Oklahoma City Looks Mighty Pretty

 Friday, April 23 for Sunday and Monday, April 18 & 19

On April 19, 1995 I, along with a coworker, was providing training at a glass-fronted, 31-story Federal building in downtown Cleveland, OH. A little after 9 AM, someone rushed into our classroom and said there was a report on CNN that the Alfred Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City, OK had been bombed and much of it was destroyed. It turned out more than 165 people died that day, including children who were in a nursery within the building. Our class essentially ended then, because we were overtaken by the enormity of it. We returned to Columbus and our very secure facility, but the Cleveland building was evacuated at least five times that week due to crank calls about bombs being planted in the building.

We visited the site of the memorial and museum on April 18, not realizing the anniversary was the next day, We took a couple pictures, talked to one of the park rangers, and observed family members placing floral arrangements on the empty chair representing their loved one. It wasn't so solemn because there were people setting up for the memorial service the next day, but it brought back a flood of memories from that day.

Something I had not heard of from that day was called "the survivor tree." All the vegetation in the area was destroyed by the explosion and resulting fire, except one tree on the grounds. No buildings remain on that site, and it is now hard to imagine what was there, but we think something shielded the tree from the majority of the explosion and heat.

A side story to that is the tree has been cared for and encouraged for the past 26 years and seems to be doing well. You may remember that last winter, OKC had some terrible ice storms, and a major limb on the side facing us from this picture was broken and fell. Workers rushed during the storm to prop the tree up and keep it from further damage. It is a powerful symbol for that city.

Our "other" goal on this trip, besides traveling Route 66, is to visit state capitol buildings along the way. Of course, COVID has closed or severely limited tours, and many of the buildings are closed to the public during this time. Oklahoma's capitol is open, but tours are limited. We watched church on-line, and we knew the Capitol was closed on Sundays, so we chose to walk around the outside. We enjoyed the time there, and you can see we had a beautiful weather day, though it was chilly. You can see Randy viewing an oil derrick, which is on the grounds of the statehouse. There were a number of these non-operating derricks, and there is one operating oil well on the grounds.

An aside: most of you know that our son Matthew has been in Thailand for ten + years, and has a Thai wife and two beautiful daughters. We have met our daughter-in-law once, for a month on a visit there six years ago, and met the girls that one time, too. We do video chats occasionally, but they are usually 12 hours different than we are, so it is difficult. Anyway, we know our daughter-in-law as Lynn, and her mother and sister operate the Thai House restaurant -- in Oklahoma City. We had no good way to contact them, other than just show up at the restaurant, which is what we did. We purposely chose mid-afternoon on Sunday, hoping it wouldn't be too busy. It took a minute to convey who we were and why we were there, but then we had a terrific time chatting. We agreed to come back for an early dinner at a time when they were usually not too busy so we could talk more.

Pranee Chatayatum is Lynn's mother, and in a "normal" year she spends nine months in the U. S., running the restaurant, and three months in Thailand, at the farm that her husband operates about two - three hours north of Bangkok, and time with Lynn, Matt and the girls in Bangkok. Due to COVID, she has not been back to Thailand for at least 15 months, and will not go back very soon.

The two grandmothers sharing stories.

Lynn's sister Benji is on the left in the picture above.

To "kill a little time" until we returned for dinner, we ran around the area a took some pictures.

One thing we would learn on Sunday and Monday is that Pranee's way of showing affection and caring is through food! Here was the meal we had on Sunday.

On Monday we had breakfast with Pranee and Benji, and it turned out, two of Benji's friends.

Benji and her friends Amanda and Betsy.

I guess because of the size of our order, and I think Benji and Pranee visit it enough, the management provided the pancake, above as an appetizer. All six of us had some and didn't finish it!

My meal and Randy's. I cannot remember what they were, but they were outstanding!

After breakfast, Randy and I went to the statehouse for a guided tour, but it turned out, they were not giving them due to major renovation in the statehouse. We took a self-guided tour, and Randy got her statehouse passport book stamped, which made her happy!

We returned to our hotel, chilled a bit, worked on this blog, organized pictures, did some of those things that get set-aside during travel. We had agreed to return to the Thai House for dessert. One of Randy's favorite things in Thailand was a dessert Lynn made for her -- sticky rice and mango. We have eaten at Thai restaurants in the U. S., and only one place has ever had it very good. Randy asked Pranee to make it for her, and she did.

Even though we were supposed to be there for dessert, Pranee sent out a meal for us to share, Pad Thai. This is probably the most common Thai meal Americans eat, and frankly, I've never cared for it, thinking it too bland and thick. Pranee made a believer out of me! It was terrific.

After more chatting and exchanging contact information, we said our goodbyes and returned to our hotel. But there was one place just across the street from the Thai House with some neon.

We could see a body of water called Lake Hefner from our hotel window. We decided to try to visit it in the setting sun.