Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Recap

I'm recapping our 4th of July weekend.  Old news?  Yes.  But I've been busy bullying a certain post-secondary education institution into transferring previous college credits and waiving test score requirements to allow me into a 100 level math class!  But that's another post for another time.

I want to share with you my 4th of July fun.  As you know, a hurricane thwarted our plans to visit San Antonio so we decided to head north to Oklahoma City.  We love this city.  It's where we got engaged.  It's home to a minor league baseball team with a beautiful stadium.  It's home to Toby Keith's bar (which we haven't been to yet but hear he frequents often).  It has the trendy Brick Town area that we love to walk around.  It has Mickey Mantle's Steakhouse where I once ate the best steak of my life!  And it has Nonna's Restaurant where we happened to eat the best strawberry shortcake of our entire lives that very weekend!  It almost feels like home.

I would love to show you pictures of everything I mentioned above, but I left my camera at the hotel because it was pouring rain.  Maybe next time.  So, because of the rain the baseball game was delayed, which meant the fireworks after the game were delayed.  We decided to eat a relaxing dinner at Nonna's Restaurant.  It's wonderful.  Great food.  Lovely ambiance.  Knowledgeable wait staff.  And as I mentioned earlier, the best strawberry shortcake I've ever eaten.  We then ran to the movie theater down the block and bought tickets to Toy Story 3 in 3D.  Cute, but seriously Hollywood, 3D ain't all that.  I suspect you're into it all of a sudden because you can make more money off me by charging $3.50 extra per ticket for those ridiculously uncomfortable glasses we have to wear.  Joke's on me I guess.

Anyway, we came out of the theater ten minutes past 10pm.  Just in time for the fireworks if they weren't delayed, or plenty early if they were delayed.  But wait!  What did we see?  Huge crowds LEAVING the stadium.  The fireworks were over!  Yep.  We missed them.  Happy 4th of July anyway!  Oh well.  You know you're old when you aren't dissappointed about missing the celebration and all you can think of is getting back to the hotel to crawl into this heavenly bed...


Hello lover!  I'll never leave you!

The next morning I was able to snap a few shots of the area from our hotel room.  We had a great view of Brick Town...



And when the weather cleared up I ventured out to capture a photo of this historic train station.  Can't you just imagine it bustling with travelers back in the '50s?  I love it!  Always have, ever since I noticed it on our first trip to OKC way back when.  


Before heading back to TX we decided to visit the National Cowboy Museum.  It's one of those things we've passed often and always said, "we should go there sometime."  No time like the present.  Though small in size, you could spend an entire afternoon looking at everything.  It pays tribute to the expansion of the American West.  There are art galleries with paintings and sculptures...


This is one of four of Wilson Hurley's Windows to the West Triptychs.  Hard to capture, but it felt like I was literally looking out the window to the California coast line.  Truly awesome.  Each triptych is composed of three panels.  The center one is 16' x 16', and the others are 16' x 10'.  HUGE!

The museum also has expansive grounds that are beautifully kept...  


and sprinkled with numerous memorials paying tribute to famous rodeo bulls and horses of the past.


And how can we talk about the American West without mentioning Buffalo Bill?  This statue is so large you can see it from the highway!  This is what always prompted us to say, "we should go there sometime."


What really impressed me about the museum were the thousands of artifacts that have been preserved and displayed.  Here are a few of my favorites.



I loved this guy!  Yes, it's a stuffed beaver that helps explain what kinds of things trappers trapped and traders traded.  But seriously!  They gave him a walking stick!  Doesn't he look just like the old guy from Winnie the Pooh who whistled when he talked?  "Lissssssten here, ssssssssonny."  

And can we please talk women's fashion of the West?  I loved this stuff!

(Army Officer's Wives on the range with the regiment, late 1800's)



(Early 1900's rodeo cowgirls.  Look at the purple boots with pink roses!  Um, yes please!)


(Trick riders of the 1940's rodeos.  Hello!  Leopard boots!  Somebody help me!)



(Today's much more casual rodeo garb.  Barf.  Though I'm sure much more functional.)

We ended our tour admiring a sculpture called End of the Trail, by James Earle Fraser.  It's haunting when you realize a race of warriors vanished in the western expansion.  Yet, the forward blowing wind on his back symbolizes a proud, spiritual people transforming into the next century.  Man I love history!


I pondered the lives of settlers and Indians as we drove back to TX.  I couldn't help but think of the hardships both endured as the West was won.  Thankfully, we've come a long way since then.  Certainly we had much to be proud of on our Independence Day weekend.  

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