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!  :-)