Cox Convention Center

Originally I was not going to do a post regarding the Cox Convention Center but in the end I figured I might as well! 

To continue the adventures of February 17:  after our phones had died and we had properly traversed the downtown area we went back to our parking spot for a few minutes.  We attempted to charge our phones via a single outlet in her vehicle with little success.  Thankfully I had my camera with me and though I had not thought to charge it and it did not last through the night I was still able to get some pictures of the game. 


Ah, but what game you ask?  I am jumping ahead of myself!  Cher-ron Lee, despite having been in a long-term relationship with a newspaper sports editor, had never been to a hockey game!  To continue our fun and work on her 'bucket list' we traipsed on over to the Cox Convention Center to buy some tickets.  There are some very cheap tickets available and a decent section of $28 seats.  However for $10 more we could get in the best section and this being Cher-ron's first hockey game (and my first Barons game - I haven't been to a hockey game since Oklahoma City's beloved Blazers disbanded) we decided to go for it!  The helpful woman at the ticket counter even hooked us up with FRONT ROW seats!!  Woo-hoo!!

Now we had some time to kill.  We had looked for places to eat along the way there but nothing called out to us, so we decided to eat overpriced concession fare.  Cher-ron went for a loaded hot dog (foot long?) with Coke and I settled on a salty soft pretzel with Dr. Pepper.  The older lady at the concession stand was a riot!  After having a good ol' time cuttin' it up with her (she probably thought we were drunk!) we went in search of our seats.  This was when we discovered just how cool our ticket seller was.  We didn't just get front row seats.  No.  We got FRONT ROW, CENTER ICE, RIGHT NEXT TO THE BARON'S BENCH!!! 

The experience was not novel for me as far as it being a hockey game, but it was a bit different than the Blazers games I previously attended.  It has been several years since I was at a game and back then the Blazers played at the erstwhile Ford Center. 

The Chesapeake Energy Arena was originally The Ford Center. I was at the Ford Center on a number of occasions including multiple Blazers hockey games and Trans-Siberian Orchestra concerts.  I was quite shocked to discover a couple of days ago via the omniscient Wikipedia that The Ford Center was opened in 2002!   I was under the impression all this time that it had been there already and was just remodeled prior to becoming The Ford Center. 

My first Blazers game was a blast!  I went with a group from work and we watched from one of the boxes.  That is watching the game in style:  food, drinks, comfy chairs, TVs, easy bathroom access and more.  It was a fun experience and I am glad I had it.  However, I quickly discovered at the next game I attended that being in the stands is MUCH more fun and provides a MUCH better view of the goings on! 

I have been to the Cox Convention Center on a number of occasions as well, most recently several years ago when we attended a few YardDawgz games (now also sadly disbanded).  There were a few times when I was younger that I was there when it was still The Myriad.  It is smaller and not as fancy as the Chesapeake Arena, but it has much comfier seats that are slightly further apart so you don't feel like you are sitting on the lap of the person next to you like you do at the Chesapeake Arena.

The best part about hockey games is that the crowd gets so involved.  I love the various chants and organized group ruckus. Sadly such crowd participation was nearly absent during our visit in February.  The Barons got soundly whooped which precludes us from much of the taunting of the opposing team. 

Overall we had a wonderful experience and enjoyed the game.  Before it got started I went to the gift shop and picked up a Barons hockey puck (to go with my Blazers one!) as well as sets of chuck-a-pucks for me and Cher-ron.  There was one big kink in the night, though:  our horrible rowmates.  There was a couple to the right of me (and right next to them the Barons team!) that were mostly aloof, so no issues there.  The two chicas next to Cher-ron were a different story.  It seems they attend most if not all of the Barons games and operate under the mistaken impression that the Cox Convention Center is their own personal property that others are infringing upon.  They were loud and rude and obnoxious.  At one point one of the ladies even called Cher-ron a highly inappropriate name because she had stood up to get a better view of a fight in the works further down the ice.  I offered to move with Cher-ron over to the other side of the rink - after the first period was over and there were so many empty seats I figured we could go to another one without causing a stir.  She refused to let them run her off, though.  What really saved the night from being ruined by the harpies was that as they drank more beer rather than becoming more belligerent as one may expect, they mellowed out. 


When the game was over I headed for the bathroom.  Upon exiting I found Cher-ron standing in a relatively short line to nowhere.  While she had been waiting on me she discovered that several Barons players were going to sign autographs!  So we stood in line debating with a teenage girl and her mother what on earth we should have them sign and having some fun at the expense of #9's unfortunate name (Pitlick).  We ended up having them sign some flyer things that were near the table where they were doing the autographs and I had them sign my new Barons hockey puck as well.  There were only 4 of them and after they worked their way through the short line they skedaddled.

Our adventures thus ended, we walked in the rain back to the car (all the while trying desperately not to get our fresh autographs wet) and headed back home.  

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!