OKC Weekend

At the end of my journey in Altus we headed to OKC. It was nice to get out of the one room door style home that Chad had been living in for almost 3 months.

On Friday we checked into our hotel which was in downtown OKC in an area called Bricktown. Bricktown reminds me a lot of the riverwalk area with lots of restaurants and river boats. After we checked in to our hotel we had made reservations at the Melting Pot which was walking distance from our hotel also in Bricktown. I've heard this place was AMAZING and I have to AGREE!! This was our first time, so we had a lot of learning and questions to ask the poor waitress. We ended up picking the Big Night Out which included cheese, a salad, entree, and dessert. We had the Carribean style cheese which included pineapple and lime juices and 3 different kinds of cheeses. The dippings included apples, veggies, and breads. Next, we had an awesome salad with nuts and raspberry vinaigrette dressing....are you hungry yet?? :) Then for our entree we had the Coq A Vin, which is the most popular. It a broth-like fondue that you leave your raw meats and vegetables in to boil. It was definitely strange to have all raw materials that you had to cook yourself. Finally for the BEST part...the dessert! We had the Smore fondue which included milk chocolate and melted marshmallows with graham crackers crumbs on top. The dippings varied from marshmallows and cheese cake to strawberries and brownies. After we ate we walked around Bricktown so that we work off all the food we ate.

After an eventful late night--which included a room service call at 1:00 am that we DIDN'T ORDER! and an emergency alarm at 4:30 am that woke us up yet again--we finally got up to go to a restaurant called Coach's. This restaurant was part of the baseball stadium. Go Redhawks! :) Inside the restaurant you could see the field which was neat. We decided to go to the baseball game at the stadium that evening. The OKC Redhawks were playing the Round Rock Express. Apparently, the Redhawks get drafted into the Rangers...something I learned while eating at Coach's. After eating at Coach's we went to visit the OKC Bombing Memorial, again--the

first time was in college when we went to OKC for a football game. W e got back in enough time to take a nap and watch a little Olympic trials before going to the baseball game that night.

FYI: In case you don't already know. Info on the OKC Memorial Bombing... The Memorial honors the victims, survivors, rescuers, and all the people that were changed forever on April 19, 1998. (It doesn't seem like it's been that long ago!)


The gates of time frame the moment of destruction--9:02 am and they mark the formal entrances of the Memorial. The east gate represents 9:01 am on April 19, and the innocence of the city before the attack. The west gate represents 9:03 am, the moment we were changed forever, and the hope that came from the horror in the moments and days following the bombing.


The reflection pool is a shallow pool of water that represents the depth of gently flowing water that helps soothe wounds with calming sounds providing a peaceful setting for quiet thoughts.


The Field of Empty Chairs--Each of the 168 chairs symbolize a life lost, with smaller chair representing the 19 children killed. Arranged in nine rows, one for each of the nine floors of the building, they are placed according to the floor on which those were killed were working or visiting. The field's perimeter matches the footprints of the former Murrah Building.


The Fence--probably the most popular thing to remember from bombing. The first fence was installed to protect the site of the Murrah Building. Almost immediately, people began to leave tokens of love and hope on the fence.

On Sunday we woke up early because I had to be at the airport at 6:45. I had to say "bye" to Chad for a few days while he finished training at Altus. I then flew to meet my mom in SA so we could drive to South Padre Island for a few days of the wonderful BEACH!

I also finished my first grad school class Sunday! :)