STOP "D" ON THE TRAVEL MAP (PART 2)
Monday 4/18/16
We arrived at the Rockwell RV Park in Oklahoma City by 2PM. It was an easy 180 miles North from Ft. Worth. The park is just 15 minutes west from downtown Oklahoma City. We actually have buffalo at the RV park.
Wednesday 4/20/16
We drove to the “downtown” district to see the Myriad Botanical Gardens and the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The botanical gardens were just beautiful, as they should be. Make sure you go into the Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory, which is a 224’ living plant museum.
The Oklahoma City Memorial honors all 168 people that died because of the bombing that occurred at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. We visited it the day after the 21st anniversary so it wouldn’t be so crowded.
Twin bronze gates frame the moment and the outside reads “We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.” One gate is marked 9:01 and represents the last moments of peace, and the gate at the opposite end of the Reflecting Pool is marked 9:03 and represents the first moments of recovery. Where the pool and gates stand today, used to be a street (which is where the Ryder Truck filled with explosives was parked). The “Field of Empty Chairs” represents those who lost their lives. This area is where the federal building stood. Each row of chairs represents the 9 floors of the building. Some of the chairs are smaller than others, which represent the children who perished that day. Each chair has the name of the person that died. Some of the chairs have two names on them because the woman was pregnant at the time the bomb went off. There is a “Survivors’ Wall” which lists the 600 that survived the explosion. There is a 100+ year old elm tree named the “Survivor Tree” that caught fire and was not expected to live because it was heavily damaged. After a year, it was found to be blooming, and is now protected as part of the memorial. The inscription around the tree reads “The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us.”
Across the street is the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. The Church erected a sculpture of Jesus weeping (entitled “And Jesus Wept”). He faces away from the devastation, covering his face with his hand. In front of Jesus is a wall with 168 gaps in it, representing the voids left by each life lost.
Tuesday 4/21/16
Joe spent the morning playing pickleball while a childhood neighbor, Torrie Brooks-Freeman, picked me up for some catch-up time at Starbucks just down the road from the RV park. We haven’t seen each other in close to 30 years and talked and laughed for a few hours. It’s just so great getting to see someone that was once someone you saw on almost a daily basis as a child. Her brother, Stanley, and I were supposed to run away together to start up a horse ranch in Canada. I think I was in first or second grade and he was a year older. I was to have the white stallion and he was going to have the black one. We would talk about our future on the front step to my house, planning the day we could be together with our horses. The day we were to run away, I packed my little suitcase with underwear and a bag of bubble gum (for our meals, apparently), said my goodbyes to my mom, skipped across the street, and knocked on his door. His mother answered and informed me that he couldn’t run away until after Church that morning. I left crying and felt like he had chosen his mother over me. We didn’t end up running away together. It took me many years before I thought, “Hey, wait a minute. My mother said goodbye and watched me leave.”
Friday 4/22/16
Happy #21 to my youngest step-daughter Kate!
We went to the “Bricktown” district to walk along the River Walk and watch a movie at the Harkins Theatre (which is right there as well). The River Walk is lined with restaurants and artwork and is a very happening place in the evening. You can take a water taxi ride (pick it up right across the street from the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark where the Oklahoma City Dodgers play) and be entertained by the driver while learning the history of the Bricktown district. We enjoyed some ice-cream at the Marble Slab Creamery and then headed into the theatre to see “The Jungle Book.” Okay, so that is an A+ on my chart. Several times we passed the “Centennial Land Run Monument.” Make sure you see it when you come to town. “It’s a series of giant bronze sculptures that depicts the Land Run of April 22nd, 1889 that opened ‘Oklahoma, Indian Territory’ up to homesteading by settlers.” There were over 50,000 people lined up around the edges of the 2 million acres in Indian Territory. A cannon was fired off at noon to start the run. The settlers would post a flag on the acreage that they wanted and had 5 years to do something with the land, or chance losing it.
