Oklahoma City, OK - For Work

Spent the week in Oklahoma City for work and froze half to death! I always forget that just because it is beautiful in California, does not mean it's not still winter in the rest of the country! This time I was traveling with my Dad, and we arrived on Monday afternoon around 3 pm. Since I knew we'd be super busy the rest of the week, I wanted to get a chance to go to the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial, so I barely let my Dad unpack at the hotel before I dragged him out of his room to go exploring with me.

Thankfully, my Dad had brought along my mom's TomTom (GPS device) and we had maps, however we still got lost all week! The freeways there are ridiculous. They have no rhyme or reason to the way the streets work -- the on ramps are so short you practically get killed every time you try to merge! When two freeways intesect, sometimes the one you were on becomes the other one, and vice versa! Not to mention the map we had (from the rental car place) only had about 50% of the streets on it. I was very fortunate that my Dad did the driving and had some clue of where he was going since he'd been there before!

Anyhow, we finally made it to the memorial, right as the museum was closing. However, there were signs everywhere and a walking tour, so we were still able to enjoy (though that sounds awfully macabre) the memorial. It is designed on the city block where the Federal Building had been with 2 giant archways marking the entrances that say 9:01 and 9:03.

This is to signify that the moment in between is the moment where everything went crazy. The memorial is designed on a slope, with the top of the "hill" holding this OLD tree they call the living tree. Despite the fact that the bomb blew up the building, and all of these other things around it, this tree somehow managed to survive.


At the bottom of the slope, on the site of the Federal building are 5 rows of metal and glass chairs signifing the people who died on each of the floors of the building. Each one is engraved with someone's name, and they have tiny chairs for the chairs for the children who were in the nursery on the bottom floor.



It was so beautiful and poignant -- I cried. It is lovely to see how the memories have been preserved, but so sad at how quickly we all forget.

After that, we headed up for dinner on this pretty lake. It was beautiful, and nice to lighten the mood. I had no idea there was even water in Oklahoma, so it was a bit of a surprise!



The rest of the week we were super busy, but we did get to have dinner with my old boss (and family friend), Dave

and check out the steak! I still don't think it can compare with Texas steaks, but they were still awfully tasty!

My impression of the city was that it was tragically bleak and poor looking. Obviously some of that could have had something to do with the fact that it was winter and all the trees were barren, but nothing special. Can't say I'd be too interested in taking a job out there personally, but it was a friendly area in the mid-west.