Oklahoma!!

Jeremy and I had a wonderful time, just the two of us, in Oklahoma for an extra long weekend! We had a friend getting married on Sunday so we decided to make it a long weekend and go down from Saturday till Monday.

We got to spend some great time together, see some wonderful sights, see old friends and of course attend a beautiful wedding.

One of the most amazing places we visited was the Oklahoma City National Memorial - This is the memorial of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building 15 years ago.

This building was across the street from the Murrah Building and sustained some damage but not enough to tear it down. All of the black brick in the windows represent the windows that were blown out with the blast. At the top you can see where the roof separated from the building and all the 'cracks' you can see are actually places were they had to replace mortar because the building actually lifted up and came back down with the blast!

There is a very large reflecting pool in-between two gates of time - They say 9:01 and 9:03. The blast happened at 9:02am so it symbolizes the moment of peace before hand and how the world was changed forever afterward.

The empty chairs all represent the people who died - 168 in all. The small chairs represent the 19 children that died that day as well. They are all arranged in 9 rows representing the 9 floors of the building. They are placed according to the floor on which those who were killed were working or visiting.

This is the survivors wall - this is the only piece of the Murrah Building that is still standing. On the inside of these walls are the names of all the survivors etched in granite that were saved from the lobby of the building.

One of the things we found most touching was 'The Fence' along the west side of the memorial. Only a small piece of it was visible, and it wasn't until we walked around it that we saw the most striking memorial of all. The Fence was installed right after the bombing to protect the site and almost immediately people started hanging things and leaving things and notes of remembrance, condolence and encouragement on this fence. The items now total more than 60,000! It was breathtaking...

Team 5
4-19-95
We Search for the truth
We seek Justice
The Courts Require it
The Victims cry for it
And God Demands it!

I know that was a ton of pictures and information, but I didn't want to forget any of what we saw...

Saturday night our goal was to have a great steak dinner. We were after all, in Oklahoma, so we figured we should be able to find something pretty tasty:-) After searching on the Internet and then talking to the gal at our hotel we decided to go to, Mahogany Prime Steakhouse. All I can say is OH MY GOODNESS!!! This was the BEST steak we have ever had - it cut like butter. I wish I would have taken pictures of the food, but that probably wouldn't have done it justice.

The wedding wasn't until Sunday afternoon, so we decided after striking out at numerous different museums that aren't open on Sundays, to go to the Oklahoma Zoo. It was kind of fun to get to see some different animals that we don't usually see or that aren't at the zoos around here.
Some of the coolest ones we saw were:

Maned Wolfs - these things looked like foxes on steroids,
we figure they were about 4ft tall at the shoulder.

Bush Dogs - thee were really short, their legs were only about
4 inches long
and they made a really funny squeaking sound.

Warthogs

Giraffes



Rhinos


Anteater


Lion


Alligators


Okapi


Gorillas



And a bird walking around the paths of the zoo with her babies

Last but not least was the wedding -It was in this little historic town called Guthrie. The wedding was in a building that was built in the 1900's - it was so beautiful and we are so happy for
Mike and his new wife Talitha!!

Outtakes:-)

Good Night...Oklahoma!