Oklahoma! Part 2

After spending Friday in Oklahoma "on business", Craig and I were able to enjoy Friday night and Saturday doing a few fun things. The first thing we did on Friday night was go out to see the Oklahoma City Temple. The temple is located in a middle of a neighborhood. It's actually a really small temple, which was interesting to see. The temple is only 10,769 square feet, or a little over 3 times the size of MY house. By contrast, the Salt Lake temple is 385,000 square feet. But, like all temples, it is beautiful and we enjoyed walking around and feeling the spirit that was there. We asked a guy coming out of the temple to take our picture. He took one, looked at the camera and said, "Uh, I should take another, there were some people behind you." When we got the camera back I thought it was funny to see the couple just coming out of the temple. I think they were scamming into our picture. Craig thinks they're just lovey dovey and were accidentally caught in the picture. So, here's the shot...what do you think?

After going to the temple we went to dinner at a place called Kona Ranch. I've decided my new "thing" for trips is to try to go to a restaurant that they don't have at home. Kona Ranch, however, was a bit of a disappointment, though. I had coconut shrimp, which is usually yummy, but for some reason it didn't really hit the spot. Oh well, that was the only disappointment in the whole Oklahoma trip, so it was fine.

We went back to the motel and spent the night, then woke up Saturday ready to see a few more sights before we headed home. Our first stop was the Oklahoma City National Memorial, at the sight of the Oklahoma City bombing. To enter the memorial area, you go through large squared arches. The arch we entered through had these words engraved on it: "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." Although what happened on the site was horrible (you definitely 'knew the impact of ' on not only this city, but country as well), there was a great feeling of 'comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity' at the memorial. It was touching to see a wall of tiles made by children throughout the US sent to Oklahoma letting them know that although the whole nation was hurting as well, we were also praying for them and sending our support.

The field of empty chairs, representing the 168 killed in the bombing, made me think of a saying by Ezra Taft Benson: "God intended the family to be eternal. With all my soul, I testify to the truth of that declaration. May he bless us to strengthen our homes and the lives of each family member so that in due time we can report to our Heavenly Father in His celestial home that we are all there--father, mother, sister, brother, all who hold each other dear. Each chair is filled. We are all back home." For those families who lost loved ones in the ing, there are earthly empty chairs as their loved one is gone for now. But, at some point we will have the opportunity to be together again with those we love, with no "empty chairs". It was especially sad to see in those empty chairs not only big chairs, but little chairs, symbolizing the children (ranging from 3 months to 3 years old) that were killed at the on-site day care.

There is a beautiful reflecting pool stretching between the entry arches, and I loved what was said about the pool in the brochure explaining the symbolism of the memorial sight: "Here, a shallow depth of gently flowing water helps soothe wounds.." I can just imagine all the horror from that day being gently washed away, and a peaceful stillness, like the water, washing over those affected by it as well.

After we had finished at the memorial we headed off to Lake Hefner. I imagined it to be somewhat like a Utah mountain lake, surrounded by trees and trails, but it was actually a man-made lake out in the open. There were boats sailing on it, and we stopped and looked at it for awhile, then headed off for lunch.

We decided to have lunch at a place we read about in our Oklahoma Tourism magazine that David and Cheryl had given us. So, we hopped on Route 66 (I feel another song coming on...you probably all know it, so feel free to sing along!) and drove to Arcadia, Oklahoma, stopping at Pops for lunch. Pops is a place for "food, fuel, and fizz", the fizz coming as you choose one of their 500 soda flavors! It was a fun little place, and I enjoyed a grape Nehi, which, if you remember, was also Radar O'Reilly's favorite drink on M*A*S*H. Besides the grape Nehi, lunch was rounded out with a yummy cheeseburger and chocolate shake.

After we left Pops, we heading about a half a mile down the road to the Round Barn. There we found a quirky little gift shop on the lower level, run by a quirky old guy named Butch. This gift shop has everything from "regular" souvenirs (like Round Barn key chains, or Route 66 magnets), to things that make you think you're at a garage sale (such as used VHS movies for $3.) One of the coolest things I saw at the Round Barn gift shop was Rose Rocks. They are Oklahoma's state rock, and they are little rocks in the shape of rosettes, formed by barite crystals. While Butch was discussing Rose Rocks with us, he mentioned that when people ask about where they can get some he tells them to just go to the other side of Draper Lake to find them.

Well, that sounded like a fun adventure! So, Craig and I got in the car and off we went to Lake Stanley Draper in search of our own Rose Rocks. One of the things I really liked about Oklahoma was that the dirt was red. Even the "beach" at Lake Stanley Draper was an incredible terra cotta color. We walked up and down the shore with our heads down, stooping and searching for Rose Rocks. The ones we found were not quite as elaborate as the ones Butch had at the Round Barn gift shop, but hunting them out ourselves added an extra dimension no gift shop bought Rose Rock would have had.

The time grew near for our plane to leave, and we left the lake and headed to the airport. As I sat in the terminal I felt a little melancholy. I really enjoyed my trip to Oklahoma, and wouldn't have minded if for a few more days (in the immortal words of Rodgers and Hammerstein) my "honey lamb and I would sit alone and talk and watch a hawk making lazy circles in the sky." In my book, Oklahoma was definitely OK!

OKLAHOMA! Part 1

I have a habit of breaking randomly into song, based on something that I run across that makes me think of the lyrics to a song. This weekend I spent a lot of time breaking into song ("OOOOOOOO-klahoma! Where the wind comes whippin' down the plain!") as Craig and I took a quick trip to Oklahoma.

We went to Oklahoma so Craig could take a look at a company that is for sale that he might be interested in buying. This company is a metal casting company. They have a very similar product to what Craig's company currently does, but instead of getting their stuff from China, they make their own.

We arrived late Thursday night, grabbed our rental car (as well as our very own Gladys Patricia Sorenson to accompany us) and checked into our wonderful hotel so we could get some rest. Besides being clean, well decorated, spacious and modern, this place had a plasma TV that Craig loved! (In fact, in showing the boys the pictures from our trip, the one that got the most oohs and aahs was the TV picture!)

The next morning, we arose early and had our continental breakfast before heading out to spend the whole day with the company that was for sale. This company works four 9 hour days, so on this Friday the only people there were us, the real estate guy, and two of the three owners. It was so interesting to tour the company and see exactly what they did. We got to see some of the different products they made, tour their facilities, and find out as much as we could about the company and what it's all about. David and Cheryl (the owners) gave us a goodie bag full of Oklahoma treats, and we ate lunch (their treat) at a local restaurant, Cotton Eyed Joe's. (I had barbecued pulled pork...yum!) We toured Inola (population about 1700), and had a great day getting to know David, Cheryl and their company. I had such a good time with the whole day that I was ready to buy the company and move to Inola.

Never fear, though, my friends...while Craig was interested in the company, he was not interested in moving to Oklahoma! However, he was willing to stay one more day with me in Oklahoma, and I will tell you more about our adventures in "OKLAHOMA! Part 2".

A quick note from the Atlanta Airport...

Ah, life! Just when I think I've got it figured out, it tosses me a curve ball!

I'm writing this in the Atlanta airport, where I am waiting not so patiently for my flight home. As Carolyn and I checked in at the airport in Connecticut, a screen popped up on the check-in kiosk that said that the flight was overbooked and they were looking for volunteers to get on another flight.

Oh joy! It was my dream--I could stay in Connecticut longer! I had been having such fun on my well-deserved, most needed vacation...I really wasn't ready to head home and back to "real-life".

The check-in agent told us they would give us a $400 voucher, possibly put us up in a hotel, and we could fly out tomorrow morning, arriving in Salt Lake at 12:30 PM, a mere 13 hours later than our current flight. I looked at Carolyn hopefully...could we stay?!?!?!?

However, having only seen her hubby one day in the past 6 weeks, Carolyn was anxious to get home. She told me that I could do what I wanted, but she was going home. After much personal anguish (I REALLY wanted to stay), I decided to follow her lead, and head home instead.

And now, we're sitting in Atlanta with an hour an a half delay, or so they claim. I'm looking at the departure/arrival board, and it says the plane arriving at the same gate before our plane departs comes in at 10:48--and we're scheduled to leave at 10:50? Somehow I'm guessing it ain't really gonna happen!

Wow, what a bit of a bummer. I could have stayed in Connecticut a few more hours (another goofy movie, Daniel?), and gotten a voucher so we could have headed off on another adventure.

THE REST OF THE STORY: Our plan left Atlanta over 2 hours past regularly scheduled departure time, and we got to Salt Lake City at approximately 2 AM. Also, the movie on the plane was goofy...but in a "this is a really bad movie" way, not in a "having fun with my favorite nephew" type of way. Oh well, c'est la vie, I guess. I did at least have two really cute guys there waiting to pick me up and take me home!

Calgon (or rather Connecticut)--Take me away!

This month I had the GREAT PLEASURE of spending a week in Connecticut, which was a HUGE "battery recharger" for me!

Carolyn and I flew out to Connecticut for Brian and Holly's wedding in the Boston, Massachusetts temple. It was such a wonderful, well-needed trip. I enjoyed days of no real responsibility and tons of fun. Coming home, honestly, was not really that thrilling of an idea for me...couldn't I just stay and play forever? My neighbor Bonnie told me that even if I stayed in Connecticut, I would still have to be responsible, but Shirlene promised me that she'd be responsible if I just played with her kids all the time! When I instant messaged Trevor and asked if I could stay longer, he wrote back: PERMISSION DENIED. I guess it's good they all missed me, eh?

When we got to Connecticut, one of the first things we had going on was Daniel's Eagle Court of Honor. Way to go, Daniel! It was fun to be there in support of Daniel, and it was fun to experience an Eagle Court of Honor, since I'm not experiencing any here at home. Bradley? Trevor? I'm waiting...

The day before the wedding, Carolyn, Mom and Dad Fry, and I drove up to Boston and spent the night in a hotel (thanks to Kristin and Steven and their hotel points!) We arrived, dropped off our stuff, and decided to go to downtown Boston and check out the Freedom Trail. First, though, we decided to have dinner at Uno's. After a yummy dinner, we got on the road and experienced WAAAAAY too much traffic for our liking. So, after a quick change of plans, we decided to head to Lexington and Concord and see some Revolutionary War sites.

Following the directions of our trusty guide, Gladys Patricia Sorenson, (or GPS as she is better known), we soon ended up who knows where! We discovered a couple of times that Gladys must have old information on where to find things, as we would end up in random spots that were supposed to be some other attraction we thought sounded interesting. But, we were in the general area, so we just started driving, hoping we'd come across what we really wanted to see.

We ended up on the Battle Trail, at the Minute Man Historical National Park. As we were looking at the map of the trail on a marker there, we noticed a small body of water that looked interesting, and off we went.

We soon arrived at Walden Pond, where author Henry David Thoreau spent a couple of years conducting an "experiment in simplicity", living in a small one room cabin away from the world. A year or so ago in General Conference, Elder L. Tom Perry made comments about how Walden Pond was a getaway for him and his wife as well as they struggled through some life stresses, and it was his comments that made Walden Pond seem like an interesting spot to visit for us.

Ahhh! What a wonderful place! We arrived at sunset, and the sun setting over the lake was incredible. We dipped our toes in Walden Pond, which was cool and refreshing, and wished we could stay longer than the light left in the day allowed.

After leaving Walden Pond, we heading to the Boston Temple so we'd know how to find it in the morning. The temple, with the last rosy streaks of day fading fast behind it, was gorgeous. We commented on the way back to the hotel how traffic, which you would normal take as a horrible thing that might ruin your day, had caused us to change our plans in such a delightful, peaceful way.

The next morning we woke and left for the temple sealing of Brian and Holly. The day was a perfectly bright, sunny day, and we were thankful to be there with them.

Later that afternoon, after a wonderful lunch, topped off by a sneak preview of a video of Brian and Holly that Alan had put together to play at the reception, we heading back to Alan and Shirlene's home for a brief rest before the reception. The ride home was a bit long, but wonderfully scenic. A backup on the Massachusetts turnpike caused us to change our route, and we wound our way home through beautiful New England countryside that looked like something straight off a postcard.

After we arrived home, we freshened up, put our stuff away from the hotel stay, and headed off to the reception. We discovered then another shortcomings of Gladys'...she takes you on the most direct route, regardless of how scary of a place that drives you through! Downtown Hartford was definitely NOT as peacefully scenic as our drive home had been! (We snagged Daniel after the reception to take the place of Gladys on the way home, and his directions even included a short jaunt through the Wendy's drive in for Frostys!)

After Brian and Holly's wedding we spent the weekend relaxing together, and Monday the ladies (minus Bekah, who had heading to Girls Camp, and Kaylene, who had headed back to Texas) all had lunch together at Bugaboo Creek, followed by ice cream cones at the Fish Family Farm and mini golfing with Grandpa, Daniel, and Micah.

Tuesday Shirlene, Carolyn, Mom and I (oh, and Micah, too) took our last little trip out before Carolyn and I had to fly home. We took a trip to Gillette's Castle, and toured through that incredible place. We then returned to Alan and Shirlene's, where Alan gave us twenty minute rides on the Goldwing (I loved it!), Daniel took one last song request from his crazy aunt who wishes so much that someone in her family could play the guitar and sing like he does, and then said our goodbyes and were off.

What a great week. So needed, so enjoyed...I loved it.