HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

Because today is a holiday, we decided it would be a good day to drive back to Oklahoma City and visit the Murrah Memorial and Bricktown.

Traffic was light and our GPS took us right to the Murrah Memorial. The first thing we saw was the fence with all the mementos on it. That caused the first lump in my throat as it was a hint of what was to come. I'm sure all my readers remember the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building at 9:02 a.m., April 19, 1995. I'm not going into deep history of the event here, but I'll let the pictures that I post do most of the talking of that event.

Entering through the Eastern Gate of Time the first thing you see is the reflection pool and the Western Gate of Time. Each gate has a time cut into the inner wall so to reflect the time off of the lighter color wall behind. The East Gate has 9:01 a.m. - representing the innocence of the city before the attack. The West Gate has 9:03 a.m. - the moment we were changed forever. Unfortunately, my pictures don't really show the time well, the sun just didn't cooperate with me. As you begin the walk around the pool, you see the memorial chairs. Here is where I lost it. You see, there are two sizes of chairs, large ones representing each adult who was killed here and small ones representing each child who was killed here. I use the word killed as that is what happened - they where murdered by a evil person who had no regard for human life. You can hear about these type of events on TV and feel shocked, sorrow and numerous other emotions, but nothing can prepare you for being at the actual site. There is a silence, a reverence, that settles in your heart. All of a sudden you are a part of what happened and it really comes home. This could have happened anywhere, but for the Grace of God, it didn't happen where we were.

After walking the Memorial Park, we went to the museum. Much to my dismay, but totally understanding why, they allow no pictures to be taken inside. Each exhibit is profound in it's own way. One allows you to experience what it was like at a meeting in the very building of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board when the bomb went off. They have the actual tape (the meeting was being taped) and it is played and when the bomb goes off the lights go out and it's like you were there. The other area is the Gallery Of Honor which honors the 168 who were killed by displaying photographs and personal artifacts of each one. You look at the faces and know that this was someone's mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin and child. Very touching. All you can ask is why? Why did this happen?

It was a hard place to leave, but Bricktown awaited our arrival - right! What can I say about Bricktown - hummmm. Touristy, that's a good word. It is a lot like San Antonia riverwalk area. We did the boat ride through the area, decided we saw enough and headed for the Spaghetti Warehouse for a late lunch. It was delicious, but so much food that we brought half of it home. Now I don't have to cook tomorrow - yippee.

Our July 4th night will conclude with fireworks here at the casino. I'm going to attempt to get some pictures. This will be my first try at taking fireworks pictures, but my camera has a setting for fireworks, so we'll see. If they do turn out, I'll post them.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July.

Pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos