The only things I saw worth noting in northern Texas was this:
Which I thought was very typical..."Welcome to Texas" and a biker.
In Amarillo I stopped at Cadillac Ranch...
I forgot spray paint but checked them out anyway.
A random cross in the middle of nowhere. You have to love Route 66.
And I finally got to Oklahoma.
It turns out that Oklahoma is actually very green, hilly, and I thought altogether beautiful. I never would've thought it would be like this but I've had quite a few surprised so far with where I've been.
The minute I stepped out of the car to fill up my tiny tank I realized that I had finally hit the humidity...
I was staying with a friend of a friend but was escorted around by her fiance as well (which seems to be a trend with me). I don't think I have to remind you that there is not a lot to do in Oklahoma City. We went to the Oklahoma City bombing memorial which truly was as beautiful as I was told. As per Teryn Heckers' suggestion, we went as the sun was going down. Unfortunately I couldn't catch the sunset well enough in my pictures but here's an idea of what it looked like:
Part of the original fence where people hung whatever they had in remembrance.
There are two large structures that look like that on either end of the reflection pool. One has "9:01" imprinted on it and the other has "9:03" to symbolize the minute before and after the bombing. We snuck in on someone giving a very detailed overview of what everything symbolized and an incredible amount of thought went in to all of it with the times indicating moments of calm, the reflection pool symbolizing a blankness and hollowness, etc.
The one "survivor" still at the memorial - The Survivor Tree.
This building has been preserved to appear the way it did directly after the bombing. The only change is that the windows are blacked out (they were blown out immediately proceeding the blast).
The rows of chairs (big for adults, small for children) for all the people that died. They are lined up according to what floor they were on when they died.
I was famished by the time we were done walking around here so I was scooted off by Jami and Daniel to find food. The first question they asked me was: "Do you like cupcakes?" What a stupid question. So, after we ruined our dinner by eating gourmet cupcakes at a store that seemed more like a club than a candy and cupcake store...
...we went to Bricktown and ate some "italian" food. Oklahoma City's most beautiful part, in my opinion, is the Riverwalk. Engineers diverted part of the river to run through this part of the city which used to be full of warehouses. Nowadays it is a hopping place full of bars and restaurants and even families walking by the water. The best pictures I could capture of it are these:
By the time we arrived back to the apartment it was close to midnight and I was crashing. It's exhausting to travel and do this much and I thought I could hold out until New Orleans before I crashed...not possible. I went to sleep on Jami's couch that seemed like it would eat me and I'd never be found again. She and Daniel were leaving in the morning so I woke up to say thank you for an amazing time, be told I was being sent off with two bags of fruit, and to compare Oklahoma and California a little bit more. Jami told me I was welcome to sleep longer if I needed...oh yes. I fell back asleep for a few more hours and it seemed to be just what I needed. I woke up way too late and set off for Little Rock even later but it was definitely worth it.
Today I'm in Little Rock, Arkansas...
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