Just returned from a quick overnight trip to OKC and was very impressed at how much they have developed their downtown district!
Little Man wanted to visit the LEGO Store and I have to say it was pretty cool! He had a hard time deciding on which set to spend his Christmas money (Thanks Aunt K and Uncle L!). I was checking out the "grown up" lego sets like the Fallingwater house (seen here)
originally built by Frank Lloyd Wright (seen here), very cool!
After hanging out in the hotel room for a little bit, letting LM put together and play with his new LEGO set, we headed over to Toby Keith's restaurant for dinner. Very busy place, HUGE tables, cool decor, very good chips & queso, quesadillas and margaritas...but not for LM :D!
After dinner, we walked along the canal and watched all the people heading to the basketball game (NY Nicks vs. OKC Thunder) then stopped in a boutique-y cupcake shop for dessert. Chocolate yummy goodness!
This morning before heading home, we decided to visit the outdoor Oklahoma City Memorial.
"The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19 children under the age of 6, and injured more than 680 people. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a sixteen-block radius, destroyed or burned 86 cars, and shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings. The bomb was estimated to have caused at least $652 million worth of damage."
LM wanted to know what it all meant and I tried to explain it too him but was choked up. All I could say was that a really bad man bombed the building and a lot of people, including little kids were hurt. I don't know how much he really understood...don't know how any of us could ever understand such a horrific act.
The Gates of Time: Monumental twin bronze gates frame the moment of destruction - 9:02 - and mark the formal entrances to the Outdoor Memorial. 9:01, found on the eastern gate, represents the last moments of peace, while its opposite on the western gate, 9:03, represents the first moments of recovery. Both time stamps are inscribed on the interior of the monument, facing each other and the Reflecting Pool.
The Oklahoma City National Memorial as seen from the base of the reflecting pool.
The outside of each gate bears this inscription:
"We come here to remember Those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."
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 (also see reflecting pool) on what was once Fifth Street. Visitors' seeing their reflections are seeing "someone changed forever by what happened here."
Field of Empty Chairs: 168 empty chairs hand-crafted from glass, bronze, and stone represent those who lost their lives, with a name etched in the glass base of each.
The 19 smaller chairs represent the children killed in the bombing. Three unborn children died along with their mothers, and they are listed on their mothers' chairs beneath their mothers' names.
LM standing next to a chair in memory of a little boy who lost his life in the blast.
And Jesus Wept: On a corner adjacent to the memorial is a sculpture of Jesus weeping, erected by St. Joseph's Catholic Church. St. Joseph's, one of the first brick-and-mortar churches built in the city, was almost destroyed by the blast. Not officially part of the memorial, the statue is regularly visited.
The Memorial Fence: A 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) chain link fence was installed around the area that is now the Reflecting Pool and the Field of Empty Chairs to protect the site from damage and visitors from injury. The Fence stood for more than four years, becoming notable as the place where visitors left stuffed animals, poems, keychains, and other items as tributes. During the construction of the Outdoor Memorial, 210 feet (64 m) of the Fence was moved to the west side of the Memorial, along the 9:03 side or the 'healing' side. The remainder of the Fence is in storage. Visitors may still leave small items along and in the Fence; the mementos are periodically collected, cataloged, and stored.
Hopefully in the spring we can make another trip down to visit the zoo!
