This stop gave me a pleasant surprise. Okkahoma City is really OK. I hadn't been in the city in probably 20 years. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much of it was either new or handsomely refurbished.
The first stop was accidental, because I spied it as we drove along I-40. It was a small air park at the gate to Tinker Air Force Base. The park had 6 aircraft on display along with a statue of Rosie the Riveter (you have to old enough to remember WW II to remember Rosie) and a statue honoring the Tuskegee Airmen (WW II all black fighter wing). This is a B-52 Stratofortress (wingspan 185', bomb load of 40,000 pounds, top speed 660 MPH, and a range of 10,000 miles).
We searched out the Oklahoma City National Monument. It was built to honor those that survived, died, or were part of the rescue effort of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
Everything about the monument has a significance. The two gates (East and West end) have a time stamp on them. One end, marked 9:02, represents the city's innocence before the bomb and the other gate, marked 9:03, marks the moment we were changed forever. The reflecting pool is intended to help soothe wounds.
Each one of the 168 chairs in the "Field of Empty Chairs" symbolize a life lost. Nineteen of the chairs are smaller, representing the children in the day care center.
This was written on the wall of an adjacent office building, attributed to an unknown rescue worker. Several hundred people were injured in this building, but amazingly no one was killed. All this death and sadness because of one deranged man...
The first stop was accidental, because I spied it as we drove along I-40. It was a small air park at the gate to Tinker Air Force Base. The park had 6 aircraft on display along with a statue of Rosie the Riveter (you have to old enough to remember WW II to remember Rosie) and a statue honoring the Tuskegee Airmen (WW II all black fighter wing). This is a B-52 Stratofortress (wingspan 185', bomb load of 40,000 pounds, top speed 660 MPH, and a range of 10,000 miles).
We searched out the Oklahoma City National Monument. It was built to honor those that survived, died, or were part of the rescue effort of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
Everything about the monument has a significance. The two gates (East and West end) have a time stamp on them. One end, marked 9:02, represents the city's innocence before the bomb and the other gate, marked 9:03, marks the moment we were changed forever. The reflecting pool is intended to help soothe wounds.
Each one of the 168 chairs in the "Field of Empty Chairs" symbolize a life lost. Nineteen of the chairs are smaller, representing the children in the day care center.
This was written on the wall of an adjacent office building, attributed to an unknown rescue worker. Several hundred people were injured in this building, but amazingly no one was killed. All this death and sadness because of one deranged man...
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