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.  :-)