Oklahoma City is not possible in a half a day!!

I only planned one day in Oklahoma City, and it really was a passing thought because I’d be passing through and needed a place to stay for one night.I knew about the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum and had heard that it was amazing, but that was really all I knew about the city.I wanted to see the museum and figured one day was more than enough time.

I am learning that I need to move a bit slower as I travel.  One night somewhere really means way less than one day there.  I have whatever travel to get to the destination, and I typically eat breakfast and leave on the last day in a locale.  The ride to OKC took a little longer than I expected, so I felt a bit rushed.  None the less, I stopped at a rest stop to go to the Oklahoma City Welcome Center.  I figured that was a good way to figure out what was what.  I was overwhelmed by the amount of brochures they had... racks and racks of things to do in the area.  Agggghhhh!  I only had one day.  I went to the woman at the desk and must have had a dazed look because she laughed and said they were all organized by area... what was I looking for.  I told her and she directed me to the right area.  I picked up some pamphlets about all the things that I wouldn’t have time to see in Oklahoma City… The art museum… The botanical gardens… And Bricktown.  She asked me what my plans were and I told her I had to find a Walmart to park my RV and then I wanted to see the Memorial Museum.  She had a better idea... she said to park in the Bass Pro Shops lot, right in the heart of Bricktown.  They not only allowed it, but encouraged it and had a huge extra section just for overflow parking, including RV’s.  NICE!  I called ahead to confirm and she was absolutely right.  So, directions and pamphlets in hand, off I went into the city...

When I first came into the city, I had a great first impression.  Stopped at a traffic light, I looked up and saw a billboard saying:

When push comes to shove, don’t.    Civility is in you.   Pass it on.com

I just thought that was a wonderful message to see and never would think of it being billboard material. But it was and it made me smile.

Knowing that they were limited hours to the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum, I wanted to get right to it.  With only a couple of wrong turns (come on folks, this is me... some things don’t change!), I got to Bass Pro Shops and sure enough, the parking lot was HUGE and easily accessible.  I parked and unhitched the car and hightailed it to the museum.  Parking was easy as there was a public garage right across the street.  I was practically running and felt rushed, but the site was quite beautiful on the outside and I was moved to look around,  but again, I was rushing so I ran right inside. There are two floors the museum, and despite all the running, I wound up I only had time to see one but... wow!

I remember the Oklahoma City bombing as if it were yesterday. Feelings of disbelief and horror that something like this could happen in a  US city, in the middle of nowhere, for no reason.  Who knew it was the first of many incidents that would shake the fabric of our country and take away a basic level of safety most Americans felt when on “home soil.”

The museum was incredibly well done and unbelievably moving. I don’t tend to like museums that are just reading.  I like to see things- artifacts, mementos, pictures, exhibits, etc. This museum was a lot reading (and reading takes time!) but it did have some of the other things as well.  One room was dedicated to showing how the steel in the building was mangled; another room contains personal items from the people who were thrown in the blast...a watch, a brief case, a single shoe, a child’s toy. There were recorded stories and short films, and even a small reenactment that gave you a little taste of how it felt when that explosion went off.  I particularly enjoyed an exhibit that had a series of televisions broadcasting the news reports of the events all over the world.  It was staged so you were seeing them all, but one was louder than the others so you could hear that particular version.  The bombing truly reverberated all over the world.  I stood there remembering, shaking again, reliving the disbelief that turned to horror and sorrow.  Of course, I could not help but also remember feeling that even more in 2001 when the towers were hit in New York. But that hindsight made this all the more moving... and to say that this museum is moving would be putting it mildly.  I think it was moving in and of itself, but again, just knowing that we had no idea that this was but one example of what terrorism would do to the world had me reeling.

The stories of the people in the bombing was moving; the stories about how word got out was moving.  But what really got me was how the entire city galvanized and jumped into action. People from all over the city were lining up to give blood. Food was sent in from everywhere to help the rescue workers. People came from miles around just to help console people who had either been in the bombing or were affected by the blast. I walked through his museum mesmerized and in a daze… And I couldn’t stop crying.  One of my favorite stories was about a man who walked into a donation center.  Word had gone out that people needed shoes because their shoes had melted.  The man walked in carrying a pair of slightly worn work boots and handed them in at the desk.  He was crying and told them he hoped it would help someone.  As he was walking out, the man at the desk saw that he was just wearing his socks...

Because I was so moved, and because I was feeling the time crunch, I didn’t take any pictures inside the museum, and I’m sorry for that. I will be going back because I never got to see the second floor of the museum which I believe told the story of Timothy McVeigh and how he was captured and tried.

Walking outside to the grounds was a separate wrenching experience. The building where the blast occurred had been raised and in its place was a memorial garden and a water feature. At one side of the water feature it said 901 at the other side of the water feature it said 903. I didn’t quite get it at first and then understood that the blast occurred at 9:02am  and between those two times the world changed. I thought it was interesting that they chose to put a calm, serene water feature between those two walls when in fact 902 was nothing but turbulence.

Next to the water feature was a sculpture garden. The sculpture garden consisted of empty chairs, large for the adults and small for the children, representing those who were killed in the blast.  Yet another thing here that was so well done... it was solemn and moving. On the far side of the sculpture garden there was a wall that was one of the walls of the original building and on it was a granite plaque listing names. When I saw it walking up I assumed it was a list of all the people who have been killed in the blast but instead it was a list of the survivors. As I thought about it I realized this was even more hard hitting because the survivors actually had the harder journey.

At another section of the outdoors there were walls of ceramic plaques that of been made by children all over the country and sent to Oklahoma City. The artwork done by all the children was beautiful and poignant. Just outside of the grounds there was a chain-link fence originally constructed to keep people out of the danger zone. But it became a repository for people to leave memorials - objects like stuffed animals, words and comments on cards and pictures drawn by children. It was originally meant to be taken down, but wound up being the first piece of the city rebuilding through remembrance. I thought it was particularly moving that people continue to put messages and momentos on that fence, and that periodically they are removed but they are saved. Evidently there is a warehouse full and it’s all catalogued and cared for. It’s amazing how reverently the city handles the emotional well-being of the people remembering those lost in the bombing. I spent a long time just wandering those grounds and thinking about how precarious life can be and how you never know what might happen.

I walked around town a little bit and I drove back to my RV. Looking at a map I realized that, like the lady said,  I was right near Bricktown... like, the edge of the parking lot was the edge of Bricktown close.  I was talking to someone online and we agreed to meet for coffee, which led to a two hour walking tour of Bricktown. While his current occupation was as a real estate agent, he was finishing up his Masters in political science, so the tour and the discussions were robust and fascinating.

Besides having a wonderfully bipartisan view of national politics, I got a full explanation of the politics of how Bricktown was built. Originally this was a derelict and dilapidated manufacturing neighborhood in the city. The name Bricktown comes from the fact that all of the factories were made of brick. Through much political wrangling and maneuvering they were able to approve the construction of a canal through this derelict neighborhood.  The credo was - If you build it they will come… And the amazing thing is, they did. Every building has been renovated and now houses apartments, offices, retail spaces and restaurants. It was late when we were there, and the place was bustling. Wall-to-wall people all having fun. The tour continued to include explaining how the energy companies in the area competed to add the most beauty to the canal area through tile works and such. There were even the obligatory tacky horse drawn carriage rides.  Not that horse drawn carriage rides are tacky.  If you remember, I took so of them, yes two, in Savannah.  BUT, when they look like Cinderella’s carriage to go to the ball, that’s tacky.  Sorry... just my opinion.  

The tour ended at the Indian monument. Evidently, as an Oklahoma City native, in school you learn all about the five tribes of Indians that were originally in Oklahoma City. They weren’t indigenous to the area, but rather had fled there after being thrown out of North and South Carolina, only to have the same fate befall them in Oklahoma City.  However they maintain a strong presence and are intricately wrapped up in the fabric of the city.

That brought us back to the Bass Pro parking lot.  It was late, and I was exhausted, but I went to bed knowing I had to come back. 

A side note - Later, long after I was there, I was telling someone all about this experience and it wound up he was from Oklahoma City.  He (proudly) said that they voted to increase their taxes to pay for that canal!  His emphasis on participating in that vote and his obvious pride in “owning” a piece of Bricktown’s and by default Oklahoma City’s success underscored all that I was told when I was there.  I thought that was pretty cool too.

Do you remember the bombings?  What do you remember?  I’d love to hear...