Oklahoma City National Memorial

Ron and I decided to spend an extra day in Oklahoma City on our way home from South Dakota.  We have driven past the city numerous times while on our way to visit family. We've just never made the effort or taken the time to stop and see the memorial. It is certainly an emotional experience. I really don't know how anyone can mentally prepare for the visit. I had gone to the web site and ended up questioning whether or not I'd be able to handle it. But, we had already made the plans to go; so I "girded my loins" with prayer and hoped for the best.
There is an app that you can download so you have a walking tour of the memorial to listen to. There are several National Park Rangers on site to answer any questions. I'm such a blubbering cry baby, that I preferred the walking tour!

There are 3 bronze gates at the memorial, called The
Gates of Time. They bookend the memorial and remind
visitors of the time the bomb went off, the time the first
responders arrived, and the time recovery began.

                           

The Field of Empty Chairs is powerful! There are
9 rows; representing the 9 stories of the federal
building. Each row has one chair placed for each
individual who lost their life that day.

The Survivor Tree is the only tree on the
property to have survived the bombing. It was
broken, scarred, and had numerous pieces of
shrapnel embedded in the bark. It was nursed
back to health and included in the memorial.

This message was written on the exterior of a
neighboring building, which became the museum. It was
placed there by those who helped with the
clean up and recovery.

The Rescuers' Orchard was planted to remind visitors of
the countless citizens who immediately ran to the site,
willing to help with rescue and recovery.

The Reflecting Pool is simply beautiful. It is so
peaceful and is intended to provide visitors with
a place to meditate and reflect on what had
happened.

This is a large observation area inside the museum.
It overlooks the memorial.

The Fence is part of the original barrier constructed
around the bomb site. Many people place ribbons,
pictures, stuffed animals, etc. on the fence during recovery.
The citizens of the city petitioned the designers to
include at least a portion of the fence in the final
design.

I handled most of the memorial fairly well; but, those tiny
chairs representing the children lost in the day care center
were heartbreaking. So many lives cut short way too early.

  After walking through the outdoor memorial, which took almost an hour, Ron and I decided we just couldn't handle the museum. There are several tours available, of varying lengths, for those with a tougher heart than we have.

Sturgis, South Dakota

My baby brother, David, is a Harley rider. As a matter of fact, the one and only time I've ridden a motorcycle was when he took me for a ride on one of his bikes. I really can't think of a time when Dave HASN'T had a motorcycle. Now that he's older, he struggles with the the decision to hang up his leathers and sell the bikes. I really can't imagine him without one; but, age, skin cancer, free time... but mostly age, are giving him reasons to sell. Frankly, I hope he hangs on to his bikes forever because they are such a part of who he is. 

He and his wife had been to Sturgis for the motorcycle rally; and, I got to hear all about it. Quite honestly, it sounds like a nightmare to me! But, since we were in the area; and, Ron enjoys looking at vintage vehicles, we decided to make a quick visit.

The town is pretty small, and thinking about how crowded the streets must be when the bikers descend upon the community boggled my mind. I kept thinking, where to they park all those bikes! Do the people who live here go on a month long vacation to avoid the crowds? Where do they all camp? It's has to be absolute madness! Just to illustrate how MANY people come for the rally, look at this map! Each pin is for a person who attended the most recent rally. They come from all over the world!

The museum is pretty deceptive. It is on a typical, small town street, has a relatively narrow brick front, and small parking lot. I wasn't expecting much when we pulled up out front but ended up being really surprised. 

The assortment of motorcycles is massive! They have been donated by motorcycle enthusiasts from all over the world. The great state of Texas was well represented. I didn't post nearly half of the pictures I took. Just the ones that had the most bikes per picture. 

While I can't see myself going back, it might actually be a blast to go with David.  He and Deb are planning on going again sometime soon. I'm sure Dave  could offer a lot of insight into the exhibits; and, that would make it even more interesting.  Unfortunately, the crowds will be enough to make me pass up and invitation to go to the rally with him and Deb!

Custer State Park, South Dakota

Several years ago, I went to South Dakota with Scott, Leslie, and her kids. It was our first visit to the area and I enjoyed it so much, I knew I would eventually go back. Ron had also been to South Dakota on business and had made a run through the park to see the buffalo. But, we hadn't been there together. It really is a beautiful park and I think we timed our visit perfectly because it wasn't really that crowded.  We were just going to be driving through after having spent the morning in the Spearfish area, so we didn't want to spend a lot of time at the visitor's center; just take a quick restroom break. However, we ended up watching the movie that is narrated by Kevin Costner, explaining the founding and purpose of the park. That is a must see! I'm so glad we took the time to watch it. Plus, the visitor's center has a huge model of the park that you can check out to see where the bison are grazing. There is also a natural area outside the center where we got to watch some monarch butterflies.

I let Ron do the driving while we were in the park. He is pretty good about taking pictures with his phone, when I remind him.  But, he never seems to send them to me so I can upload them. I wanted my hands free so I could get some pictures of the wildlife.  The best time to visit is actually early morning or evening, so I didn't expect to get many pictures. No elk or big horn sheep; but we did get to see bison, deer, the begging burros, and some prairie dogs.

We've decided that the next time we go to South Dakota, we really want to be there in late September. That's when the public is invited to the bison round up. They have corrals in the park where the bison are herded for sorting. The park wildlife specialists will only keep the number of bison that the park can feed without supplementing. That fluctuates from year to year, depending on weather conditions and the abundance of grassland. Some are kept in the park and the rest are sold at auction; which helps fund the bison program in the park. It must be amazing to see and hear those massive beasts running over the hills toward the corrals. 

As we were getting ready to leave the park, we saw a bunch of cars parked along the side of the road. There were several bison walking across the road to get to a mud hole near one of the forks in the road.  We spent a little time watching them and headed out of the park, thinking we had pretty much seen most of them. But, as we drove over a rise in the road, there was a crazy bull waltzing up the middle of the road. He had traffic stopped in both directions. Once he finally started moving over, there were 2 motorcycle riders that got the bright idea to pass us. That bull did NOT like the noise those motorcycles made. I thought for sure he was going to charge them.  He finally got off the road and we were able to pass him. I think Ron really could have reached out and touched him as we drove by. 

There are several lakes inside the park and you are welcome to bring in canoes or kayaks. We stopped for a short visit at the last lake you pass before leaving. Surprisingly, there weren't any people out on the lake, or fishing! It was almost like having it all to ourselves. It really was the perfect ending for our visit. 

Spearfish, South Dakota

One of the reasons we decided to go to South Dakota at the end of August, was to escape the triple digit temperatures in Texas. Another reason was to fill our souls the with renewal that can only come from being surrounded by tall, green trees, deep valleys, and rushing water. The town of Spearfish, in the Black Hills National Forest,  filled all of those requirements.

                           

Spearfish Creek carves a valley running through the Black Hills. At the mouth of the creek, there was an information center with a few details about the area. The most fascinating tidbit was about the way the creek freezes in the winter. Evidently, it is a geographic oddity because it freezes from the bottom up. The creek moves so rapidly that the top layers of water are constantly in motion, preventing freezing. The bottom of the creek moves more slowly because of the resistance from the rocks along the creek bottom. Therefore, it freezes up instead of down! It also flows south to north; which is a bit strange.

There were very few communities or homes along the creek because the hills are extremely steep and rugged. It reminded me a lot of some of the back roads in Ohio and Kentucky. The few that we saw were mostly log exteriors and blended in with the surroundings beautifully. The area is so unspoiled that it's easy to imagine what it must have been like when the Dakota Sioux roamed the area.

There were several mountain bike paths along the route; but we saw very few bikers. Of course, it was in the middle of the week. There are also pull over sites where you can walk back to some of the water falls. We met a couple about our age at one of the falls. They just happened to be from Ohio and of course Ron noticed the husband's clothing. I can't remember what his hat said exactly; but I think it was a Cleveland Browns hat. Of course, that led to a conversation about football. We took pictures for each other and sort of leap frogged each other's cars for the rest of the trip. Ron has certainly never met a stranger!

We were able to have a picnic lunch along the road side, saw some beautiful scenery while driving with THE WINDOWS DOWN!!! Honestly, the only thing disturbing the serenity of our visit was the sound of my loud truck. The cool breeze, beautiful green trees, rushing water, and fresh air made for a beautiful, relaxing drive.