Oklahoma- A Mini Series- Part 1

This last week we took our annual trip to Oklahoma.  We started out by taking a day trip to Oklahoma City.  We visited the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.  I was fascinated by the all the information and I could have stopped to read everything they had at the museum.  But Brian got bored after about an hour so I was rushed through most of it.  It was sad to hear the individual stories of those who were involved.  Most of the people who died, died because of the injuries through the shrapnel and flying glass or falling through the floor several storeys.

Here are the chairs that represent each of the people that died in the bombing.  It is especially heartbreaking to see the little chairs that represent the children that died.

This picture is of Brian with the Survivor Tree.  This tree should have been destroyed in the blast, but it survived.  Hence the name- Survivor Tree!  It was pretty ugly looking after the bombing but has now grown back some of its branches and looks beautiful.

I could go on and on about all of the interesting stuff I learned at the museum but for all 3 of you who read this blog I will refrain from writing a small novel.

Next stop in OKC was Bricktown and the water taxi tour. 

We both really enjoyed the tour as it had alot of interesting information.  Again, will try not to bore you with too much detail and just highlight a few fun facts!

For this mural 70,000 tiles were individually hand painted.  So as you can imagine it took quite a bit of time to complete!

These bronze statues represent the Oklahoma land run.  Once they get all the statues it will be the largest bronze statue collection in the world.  The OKC population went from 0-10,000 over night thanks to this land run.  The man who made these statues mad a tribute to himself by making a replica of himself driving the horse carriage below.  The other people in the 2nd picture on the horses are those of his family. 

Last but not least on our list of things to do in OKC was the segway tour!  As soon as the segways were brought out I was immediately nervous.  I didn't think about it before hand but it looked as if riding segways require balance- something I lack greatly.  It is the reason I don't rollerskate, iceskate and sometimes have trouble walking.  Brian got the hang of it instantly, which just made me feel more retarded during the training session.  As soon as our guide thought I was good enough to start the tour we were on our way.  It was supposed to be a tour of the downtown area but I have to admit I didn't hear much of what he was saying because I was so far behind him and Brian.  The next two hours consisted of the guide yelling back at me "Are you ok back there?"  "Still doing ok?"  "Are you still with us?" "Can you hear me all the way back there?"  Brian had a chance to hear it all but when I asked him after the tour what he learned he couldn't remember anything.  He looked like he was having a blast on the segway weaving and zipping around every which way and he was  so good the guide felt comfortable enough putting him of the faster speed.  He was born to segway!

End of Day 1 in Oklahoma City!