Devon / Colcord

This was to be the final installment of the tales of February 17, 2012, with my fearless adventure partner Cher-ron Lee but plans have changed.  This will be the next to the last post regarding that adventure-filled Friday in February.

Following our time spent Underground, we walked the sidewalks of the city for some time.  The eventual goal was to get as close as possible to the new Devon Tower and, you know, just to see what there was to see!  The Devon Tower wasn't completely finished at the time; there was still one crane up and various other cosmetic projects in the works.  We wandered around downtown getting a good look at some beautiful buildings, walked around construction areas (all the while expecting to be banished at any moment), saw a little brick storefront Subway restaurant (I love those!  The one in Blanchard is my fav!) and even taking a shortcut through a building.  Then suddenly there on the other side was the towering awesomeness that Devon built.  And we came out on the best side possible - the only one I really care about - where the Devon Tower is being connected to the Colcord!!

I have been fascinated by the Colcord for some time.  As those who know me best know, I am something of a hotel aficionado.  I ran across a mention of the Colcord online many years ago and really only remember one fact, but it is the most significant one:  The Colcord was the first skyscraper in Oklahoma City (and probably Oklahoma, though I haven't found anything to confirm that yet).  When Rick and I were making regular trips downtown for Blazers hockey, YardDawgz football, concerts and such I snapped more than a couple of pics of the Colcord as we would whiz by!  According to some web browsing I did yesterday, the Colcord is on the National Register of Historic Places and also has a tenuous connection to one of my two favorite events in history:  the Chicago World's Fair of 1893!  (The other favorite history event being The Great War, natch.)  It seems the architect of the building was a protégé of Louis Sullivan who was one of the architects of the glorious White City.

Free commercial here for those of you who have NOT read The Devil in the White City:  Stop.  Seriously.  Right now.  Go buy it.  Do not waste your time and money on the paperback.  Get the hardback version with the picture pages.  Prepare to be blown away.  Oh, and while you are at it, get two copies so I can have my own and stop borrowing Becky's!  :-)

Back to the Devon Tower / Colcord Hotel:  A few months ago I was talking about the Devon Tower with my brother-in-law who worked on the Devon Tower in the latter half of building. Naturally I freaked out on him when he told me that they were getting ready to connect the Devon Tower with the Colcord.  !!!!!!  CONNECT THE NEW TALLEST BUILDING IN OKLAHOMA WITH THE FIRST SKYSCRAPER IN OKLAHOMA?!  Oh, I am down.  Down like a clown Charlie Brown. 

I shot some decent pictures looking up at the Devon Tower; unfortunately from our restricted area I didn't get a good shot of the connection in the works or of the Colcord itself.  Nevertheless I was uber-excited to be there!  Maybe someday I can get pics from inside the Devon Tower or even (be still my heart) from inside the Colcord!  :-)

The place we were standing was very close to being under the crane on the Devon Tower; from the distance the illusion was that we were directly under it.  We had been hearing loud noises that reverberated over all of downtown and once we were there it didn't take long to realize that the noise was the crane slowly making its way down.  I never thought about humongousoid cranes on skyscrapers before and certainly never realized that it takes days to get one down!

Extra Fun fact about the crane that Cher-ron and I were standing under:  We were there on Friday.  On Monday, central Oklahoma experienced some serious winds.  That crane?  Yeah - it slammed into the building and showered down glass.  Yikes! 

Once we were finished there - and by finished I mean our phones were dead and further pictures were out of the question - we hoofed it back to our parking spot where we chilled for a bit before beginning the next adventure:  Cox Convention Center.  Barons.  Hockey.  Sustenance.  Oh yeah.

Going Underground

I was quite young when Daddy had jury duty at the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City.  I don't even remember it; only the stories about it later.  Or more accurately The Story.  Everything else is just a haze except for the parts about The Conncourse - which until I was educated yesterday in my head was always The 'Concourse.'  I will get to that.

Daddy told me stories of this fabled network of underground tunnels whereby you can traverse the hustling and bustling downtown Oklahoma City in comfort and ease.  There are even shops!  In my young imagination this 'Concourse' was the stuff of fairy tales:  wide archways covered in colorful mosaic tiles (think 80s & 90s movie scenes of the NYC subway), bright yet soft lighting, tempting storefronts, lots of people calmly and politely milling about but not getting in anyone's way (think markets on alien worlds in Star Trek TNG), and floors one could practically glide across. 

I have now been in The Conncourse - now known as The Underground.  And while it may not have necessarily lived up to the expectations of my ten-year old self, it was a walk to remember! 

This was the next adventure Cher-ron Lee and I embarked upon following our trek through the OKC National Memorial & Museum.  We decided to walk around downtown and see what there was to see.  Shortly I began to tell Cher-ron about The Conncourse and we agreed we should look for it - but how?  It seemed that suddenly they were there:  two security guards in a little booth thing outside the federal courthouse.

Now would be a good time to come clean.  You see, despite my desire as a child to experience these mysterious tunnels that ran under my beloved 'tall buildings,' a part of me never believed Daddy that they existed.  Seriously.  When have YOU ever heard of such a thing?  No movies, no stories, no news reports reporting live from the secret tunnels 'neath the heart of the city!  What if it was all a ploy like Rose Bush or the Poag Grain Elevator?  Granted, those were tricks played on me by Mummy rather than Daddy but who's to say he wasn't the greatest jokester of them all?  In short, not only did I not want to ask and look like a moron, I didn't want to ask only to find out that such a thing never existed! (And yes, I understand that makes no sense, after all at any point I could have researched the tunnels!  It was not, however, something I often thought about.  I only did that day because we were downtown!)

Cher-ron had no such qualms.  She went up to the booth, asked the older guard for directions and lo and behold!  We were right across the street from an entrance in the OG&E building!  Across the street and through the door and down the stairs we went!

It was disappointingly stark initially, but as we went on it became more exciting.  Each hallway has different colored lighting to let you know where you are at with areas every so often containing maps to help guide your way.  According to what I have now read online, there are parts with artwork and city pictures and all kinds of fun.  It seems we saw some of that, but not much.  We did come across a deli or two that were closed by the time we were underground.  We just wandered aimlessly for some time.  When we decided to see where we were at, we headed upstairs and ended up in the Ground Floor Cafe.  We bought drinks and had a seat for a few minutes before deciding it was too close to the Underground closing time to go back down.  Out the door we went to continue our adventures on the sidewalks.

Yesterday I did some Googling and discovered some interesting things about the erstwhile Conncourse.  Wikipedia especially had an article tailored to interest Betsy!  It is surprisingly short but nearly every word is exciting!  References to names like Skirvin and I.M. Pei?  I'm excited just thinking about it!  :-)

OKC National Memorial & Museum

The governor is still speaking on the TV behind me as I begin this draft.  The next item on my list for the blog was the Oklahoma City National Memorial; what better day is there? 

I won't start at April 19, 1995.  Suffice it to say that I can remember that day vividly as anyone who was old enough to remember can.  It is hard to believe that it has been 17 years.  As if the birthday yesterday wasn't enough to make me feel my age!  :-)

OKC National Memorial March 2005

Despite the fact that I live so close to it the first time I went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum was in 2005.  One must remember that is part of the reason for this blog - to get out and see the sites that make Oklahoma great!  Shoot, I haven't even ever been to the Bricktown Canal!

But I digress.  I went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum in 2005 with Cher-ron and a friend of hers from Texas that came to Oklahoma with her.  We went on Sunday, March 13, 2005.  We arrived quite late (after we had visited the Easter Bunny and other such fun) and had to rush to see as much as possible.  As a result the experience was not as profound as it is designed to be though it was still remarkable and memorable and I have a water bottle (same one in the pic!)  with the '1995-2005' logo on it to remind me!

In February of this year Cher-ron made her way to Oklahoma again.  We chose to put the Memorial on our agenda and allow plenty of time.  So on Friday, February 17, 2012, we made our way to Oklahoma City.  After brunching at Denny's on I-240, we traversed the new I-40 crosstown which turns out is now sans multiple downtown exits.  Never fear, I used the GPS on my phone for the first time and we got right downtown.  After circling several blocks we found a convenient and cheap parking spot off of 4th & Harvey - very near the Memorial. 

We walked the outside portions of the Memorial first which was fortunate as it was raining when we left the Memorial later.  We looked over the chairs and the reflecting pool first.  It's all so serene and serious.  It's not quiet at all but it is still.  Then there is the Survivor Tree which I remember more for the winter several years ago when people brought brooms out to make sure the freezing rain didn't stick to the branches and hurt the tree.

Of course let's not forget the graffiti.  Cher-ron has this quote on her Facebook profile:

Thank goodness for bathrooms with entrances outside the museum!  That taken care of, we headed inside.  After you buy your ticket it's off to the elevator.  Otis takes you to the third floor where the experience starts.  'A Day Like Any Other Day.'  Yeah.  I was already crying.  What the heck?  You would think I was personally affected by the bombing.  But it is an inescapable fact that if you are an Okie and especially a Central Oklahoman Okie who remembers that time then you were and are affected.

After you get a glimpse of what Oklahoma City felt like the morning of April 19, 1995, prior to 9:02 a.m. you sit in two rows of seats off to the side of what is meant to look like a conference-type room.  Once the room is sealed (it is on a timer) you hear the recording of a meeting which took place at the Water Resource Board on that morning and was recording at 9:02 a.m.  The museum is set up so well that by then you almost taste downtown Oklahoma City that morning and now you are sitting there with weighted anticipation for the evil that you know is coming.  You hear the blast.  You glimpse the terror.  Then the opposite side of the room from where you entered opens up and you see the initial television coverage from that day. 

This was the view from a window on
the second floor of the museum.

The rest of the museum continues to be painstakingly chronological.  There are lots of displays to see, information to read, vidoes to watch, and much much more.  One could spend hours perusing.  At the end in the gift shop I purchased a refrigerator magnet.  Because, of course, what my refrigerator lacks right now is enough magnets... 

After a post-museum bathroom visit we continued our day of adventure in downtown Oklahoma City.  But that is another post altogether.  :-)

Yes, Laverty Cemetery AGAIN

Catch up time!  I MUST get more serious about keeping my blog up - as well as the adventures that make it!  :-)
Let's finish up Laverty Cemetery, shall we?

I know.  It's not an exciting pic from the cemetery.  It is, however, a temporary marker that I made at work!  So it has a bit of 'fun' value for me...if that makes any sense!  :-)

On November 5, 2011 (yes, I am THAT far behind!) Rick was my adventure partner.  We headed out to Laverty (my 3rd trip) to finish up taking pics of the graves.  And we did!  What else did we do?  I have no clue.  According to my camera it was November 5th, and I see from the calendar that it was a Saturday.  Like I remember anything else from that far back!  :-)  All the more reason for me to keep up with this blog in a timely manner!
I do know that I have not finished uploading the pics to FindAGrave.  Slacker!

Rose Hill Cemetery

Whew!  It is catch-up day for On Sooner Trails!! 
This is another cemetery that I have been to many a time.  Chickasha peeps know Rose Hill Cemetery primarily as the premier walking spot.  Rick and I have traversed the walking path often in the past, though not for some time.  This cemetery also happens to be right next to where I work! 
Michelle and I were out doing errands today when Rose Hill was admitted to the conversation.  I was mentioning that I need to find one of the graves there; I told a lady I would get a picture for her.  Michelle's first impression was 'piece of cake,' just walk over there and do it!  I incredulously asked if she had SEEN Rose Hill, to which she responded in the negative.  So we loaded up in the car and headed that way! 

Rose Hill Cemetery is a BIG cemetery.  I am sure there are much larger ones in the world, but this is the largest to which I have ever been.  It is also BEAUTIFUL!  It is oddly situated in the middle of town, though one can assume that when it first opened it was nowhere near the middle of town.  Old, ornate tombstones sit next to new, plain ones.  A person could easily just lose themselves in wandering the cemetery discovering names and reading inscriptions.  We did not have that luxury, however.  It was already growing dark by the time we got there and we quickly found ourselves in a shadowy world of stone and uneven ground.  Our adventure was short-lived, but fun as it always is to wander in a cemetery! 

Michelle looks WAY too serious posing with the flowers!  :-)

Eakly Cemetery

It seems a bit odd to post about going to the Eakly Cemetery as if it is a novel adventure.  I am fairly certain that Eakly Cemetery was the first cemetery I was ever in and DEFINITELY the one I have spent the most time in!  On October 18th Rick and I headed for the metropolis of Eakly, trying to beat the twilight.  It was time to 'freshen up' Mummy's headstone for her birthday!

I know.  It doesn't look terribly exciting.  I didn't get any new flowers; I just used some stuff that I keep stashed in the trunk for spur-of-the-moment Eakly trips.  Rest assured, she is perfectly happy with the scarecrows!  The other peeps that visit the Eakly Cemetery must think we are a 'special' family because her headstone is decorated for fall year-round!  Anyone who knew Mummy understands, though.  :-)
I got a few pics of family graves and a couple of other interesting ones, but it was late in the day.  One of these days I plan to go out there and spend several hours taking pictures.  There are a lot of graves on the FindAGrave site that don't have pictures with them from the Eakly Cemetery.
I also meant to hit up the Historical Marker on the highway on the way back home, but zoomed right past it without even thinking!  Maybe next time!

When I was younger I always found it quite amusing that there was a water tower IN the cemetery!  :-)

Labor Day Adventures

I am FINALLY updating my blog with my Labor Day Adventures!  Well, mine and Hope Marie's!  I was off work and decided it was a good day to get some more work done on the Laverty Cemetery.  Hope Marie was my unwitting accomplice!  She actually agreed to go before she knew why on third earth I called her and asked her to go to a cemetery with me.  Hhmmm...
Anyway, we made a day of it.  We started out with some yummy fuel from Long John Silver's and then headed out to Norge.  We had to stop and get some pictures for my first Historical Marker for the blog!!

Pretty cool, huh?  It is surprisingly lacking in details though!
We then continued down the road for my Laverty Cemetery trip numero dos.  I had hoped to finish up the pics of the cemetery, but alas, despite the fact that it was much cooler than it had been, it was still quite warm and Hope wasn't up to hanging out in it for very long. 

We got quite a few pics in and then ended our adventure for the day.  I have yet to upload the pics to FindAGrave (I know, Slacker!!).  Maybe the next trip out there I will complete the circuit of the cemetery.