Christmas In The City

It is COLD in Oklahoma now.  I have had to get Scootard to pull the battery out of Ms Vickey as the temps have plumeted to below freezing in the past couple of days.  I guess winter is officially here.  We did have one nice day the other day and decided to take our daughter to the state capital. 

She had never been and Scootard and I have been twice for his visit, but always caught them "closed".  It had been several years since I had been inside and was a little sad over the pitiful displays that were there.  But I did like this one that was sitting over the state seal in the middle of the rotunda...by the way, I tried resizing my pics before posting them.  The first two were fine, then all the rest uploaded according to the size they are now.....:-(.  So, I just made them all uniform or rather Scootard did, but had to do it from his computer.  We have concluded that it is something with my computer that is causing the resizing issue or some kind of a conflict with the blogger software.  Otherwise, you would be looking at this from a microscope....:-(.

The ceiling is so massive that it was impossible for me to get the whole thing in a single shot.  This is looking three stories up AND the lighting was not that great.

This is what I call the "grand stair case".....:-).  Can you imagine living somewhere with steps like that?  Geeze...definately would have to have "merry maids" coming in at least once a week.

Since Scootard and my daughter had not been here on a tour we decided to take one.  Did I mention security was "intense" going through.  It was almost like being at an airport.  But I guess once you have had a visit from the likes of Terry McVeigh (the Oklahoma city bomber), you cannot be too cautious.  After learning that the tour started every half hour, Scootard had just enough time to make a new friend.  I'm not sure I liked her...:-(.

We met up with the tour guide and began making our rounds....The bronze statue was called "The Watchman".  This is the top of the grand staircase that "Merry Maids" would have had to come clean if I lived here....:-).

This is the Hall Of Governors.  All of the governors that have served the state of Oklahoma are immortalized here in bronze with the exception of three governors.  The current governor is among the three and must finish her term before she is set in bronze here.  The other two were impeached and will not be admitted here.  

Art was in abundance in the capital halls.  This is an example of some of the work on the walls and ceilings.

After completing our tour, our daughter wanted to visit the Memorial and the museum for the memorial of the Oklahoma City bombing.  This is the west side of the memorial.

I had only been able to bring myself here two years ago.  It was hard to believe that it had been 17 years since this happened.  Being there made it feel like "yesterday".  It took me 15 years to get here and this was my third visit.  It was bitter sweet.  The wreaths were so beautiful, but the memory was bitter and sad.  You could almost here the blood crying out from the ground.  Very sobering indeed.  A stark reminder of the depravity that humans are capable of stooping to.

Very nice....you cannot see the difference from this shot in the chairs, but the smaller ones were for the children that were killed in the day care center.  McVeigh, before his execution refered to them as "collatoral damage".

We went through the entire inside and after having had enough sadness for the day, we decided to get some dinner.  Time was passing by, it was cold outside and we were hungry.  Scootard found a place to park and we waited outside the resturant for him.  I was tempted to rent this coach for a night ride, but the wind was biting a bit.

I had my heart set on some spinach manicotti, but alas it was no longer on the menu. 

The right side of the picture below shows a street car that has been made into a seating area for the patrons to eat in.  I have eatten in it once, but it seemed that they forgot I was there.  So, I opted to sit at a regular table.  Also, it would have been hard for my daughter to get up the stairs.

She loves here veggies and decided to order a vegetable lasagna.  I don't think she left any either...ha.

I ordered garlic shrimp.....it was spectacular!  I could not finish it and had it for leftovers later.

Scootard ordered Southwest chicken lasagna.  It was pretty good too.  I had a taste of it....:-).  But I didn't give them any of mine! haha

It was time to head home after filling our bellies.  The lights were on everywhere and it made the city that much more beautiful.

I love this time of year as I think lights make everything....well...brighter; of course!

parting is such sweet sorrow!  Farewell, resturant....

There is a section of the city called Bricktown which is a huge torrist attraction in the winter and summer months if the weather permits.  This is a shot of the canal that I tried to get "on the fly" from the car as we passed by.

I'll bet living in those apartments right over the canal is not a cheap thing....

Then we passed this bird looking thingee on the highway......I think I could have made better use of tax payers dollars than that thing.....:-(.

 An hour and a half later, we made it back to our own city and decided to take a quick trip through the "Holiday In The Park" which comes up every year at Christmas time.

I think it has only been hosted here for the past 4-5 years now.  I still find it a bit sparce.  I don't know how tall this tree is, but I am sure it was taller than me...:-). Which, by the way doesn't take much to do....

Well, we heard later that the prairie dogs who are locals in the park have been vandalizing the sets by chewing on the wires and causing some of the lights to go out.  There has also been vandalism by humans....wow, what a world is all I can say to that. 



It was a wonderfully full day with family....:-).  Once we got home and got settled in again, I decided to go into our backyard and see what the sun was doing.  This is what I saw.....:-).

See ya next time!