, but we must have taken a wrong turn because we couldn't find it anywhere!! Feeling tired and hungry we decided to go home.

All and all this was great trip!! I highly recommend that everyone see this beautiful memorial at least once in their lifetime.

We also have 4 cameras full of photos, I will upload them as soon as I get them developed.