FRANCE XII, CHIHULY AND COWBOYS

Friday, June 4.   Part of our reason for coming to Oklahoma in general, and Norman in particular, was to visit Loni’s roommate from our 6 month stay in Tours at Stanford-in-France w-a-a-y back in 1966.  They hadn’t seen or communicated with each other for 42 years until Linda discovered our email through the alumni association and arranged a get-together last Christmas when she and husband Ken came to California for the holidays with their sons.  Once we had decided to visit OK and TX, this was a must-stop.  We got together with Linda, who is chair of the philosophy department at OU, for a tour of Norman and the University.  Both are very nice.  The University is huge, with beautiful brick and stone buildings throughout in the classical English university style.   We went back to their house for dinner and lots of talk.  Gorgeous house with huge rooms.  The ground floor takes advantage of the park-like grounds at the rear, with huge trees, a stream, flowers and grass.  The yard looks like it jumped out of a Kincaid painting.  Ken did a bang-up job with fork-tender steaks, and Linda made scrumptious sides, all topped by one of the best apple pies I’ve ever eaten.  We even had a bottle of Vouvray, the indigenous wine of the Loire Valley area around Tours.  An excellent evening of reminiscing (poor Ken) with great hosts.

Saturday, June 5.   Ken and Linda came out to the park to take us to Oklahoma City, and of course got the grand tour of the rig, which was somewhat less impressive than their house.  First stop in OKC was the land race memorial, a series of huge bronze sculptures representing the wagons and riders that raced into the territory to claim their 160 acres back in the late 1800’s.  These were really impressive, with a sense of speed and power and a few touches of whimsy as well.  The sculptor used his own face as the model for the driver of one of the wagons.

Next stop was the memorial to the bombing victims of the Murreh Federal Building.  This was quite well done, simple yet moving.  Two monolithic walls face each other at the ends of a long reflecting pool, which has replaced the street explosion site of the bomb.  On a grassy knoll to one side, that stretches the length of the pool, are chair structures, one for each victim and inscribed with the name, set in rows that represent each floor of the building where the victims were at the time of the explosion.   In a separate area are large photos and diagrams that show the before, after, and present of the buildings and the surrounding area.

We then went on to the OKC Museum of Art, which features a large display of Dale Chihuly blown glass.  Words can’t describe these pieces, especially the 55 foot high installation at the entrance atrium.   Spectacular is all that comes to mind.  I’ll let these pictures do the talking.

Our penultimate stop was the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.  This place was incredible.  First, it was huge.  Second, the exhibits were amazingly varied, well put-together and displayed, informative, and fun.  I could have spent days there and not given everything enough attention.  As it was, our 4 hours went by way too quickly and we just tasted as much as we could.  This should be a must-see destination if you’re anywhere near these parts.  Check it out at www.nationalcowboymuseum.org .

Finally, we drove just a few blocks to the County Line Barbeque, which is justly famous in this area.  Massive platters of ribs, brisket, etc., with about a dozen different sides to choose from.  Homemade ice cream and cobbler deserts if you have any stomach left.  I did, but only because I saved a goodly portion of my meal for another day!  I had Memphis style pork ribs (dry rub), while Loni had their glazed pork ribs.  Both were excellent.  We won’t be eating meat for a while.  Thanks, Linda and Ken, for a terrific day.

Sunday, June 7.   After last night’s thunder and lightening display (at 1:00 a.m., passing right overhead), this was a day to lay about, and to do some shopping for food and such.  I needed to get a replacement pair of hiking shorts after I put a hot iron to my favorite pair.  Yes, nylon requires a cool iron.  Hot iron equals instant melting of fabric, which makes a large hole by transferring the former fabric to the base of the iron.  Sigh.  At five o’clock there was a pounding at our door and it was the local ranger gendarme who suggested that if we were staying another night we might want to pay up.  Oops.  We did so with much lame apologizing.  The park is worth the $16/nite (with the $2 senior discount) as it was quiet, reasonably clean, and right on the lake.  We didn’t get a chance to launch the kayak as it was too windy the whole time.  That thing has a high freeboard and doesn’t do well in other than near-calm conditions.