April 25 -- OKC

Upon awakening this morning in the playhouse of Zack’s grandparents’ house in Oklahoma City, I came to the shocking realization that I didn’t want to wake up yet. So, I dismissed my alarm and fell back asleep. Around 8:20am, Zack’s grandpa came and knocked at the door, wondering why we were sleeping in so incredibly late (I’m guessing he must be a morning person). Following his advice, we got up, and got ready for the morning. For breakfast, Zack’s grandparents cooked us sausage, eggs, and biscuits (it was delicious). We then took our first showers since leaving, which was a clean relief.

After a brief pause to decide where we wanted to go for the day, we set off for the main region of Oklahoma City. Before heading downtown, we decided to make a few stops. First, we went to the National Softball Hall of Fame.

It was only $3 to enter after the student discount, so we decided to walk around it a bit. It was pretty enjoyable (for me anyways), as we got to see bios of great softball players of the past (ok, not exciting as baseball or football, but still cool), a lot of memorabilia from the Olympic champion USA softball teams, and a map of the US where we could put a pin in our city if we played softball (I proudly put the sole pin into Ogden, UT. Represent!).

Following that museum, we saw a museum across the street honoring firefighters worldwide. While we didn’t go in, we did walk around the Wall of Valor, naming fallen firefighters.

After leaving there, we heading for our second planned destination: the World of Wings Pigeon Center.

It was closed though, so we only got to peek in from the outside. We were having a fun, lively morning thus far, but our next stop slowed the pace significantly.

From our last stop, we drove to downtown OKC to visit the site of the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. We spent a couple hours walking around the site, looking at the singed bark of Survivor Tree (a large elm tree that stands in the once parking lot at the location of the bombing), the charred portions of wall still remaining from the blast, and the 168 metallic chairs representing all of the people killed in the bombing on April 19, 1995. Being the first major terrorist attacks on American soil, it’s a major piece of Oklahoman history. Just outside of the main memorial, there was a chain-link fence that contains pictures of loved ones lost and toys to be given to the children lost in the attack. Because pictures are much more effective then words, we posted a lot more pictures into the Oklahoma City photo album.

		Oklahoma City Memorial VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

After leaving the memorial, we walked back to the car with 10 minutes of parking to spare, so we sat down and had a tasty lunch of turkey sandwiches, RC cola, and fruit snacks. Being only 3:30pm, we decided to take a little journey throughout the town. Through the many, many red lights we hit (luckily Zack was driving), we got a good look at downtown OKC. One of my favorite portions was aptly named “Bricktown.” All of the buildings in this district (including a ballpark) were made of an aesthetically appealing red color, spanning a few blocks. Included in this district were things like restaurants, convention centers, museums, and a library. Afterwards, we drove on a little further, coming upon the Oklahoma Capitol building. Seeing that the building was open, we decided to park and have a look around.


We walked in through a side door (the main steps were closed off), passed through security, perused the gift shop, and walked up the marble steps to the center of the building. Looking up, we could see the inside of the dome, with the state seal on top. Hearing a lot of voices coming from a floor upstairs, Zack and I decided to investigate. We walked up a couple floors to find a barrage of people in formal business attire walking every which way. Considering most were exiting from a doorway titled Senate Chamber, we figured that a state senate session had just adjourned. Feeling very out of place, we walked around looking at the decorations and interesting items for a little longer, then walked back out of the building.
Around the back of the senate building, we saw a ring of flags surrounding a raised garden, so we walked over to find a garden symbolizing peace between the natives of America and its current predominant residents. We then strolled around a bit longer, finally heading back to the car, and back to Zack’s grandparents’ house. They served us spaghetti and salad, a very welcomed meal on our part.
Throughout most of the day, the skies were overcast, with light rain off and on (and a few patches of sunlight every once in a while). Unless halted by uncontrollable circumstances, tonight will be our last night in OKC, before we hit the road once again.



Interesting Observations:
-It was not until today that I realized the roots of the word “suburban,” seeing a sign with it hyphenated “sub-urban,” rather then the typical pronunciation of “su-burban.”
-Speed limits in Oklahoma (and much of Kansas) have been odd for us, ending in zeros (such as many 60 and 70 mph highways) instead of the typical 5’s. However, school zones near where we’re staying are 25mph when flashing, rather then the 20mph found back at home.
-After walking around the back of the Capitol Building, Zack and I came up with a motto for our trip. It reads: “’What’s that?’ ‘I don’t know but let’s go find out!’”