Scissortail Campground in Edmond, Oklahoma was my next home for a few days. It was on a lake and it had good TV and cell reception. It was a friendly little community with a good library with free wifi. I spent a couple of days just relaxing and taking care of business.
One day, though, I went into Oklahoma City, or OKC as they call it.
I stopped at the tourism office on the way into town and got some information about things to do. The information specialist recommended that I park at the Bass Pro store and then take the free Downtown Discovery bus to see the popular tourist sites.
I wasn’t sure that this was legit, but I did need some stuff that Bass Pro might carry, so I figured I’d park and buy what I needed and then my conscience would be clear. Unfortunately, they didn’t have what I needed. Oh well…I tried.
I wandered around a bit. I noticed some interesting industrial buildings and got a little closer.
Hmm…I wonder what it is?
I didn’t know Oklahoma was a cotton producing state. It actually has a long history of cotton growing cotton. It was first planted in 1825 in the Choctaw Nation. Colonel Robert M. Jones, a Choctaw, owned an operation, that in 1851, exceeded five thousand acres. Approximately 2,275 African American slaves harvested seven hundred bales that year.
Cotton production has fluctuated over the years, but it seems to be flourishing now. In 2015, two hundred ten thousand acres were harvested. The yield was 269,000 bales. A bale weighs 480 pounds. That’s a whole lot of cotton!
Fun facts to know and tell!
Nearby, there was a statue and plaques honoring the Cherokee.
Just a little further along, was a building with the Sonic logo.
Sonic’s headquarters is located in Oklahoma City. If it seems like their drive-ins are all over the place, I think it is because they are! In 2015, there were 3,526 restaurants, and it seems like new ones are springing up all the time. They even have one next door to the headquarters building.
The Sonic headquarters looks out on the canal.
You can buy tickets for a ride on the canal. From the information I read, you could hop on at a stop and buy a ticket. I asked a passing boatman about where the stop was, and he told me that I had to buy a ticket at a building further down the canal. By the time I had walked most of the length of the canal, I figured that I didn’t need a boat ride. I had already seen the sights!
I kept walking, but I never came across one of the Downtown Discovery bus stops. I did see some interesting architecture along the way.
This was a novel treatment of the typical three-wing hotel. This one has smaller semi-circular wings between the main ones.
This building had elegant treatments around the doors and windows.
This building was all windows, and it reflected a wavy image of the building across the street.
These are the buildings that were being reflected.
There was even a canyon of shiny buildings. Some local workers in their suits paused to see what I was looking at. They had never noticed it before. Tourists do provide a service!
After a long, long walk in the sun, I finally arrived at the site of the Murrah Building.
I will never forget the coverage of this tragedy on Wednesday, April 19, 1995. They have created a moving memorial.
The texture of the wood in the concrete walls caught my attention. The first time I saw this method of building the first time in the 1970s at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, where the impressions of the wood holding the concrete were used as a design element.
The Playground from the daycare center was there. It was up on top of the memorial.
From up on top, there is a view of the 168 empty chairs facing the reflecting pool.
I came around to the gates. This picture looks through the 9:01 gate toward the 9:03 gate. The reflecting pool occupies what had been N.W. Fifth Street. The bomber drove down this street and pulled in front of the building that had been on the left side of the pond.
Survivors’ names are inscribed on marble slabs that came from the Murrah Building. The path around the footprint of the building is also made of materials from the building.
The Field of Empty Chairs is a tribute to the 168 people who were killed in the terrorist attack. The nine rows of chairs represent the nine floors of the former Murrah Building. Each person’s chair is positioned in the row that corresponds with the floor that they worked on or were visiting. There are five chairs on the west side of the field for the people who were killed outside the Murrah Building.
The bottom portion of the chairs are glass and they are illuminated at night. The guard I spoke with told me that the memorial is beautiful and peaceful at night.
The smaller chairs represent the children who died in the attack.
The reflecting pool is really shallow. I enjoyed watching the ducks splash about in the water. I don’t think that water was deeper that two inches. They water was continually circulating – draining over the edges and being replenished.
On the exterior of the memorial, there is chain link fence that recalls the original memorials that sprang up after the attack.
People are still leaving memorials. As I understand it, the offerings are cataloged in the museum next door. I opted not to visit the museum. I was hot and tired and ready to head back.
I finally found a bus stop at the memorial. I pulled out the brochure and figured out a phone number to call. The operator explained that a bus would be by shortly, and so I waited.
Of course, I always find things to look at. Interesting manhole cover.
The friendly bus driver picked me up and drove me back to Bass Pro Shop. Before I got to my truck, though, I noticed a sign for The Land Run of 1889.
The sign says it all.
The monument was an amazing group of statues.
Off to the right side, there is a soldier waiting to fire the cannon shot to start the land run. On the left side, there is explosive action!
You could really spend a long time studying all the details and making up stories to go with the people that are portrayed. It was kind of hard to get good photos with the equipment I had and the light, but here are some to give you a taste.
This horse tripped over a trunk that fell out of the wagon in front of it.
This homesteader is riding sidesaddle!
The riders and wagons proceed across the canal and off into the distance.
Just to give you an idea of the scale of the sculptures, here is a shot of my hand next to one of the riders.
And with that, it was time to head back to the campground. Is there more to do in Oklahoma City? Definitely!
And I’m going to save that for another visit.