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!