Raining down the highway...On our maiden cross-country voyage in 2005 (this one is our fourth) it never rained. Seriously, in more than six weeks on the road back then to Seattle and Alaska, down to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, home through Colorado and the Great Plains, the only rain we saw was a brief sprinkle somewhere in Indiana. That was it. This trip has been a little different. It has rained every day so far, and according to the weather reports we'll be smacking into a big one tomorrow about the time we cross into the Texas Panhandle. It's like a friend of ours who recently told us he drinks every day, but not all day. On this trip it has rained every day, but not all day. We've seen blue sky and pretty blue clouds every day, too (but not all day.)
The Cowboy Museum...
As our good luck would have it, as we arrived in Oklahoma City the sun came out, in time for us to arrive at the Cowboy Museum. If you have never been to the Cowboy Museum, put out of your mind all the thoughts you've already formed about what it must be. It is classy. It is huge. It is as legitimate a museum as the MOMA, the Field, or the Guggenheim. All it lacks is a name that can describe it adequately. Yes, there are cowboys: movie cowboys, rodeo cowboys, historical cowboys. Cowboy art (probably the best display of Frederic Remington anywhere and many others of equal talent.) Cowboy clothes, cowboy weapons, saddles, lassoes. But there are also indians, and their arts and crafts. Surely part of the reason for the creation of this museum was to raise the level of historical significance of the western expansion era and it succeeds beautifully.
Viva Mex-Mex...
When Mary Frances was stationed here for FEMA a while back, she heard about a real Mexican Restaurant in town that was head and shoulders above your usual Tex-Mex restaurant found all over this part of the country. Well, we found it, Abuelo's, where Mexican food is served as it is in the best restaurants in Mexico. In addition to delightful food, they served my bride a Margarita that you'd have to turn sideways to walk through a door with. First class all the way. Full of good food and beer and Margaritas, we drove down through the Oklahoma City neighborhood called Bricktown, to see the progress on what will become the largest bronze sculpture in the world:
The Land Run Monument...
By artist Paul Moore, the 1-1/2 scale Land Run Monument commemorates the great land rush of 1889. (Some folks sneaked off early, to stake claims to the nicest parcels, and were disgustedly called sooners, hence, the Sooner State.)
Winding up our Oklahoma experience...
One thing there's no shortage of in Oklahoma is casinos, and since we've been known to visit one now and again, we decided that for our final evening here we'd spend a couple hours at Riverwind Casino, a few miles south toward Norman. We made a gross profit there of $24.58. Subtracting $6 for ATM fees, $3 for a parking valet tip, $9.57 for beer and ice cream on the way back to the hotel, left a net profit of $5.01, about enough for the gas for the trip. Not bad!
Let us know if you're out there...
We don't know who might be following this journey, so if you are checking in on us now and then, please email us and let us know. Thanks Carol and Jean for telling us they are reading this.
Time for bed - long ride tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment