Sunday, June 17, 2012

Avery's Hit the Highway For Vacttion 2012


We hit the road before the sun had a chance to rise.  Gas, coffee and tunes—what more does a family traveling Griswold style need?

Our destination for the day was Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  It was more about stopping after 500 miles of driving than the actual location.  We pit stopped for the night at the Rockwell RV Park.  I don’t have awful things to say about the RV Park but I am not going to rave about it either.  It was camping in an urban area—gravel parking lot, no grass, few trees.  The restrooms were decent enough.  When you have a flush toilet with water that swirls in the porcelain bowl the bathroom rates!   They offer complimentary coffee and muffins every morning; which we grabbed before heading out of town.  The staff was friendly. 

We knew on this stop the one thing we wanted to visit was the Oklahoma City Memorial Museum.  It was beautifully put together.  We first grazed about outside making our way to the museum.  As we rode up in the elevator I began to really feel the heaviness of this past act of terrorism.  I turned to M and expressed my emotion and suddenly felt my eyes well up.  The girls were so small when the bombing absorbed the news waves.  I remember heading out the eye doctor with them both.  Why is it that we always remember what or where we were when tragedy strikes?  But we do.  The older I get the more I feel the heaviness of the situations that infringe upon our country.  The girls, the older they get, the love of country they develop get it, feel it too.


As we took our seats in the second section of the museum to listen to an actual recording of a hearing at the Water Resource Board across the street on that day in April 1995 you are grabbed at your heart as the sound of the explosion is nothing but evident and the lights in the room go black and the faces of the 168 lives lost flash on a screen.  The chairs—sure their representation mark, but the faces, they grab.  Then you see the handfuls of key chains realizing everyone in the building left for work that morning like any other day.  I loved the survivor wall in the outside area.  So many memorials recognize those who sacrificed life but not the survivors--forever changed.      

"Visiting that beautiful Memorial and Museum in 
Oklahoma City is not fun or for the faint of heart, 
but I di think it should be a right of citizenship"
                                                                                              Brian Williams
                                                                                             NBC Nightly News

Then we headed over to Bricktown with its fun, hip urban feel with great restaurants and venues. Next we drove past Chesapeake Arena to take in the excitement of the NBA finals.  

Here we are again this morning cruising down the highway, car choir is full swing, climbing in elevation on our way to Amarillo, Texas for canyon views and big steaks.  Oh ya, and long the way a little Roadside America.   

3 comments:

Lin said...

We were just at the memorial in New York for 911 and I felt the same tears there too. You can't help but feel the loss of all those innocent people. I just stood there rubbing my hands over their names etched into the stone surrounding the reflecting pools. Very moving.

I would like to see the Oklahoma City memorial as well. I think it is important to see these memorials to remember. Years ago, we went to the memorial in Salem, MA for those who were killed in the "witchhunts." Even that left a mark with me. Very important messages in those losses.

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