Oklahoma City Page

In November of 2009 we spent an afternoon and evening in Oklahoma City on our way home from a week in Texas. We were there a short time but had a nice time. We also did something that touched our hearts. We went to see the National Memorial Park where the old Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was before it was bombed on April 19, 1995. Timothy McVeigh parked a Ryder rental truck filled with explosives in front of the building and the resulting explosion killed 168 people and destroyed the entire north face of the building. On April 19, 2000 the fifth anniversary of the attack, the Outdoor Symbolic Memorial was dedicated. Today it consists of the following segments on 3.3 acres: The Gates of Time, Reflecting Pool, Field of Empty Chairs, Survivors' Wall, The Survivor Tree, The Memorial Fence, Rescuers' Orchard, Children's Area and the Journal Record Building. It was all very touching, but I think the thing the was the hardest was seeing all those chairs. It was especially hard seeing the chairs of the 19 children who died that day. Their chairs were smaller and in a separate little section. Just broke my heart. The one nice thing was the reflecting pool. A thin layer of water flows over polished black granite to form the pool, which runs east to west down the center of the Memorial on what was once Fifth Street. This wonderful and symbolic memorial is a place of quiet reflection, honoring victims, survivors, rescuers and all who were changed forever on April 19, 1995. I am glad we saw it, but felt very sad for all those lives lost. It doesn’t compare at all to September 11th, but it was just as horrible.

One of the more fun and exciting things we did was go to Oklahoma Memorial Stadium where the Oklahoma Sooners play. I just wanted to take some pictures of the stadium to send to my friend in CA who is a Sooner fan. I had hoped it would be quiet and we could just drive around, stop, take some pictures, etc. Boy was I wrong, and very pleased to be wrong. We happened to go by on a Saturday morning about 9 am before we headed to the Capitol building. We didn’t even think about it, but it was Saturday morning and the Sooners had a home game. Oh my goodness, it was insane! I am good way, lol. Those fans are crazy, loud, obnoxious, and fun. They were out setting up tents, they were tailgating, drinking beers, eating hotdogs, singing, the university band was playing, we even saw a house with a 50 inch screen tv on a cart out in the front yard with about 40-50 lawn chairs. And this was about 5-6 hours before kickoff. They definitely take their football seriously, and it is apparently an all day event. They were very friendly too. We even had two groups of people offer to let us sit with them when they found out we weren’t locals. It was so awesome to see. I wasn’t really able to get near the front of the stadium, but we have a memory that we won’t soon forget. Go Sooners, lol

After a quick lunch at Taco Cabana (an awesome little fast food Mexican restaurant) we headed out to tour the Oklahoma State Capitol. The Oklahoma State Capitol is the house of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the building that houses the Oklahoma Legislature and executive branch offices. The present structure includes a dome that was completed in 2002. The building is a National Historic Landmark. Oklahoma's first state capital was Guthrie, Oklahoma, but was moved to Oklahoma City in 1910. Construction on the Oklahoma State Capitol began after a groundbreaking ceremony on July 20, 1914 and was completed in 1917. Originally, it housed the judicial branch of Oklahoma, but the state's high courts moved to the Oklahoma Judicial Center in 2011. The state capitol complex is the only state capitol grounds in the United States with active oil rigs and is directly atop the Oklahoma City Oil Field. It is composed primarily of white limestone and Oklahoma pink granite. However, the building's dome is made of steel-reinforced concrete and reinforced plaster casts. It is a great capitol and we were glad to be able to see it. We wished we had more time to walk around, but we got there late and only had about an hour or so before they closed. I forgot their hours were different on Saturday. Either way, we were glad to see it and had a nice self-guided tour. It was pretty much the official end our out trip to TX and OK.

We grabbed a quick dinner at Luby’s Cafeteria He had been wanting to try it while we were in Texas but there was just too much good BBQ. lol Finally he was able to get to try Luby’s before we headed home. We weren’t there long, but I would like to go back and see a few more things. Here are some fun things we would like to do the next time we are in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma History Center Oklahoma City Museum of Art Oklahoma Railway Museum
White Water Bay Myriad Botanical Gardens Oklahoma City Zoo


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Page last updated on August 2014