Oklahoma City, OK

Have you noticed how you can get a feel for your destination by the passengers at your departing gate? A flight leaving for Dallas feels like a rodeo. And the debauchery you hear from the other end of the terminal? Well, I'd put my money on Vegas (pun intended :D). Waiting for my connection to Oklahoma City in Denver I wondered about my fellow passengers, what will they be like?

Boarding time neared and they began to arrive, one by one, in units to be precise, familial units. There were so many of them, in all different shapes and sizes! Yes, I was excited, hell downright giddy because I felt like the British commentator on the National Geographic channel: Here's a young couple with their first born. Look how the mother coddles her young child -- oh, and what's this?! An extended family in fluorescent t-shirts have just arrived. Their teenage boy has spotted our camera. He appears to be looking at his shirt...how quickly he turns away. Shy young fellow. I silently cringed for him, then felt guilty for my little game. Who am I to jest when this is what most of us want? What seemingly Oklahoma City attracts and has attracted, people who want to settle down to start a home, a family.

Round Barn

Unlike most U.S. cities which evolved out of commerce, Oklahoma City literally sprung overnight when thousands of people claimed a piece of land as their own, also known as the Land Run of 1889. When my friend's father, a history professor, recounted the tale it blew me away. From its inception, the city has an ingrained sense of home. How many cities can claim this? It's the very thing that drew her parents here after travelling the world, "Affordable real estate, low cost of living, and good schools". Markers common to a number of towns and cities across America, so there must be something else that lures people to brood here...

(Yes siree, it really tasted like bacon)

Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial

At a Love's gas station (no lie) the clerk surprised me with the nicest compliment I've received in a long while. It wasn't sleazy and far from a pickup line, just a line that elicits a lingering smile. Was it cowboy hospitality? I think so. Is this the something else? I definitely think so.

Length of Stay

Two to three days (oh, failing memory...)

Docking Index

     

Six anchors. As you can tell from the pictures above, cattle is king. I, on the other hand, crave kale and hard to pronounce grains (e.g. quinoa, amaranth, freekeh...has anyone tried the last one?) on a fairly regular basis. My friend's parents also illustrated their travails of living in a red (i.e. Republican) voting district. Something I've never dealt with, nor am I certain I want to at this ripening age...