We went to the Bricktown area and enjoyed a water taxi ride with a great boat tour guide.
These are our boatmates.
There were various forms of artwork that we enjoyed along the way. Here we have mosaic art.
This is a mural on the side of a building depicting Oklahoma City in the early 1950's.
The Oklahoma Centennial Land Run Monument depicting the opening of Indian land in Oklahoma Territory (think of "Far and Away" starring Tom Cruise). When completed, these sculptures will be one of the longest free-standing bronze sculptures in the world.
This welcome sign was put out just for us.
We learned that Oklahoma City is the home of Sonic.
This is the movie theater we attended and BBQ restaurant we ate at the following day during the blizzard.
Glen in front of the Bricktown Ballpark and sitting on the bench waiting for our trolley bus to pick us up and take us to our next destination.
We went to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial & Museum. These pictures show the destruction that the bomb caused to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
We had our own special tour guide telling us that the field of empty chairs symbolizes each of the 168 people who lost their lives, with the smaller chairs representing the 19 children killed. Arranged in nine rows, one for each of the nine floors of the building, they are placed according to the floor on which those killed were working or visiting. The building in the background is the Museum.
The gateway leading into the memorial and looking over the reflecting pool which was once N.W. Fifth Street. The shallow depth of gently flowing water helps soothe wounds, with calming sounds providing a peaceful setting for quiet thoughts. (Can you tell I'm quoting some of this stuff from the pamphlet I brought home?)
The Gates of Time are monumental twin gates that frame the moment of destruction--9:02 a.m.--and mark the formal entrances to the Memorial. The East Gate represents 9:01 a.m. on April 19, 1995, and the innocence of the city before the attack. The West Gate represents 9:03 a.m., the moment that lives were changed forever.
The Memorial Museum is what was the former Journal Record Building. Built in 1923, this building withstood the bombing. Inside you learn about what happened on the day of the bombing, and the days, weeks and years that followed.
In the aftermath of the blast, countless expressions of encouragement were received from children. A wall of hand-painted tiles sent to Oklahoma City by children illustrates that caring.
In addition, a series of chalkboards creates an oversized display of these works where children can continue to share their feelings. A bucket of chalk invites visitors to write something. Notice the note left by a child from Provo.
This is part of the first Fence that was installed to protect the site of the Murrah Building. Almost immediately, people began to leave tokens of love and hope on the Fence. Those items now total more than 60,000. Today, more than 200 feet of the original Fence gives people the opportunity to leave tokens of remembrance and hope.
The Memorial and Museum were very interesting and it was a very sad and touching thing to experience. Probably most moving was in the Gallery of Honor, a room to honor the lives of the 168 who were killed. In that room, the families display personal photographs and artifacts of their loved ones. It felt like we were at a funeral--for all 168 people. Many people were crying. It touched my heart deeply as well. As was pointed out, not just 168 people were affected by that needless act of terrorism, but all of the family members and friends of those people as well. Sobering thought.
For dinner that evening we decided to try out the restaurant we saw on many billboards--Cattlemen's Steakhouse.
Here are a couple of pictures of our hotel room that we stayed in the next night. Glen insisted that we leave for home right after the ball game so we could get several hours of driving in. Keep in mind that we were leaving the city around 9 p.m. meaning it was already dark and it had been snowing all day and the temperature never got above freezing. It was a recipe for disaster on those icy roads. After traveling only about 50-60 miles in 2 1/2 hours, and seeing many cars that had slid off the freeway, Glen finally decided he'd had enough and took an exit in hopes of finding a hotel that had room for us. The big, new hotel right off the freeway was full and so we went to the old, dumpy motel next to it and they let us spend the night. I was relieved. Glen was disgusted.
We both had a good laugh when we found the door frozen shut and he had to use brute force to get that thing open. I especially loved the snow on the inside of the door from all of the snow that had piled up outside to freeze the door shut. The bathroom was lovely. The photo doesn't do it justice. The burned formica by the sink doesn't show up very well. Glen especially loved the q-tips just sitting out ready for use.
I was so glad we found a place to stay for a few hours of that night. But, let it be known that it was definitely NOT Abbey Inn!!
