In my last post I took you through fort hood. For my own reference today is Tuesday, February 25th 2013, the day I travel north to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. After a good sleep in a bed! Monday night I woke up to waffles. To be honest I am more of a salty than sweet person in the morning, but it is not every day that you wake up in a house that has a waffle maker in the middle of the kitchen! I was then introduced to a new waffle topping...peanut butter! A new taste sensation, though probably meant for an Army officer who has just returned from a ten mile run not a bum, drifter, who has been doing virtually nothing but eating and drinking his way across the country. Either way I was a fan. I thanked my friend and her husband for the hospitality and made my way north.
My plan for that day was to get a relatively early start and have lunch in Dallas, TX. I had been in Texas a few days and had not been to a true steak house so that was my next stop. I had roughly 350 miles to cover to Oklahoma city so a stop half way to stretch the legs seemed ideal. I arrived in Dallas around 1pm ready for a steak lunch. I had been reading reviews and looking up good steak joints on the drive (sry mom) I had it narrowed down to two spots in the Historic West End part of down town Dallas. The YO Ranch Steakhouse and the Hoffbrau Steakhouse. YO had better reviews and judging by the prices probably better steaks, but Hoffbrau had more people and better specials. Needless to say and true to my value malcolmizing ways, I chose to eat lunch at the Hoffbrau Steakhouse (table for one..). As expected it was incredible. I would not say it was the best steak I have ever had, but a Dallas classic. I can now check off eat at a true Texas Steakhouse.
Let me remind you here that I am now traveling all alone. The next five days are just me, myself and I.
After eating more than I planned. I thought it to be a good idea to walk around the old historic district, stretch the legs and digest a bit:). I didn't walk far, but I did get to see the JFK memorial. Embarrassed to admit that I did not know he was shot in Dallas, TX. Lean something new every day. I also got walked around the Old Red Museum of Dallas County History and Culture, but with time winding down on the meter I did not to go in. I needed to get back to the car and on the road again (que music). Next stop Oklahoma City!
Side note: Not being a very good planner, when I am not being paid for it, I of course left the hotels to the last minute. I simple logged onto Priceline drew a circle around the center of town and picked just about the cheapest hotel. Figured just a single dude traveling alone, I was not looking to be impressed, I just needed a place to rest for the night.
Well when I arrived in Oklahoma City around 5pm, I realized I probably should have picked a more expensive place:) The place wasn't filled with rats or anything, but I can't say I would be surprised if I saw one. Upon checking in at the Travelodge.. the computers were down, but they had my reservation. Thankfully they did have wifi not that I did any blogging:) One of the first things I noticed was that my door didn't lock, but I couldn't be fussed moving rooms (I was too tired) so I risked it. I was not traveling with much worth taking, less is more right? Once you were inside there was a dead bolt, so I could rest easy. It was only when I was gone that I needed to worry. It was nice not needing to take out the hotel key every time I wanted to get back inside:) My plan while I was in Oklahoma City was to see the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum and travel up north to Stillwater, the birth place of my father. For whatever reason I felt it was important for me to see and looking back I am glad I did.
After I put my bags in the room, I connected my devices to the internet, looked at the weather and found that the next few days were going to be less then pleasant (that big snowstorm that put Kansas and much of the Midwest out of business for a day or two was coming my way, in Oklahoma City I was far enough south that I only got sleet, the Jetta survived). I realized that I may not have a chance to get out and walk around Oklahoma City. I was determined to see the city and needed to stretch the legs anyway so downtown I went. Remember when I said that I drew a line around the middle of downtown and then picked a cheaper hotel. Well apparently that circle was huge, I was twenty minutes at least from downtown, driving. Regardless, I drove straight to the middle of downtown and parked. I parked in an area called Bricktown, which looks to be the new classy part of downtown Oklahoma City right next to the Chesapeake Arena where the Oklahoma City Thunder play and their baseball park. It looks like what I hope the area around the Nationals ball park will be in a few years. Great food places, bars, movies, bowling etc. While I was walking around, I checked the movie times just in case I got too cold (it was maybe 30 degrees at the time, north may not have been the best idea) or tired trying to find things to do. They have this really cool man made water way that runs through Bricktown. I walked along the path next to the water and snapped a few photos:) I caught the last few moments of daylight. I also caught up with my cousin and tried to plan a continuation of my cross country adventure up the west coast.
I ended up seeing Zero Dark Thirty. GREAT movie if you have not seen it yet. I think I now have a crush on Jessica Chastain...(little fast forward, but I am very glad she won best actress, she deserved it).
The next morning I decided to head back downtown and spend some time at the National Memorial Museum then head north and grab lunch in Stillwater, OK. Stillwater is roughly an hour north of Oklahoma City. I have to say I love how honest mid westerners are. In the garage downtown where I parked to walk to the Museum, there was no attendant, no gate, there was only a box that said three dollars per car and had a slot for each numbered space. No hounding, no tickets, no gates to keep you in, just an honest box. It took me about 3 hours to make it through all of the exhibits at the Museum. To speak a bit about the Museum, It is a small quaint Museum (says the spoiled ex DC inhabitant), but it does an impeccable job portraying the events of April 19, 1995 as well as the events leading up to and following. The set up of the Museum is very cool it takes you through an overview of the area and the buildings that were affected, then it takes you through hour by hour minute by minute of April 19th and the events that followed (Link to the Exhibit walk through).
After I got out I toured the surrounding memorials. They have what they call a "field of chairs" one for each life taken (168). The field is located on the footprint of the old Murrah building. They also have a Survivor Tree which still stands to this day in front of where the Murrah building once stood. There is also a beautiful reflecting pool with the gates of time on either end.
"These monumental twin gates frame the moment of destruction – 9:02 a.m. – and mark the formal entrances to the Memorial. The East Gate represents 9:01 a.m. on April 19, and the innocence of the city before the attack. The West Gate represents 9:03 a.m., the moment we were changed forever."After the Museum I was hungry, but I wanted to make way to Stillwater and have lunch so back in the car and North I went. It rained most of the way up there, but stopped so I could walk around. Not doing much research before I travel I was surprised to see that Stillwater is a classic college town. Oklahoma State University is located in Stillwater, Oklahoma in case you did not know. Walking around, it honestly looked a lot like Christopher Newport University with all of the new brick buildings and manicured gardens. Granted OSU is about six times as big as CNU the campus is much larger and the town surrounding it is a classic college town. There are many little hole in the wall bars and food spots. A ton of coffee places, the life blood of many college students. To reiterate how much I love the honesty of Mid-westerners I went to a little coffee shop on my way out of town, it was unlike any coffee shop I had ever been to. It was more like a hang out than a coffee shop. There was a bunch of students in there studying. I went in, walked up to what I thought was the counter, one of the students got up from her book, realized I looked lost and gave me the low down on how they do coffee here. There are no prices, no required payment, you give what you think is fair, take a cup and fill it up. It was a non profit coffee place, I was to say the least caught off guard. I loved the idea, the coffee was not great, but thats to be expected, it could be free. I gave 5 five dollars for my cup, filled it up, snapped a photo and was on my way.
Rewinding a bit, got a little off track. I was starving when I got to Stillwater, I ended up at a place called Eskimo Joe's, an OSU institution, it has been there since 1975 and is know for their loaded fries (I did not indulge). It was kind of like a Cracker-barrel it had a huge swag section. I wouldn't be surprised if they make as much money selling T-shirts as food (I didn't get one). I had a chicken sandwich with sweet peppered bacon (surprisingly delicious), a bucket of beer, checked out the shop and went for a walk around campus.
Off track again.. The ENTIRE reason I was in Stillwater was to see the place of my fathers birth. I got back in the car after my OSU walk about and drove a quarter mile down the road, the house is still there! All these years later the house that my father was born in still stands. Now it is somewhat depressed college housing, but still a fine house. My grandmother assured me that the house looked much better when they were living in it:) I took a few photos of the outside and was on my way back south to Oklahoma City. You wouldn't believe not five minutes after I got in my car it started to rain again. Either way that about did it for my Oklahoma stay. I got back a little after 5pm and was wiped. Had a big travel day the next day. I was aiming for lunch in Amirillo and was spending the night in Santa Fe. Roughly, eight hours of driving. You could consider driving my new 9-5:)
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