Like you, I love travel and have done a bit of it in my life. We should talk sometime as my husband along with our two small dogs, made the grand circuit around the US, Alaska, the Western Canadian Provinces, etc., etc., etc. with our sole purpose of seeing the great US as it was in 2001 and playing our favorite game together, golf. It turned into a 7 month-long trip.
Very, very, funny. But now I will definitely never go there. I live in the Midwest. This is like every “city” within 500 miles of Minneapolis. But you made it all sound fascinating and fun. What talent!
We live in Manhattan and take minibreaks to the suburbs. Our kids get a kick out of giant grocery stores, shopping malls with indoor fountains, and chain restaurants where they get crayons and paper placemats with menus on them.
I was a syndicated travel writer for awhile, so have a full history of finding stuff in small towns and cities that coasters generally drop into “the flyover states” bucket.
Places like OKC.
In late April of 1995, I spent a day at the former site of the Alfred P. Murray Federal Building there. Just weeks before, a domestic terrorist had drive a truck filled with explosives up to the front door, not far from the in-house child care center: one hundred and sixty-eight people were murdered that day, including a lot of little ones.
The site was cordoned off with a tall chain-link fence, and that fence was filled with memories and memorials and mourning. Stuffed animals, letters, flowers, and so many photos - the confirmed dead, the believed dead, the missing.
I stood at that fence for hours talking to people, not interviewing them. Talking. I still remember their stories.
Five years later, I was there when the Oklahoma City National Memorial was dedicated. The site features 168 glass chairs - one for each victim.
When I’m driving either direction on 35, I stop, even if it’s just for a few minutes. I’ve been doing that for 30 years, and the memories have both mellowed and sharpened with time.
Some places are like that.
Maybe you and your boyfriend should give OKC another try. ❤️
We loved the museum. It was incredibly moving. I was so young when the attack happened, it didn’t register then the way it did a couple weekends ago. ❤️ I totally agree that the good stuff is usually where people don’t think it is. “Flyover” is such a pretentious description, isn’t it?
Oh good! I obviously have a soft spot for that site, and, even though Ive visited (sadly) too many other memorial sites in the US and globally, OKC still hits hard.
This made me snort laugh! My husband and I enjoy a random trip to a small town, for which our thankfully-grown children mock us. We could easily have ended up with your trip!
I love this article so much!!
Oh, thank you!
So. Good.
Thank you!! 🙏🏽
Like you, I love travel and have done a bit of it in my life. We should talk sometime as my husband along with our two small dogs, made the grand circuit around the US, Alaska, the Western Canadian Provinces, etc., etc., etc. with our sole purpose of seeing the great US as it was in 2001 and playing our favorite game together, golf. It turned into a 7 month-long trip.
That sounds amazing!
I love this so much. I love Newfoundland. Not the touristy part but the place where there are two houses and a giant rock and a sheep.
Yes! You get it. :)
I always love your beautiful photos that go with your beautiful writing.
Very, very, funny. But now I will definitely never go there. I live in the Midwest. This is like every “city” within 500 miles of Minneapolis. But you made it all sound fascinating and fun. What talent!
We live in Manhattan and take minibreaks to the suburbs. Our kids get a kick out of giant grocery stores, shopping malls with indoor fountains, and chain restaurants where they get crayons and paper placemats with menus on them.
I love that. I felt the same way when I lived in NYC!
I was a syndicated travel writer for awhile, so have a full history of finding stuff in small towns and cities that coasters generally drop into “the flyover states” bucket.
Places like OKC.
In late April of 1995, I spent a day at the former site of the Alfred P. Murray Federal Building there. Just weeks before, a domestic terrorist had drive a truck filled with explosives up to the front door, not far from the in-house child care center: one hundred and sixty-eight people were murdered that day, including a lot of little ones.
The site was cordoned off with a tall chain-link fence, and that fence was filled with memories and memorials and mourning. Stuffed animals, letters, flowers, and so many photos - the confirmed dead, the believed dead, the missing.
I stood at that fence for hours talking to people, not interviewing them. Talking. I still remember their stories.
Five years later, I was there when the Oklahoma City National Memorial was dedicated. The site features 168 glass chairs - one for each victim.
When I’m driving either direction on 35, I stop, even if it’s just for a few minutes. I’ve been doing that for 30 years, and the memories have both mellowed and sharpened with time.
Some places are like that.
Maybe you and your boyfriend should give OKC another try. ❤️
We loved the museum. It was incredibly moving. I was so young when the attack happened, it didn’t register then the way it did a couple weekends ago. ❤️ I totally agree that the good stuff is usually where people don’t think it is. “Flyover” is such a pretentious description, isn’t it?
Oh good! I obviously have a soft spot for that site, and, even though Ive visited (sadly) too many other memorial sites in the US and globally, OKC still hits hard.
This made me snort laugh! My husband and I enjoy a random trip to a small town, for which our thankfully-grown children mock us. We could easily have ended up with your trip!
We were laughing a lot, too. Honestly, OKC is pretty interesting, in the you-have-to-dig-for-the-interesting-parts way of small towns.