Oklahoma City continued

The tour continued with the investigation, evidence, and the trials of Timothy McVey, Terry Nichols, and Larry Fortier. Timothy McVey's T-shirt he wore that day, the actual get away car, license, gun, knife, etc were on display.

The memorial section of the museum contained a room called the Gallery of Honor which honors the lives of the 168 who were killed . The families display personal photographs and artifacts of their loved ones. When asked what children could do to help others, the First Lady Hilary Clinton suggested that they could write a letter expressing how they felt. These letters became known as DEAR OKLAHOMA CITY. Located near this display was a marble statue depicting an image of what the artist, New Yorker Miles Slater, saw and presented his work to the people of Oklahoma. Outdoors led you to The Gates of Time which are monumental twin gates that frame the moment of destruction. 9:02am marks the formal entrances to the Memorial. The East Gate represents 9:01am on April 19 and the innocence of the city before the attack. The West Gate represents 9:03am...the moment we were changed forever and the hope that came from the horror in the moments and days following the bombing. There is a reflecting pool between the gates with gently flowing water which is meant to help soothe wounds. In the background is the Field of Empty Chairs with each of 168 chairs representing a life lost with smaller chairs representing the 19 children...the chairs are arranged in nine rows, one for each of the nine floors of the building...each bronze and stone chair rests on a glass base etched with the name of the victim. By day, the chairs seem to float above their translucent bases...by night, the glass illuminates as beacons of hope. Then there is the Survivor Tree which is a 90+ year old American Elm which bears witness to the violence of April 19 and now stands as a profound symbol of human resilience.

Oklahoma City

Lee and I have not yet visited the 911 Memorial in Manhattan, but visiting the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum must invoke the same emotions.....a heinous attack that could have happened to any of us personally...to put faces to the people who died and survived....this sends chills through your body.
As you approach the memorial you are greeted by a chain link fence filled with memorabilia of remembrance for the victims especially the children.

At the entrance of the museum, there are hand made tiles that were made by school children in remembrance. As you walk through the museum itself, April 19, 1995 is described as A DAY LIKE ANY OTHER.....you hear an official recording of the bombing as the Oklahoma Water Resource Building holds their 9:00am meeting....you understand the confusion about what happened and the resources that came together to help the injured and look for survivors. The entire city as well as first responders from other cities came together to provide resources, food, medical attention, mental health services etc. Below find some pictures of a stopped clock which shows the time of the bombing, rubble which includes items from the child care center located on the second floor, remnants of buildings,etc.

Dallas, Texas

When I think of Dallas I always think of the day JFK was assasinated.  So, of course, one of our stops in Texas had to be Dealey Plaza and the JFK museum at the Book Depository Building.  It always amazes me when you are able visit the sights you have heard so much about!  I was about 13 years old when Kennedy died and I remember being riveted to my seat watching the events unfold on the television.  Visiting the Kennedy Museum and standing on Dealey Plaza was quite emotional....it helps us remember the tragedy but it also reminds us of what we should do going forward...continue our efforts for world peace.  The pictures below show the Grassy Knowle, the exact spot where Kennedy was shot (the X), and the route of the cars turning down Elm Street (the Book Depository Building in the upper left corner where the shots were fired)

After we finished our visit, we walked a couple of blocks to the Historic West End which boasted of numerous restaurants. We chose the Spaghetti Warehouse where we dined in an old railroad car and enjoyed sumptuous pasta dishes and glasses of chianti. It was a good day!

Home of Dr. Pepper

Would you believe that Waco, Texas is the home of Dr. Pepper.....who knew!  The Dr. Pepper museum was located right near the Silos so we had to make this our next stop.  Here is a little history about this popular soda.......
The drink was created in the 1880's by Charles Alderton in Waco and first served around 1885. An artesian well provided water for making the first Dr. Peppers. This museum is the original bottling plant and the well is located on the first floor.  The slogan on the original bottles was 10, 2, 4 which represented the time in the day when people needed a little "pick me up".  Dr. Walter H. Eddy of Columbia University conducted a study on the human body's fatigue.  He found that a person's blood sugar is at it's lowest around 10:30, 2:30, and 4:30 leaving him or her feeling tired and hungry...in 1926 after learning about the study, employee Earle Racey thought of "Drink a Bite to Eat at 10, 2, and 4.  Dr. Pepper used this slogan until the 1960's.
This slogan gained new meaning during World War II when the US rationed sugar because it was a major ingredient in explosives.  To save itself from being rationed by the government the Dr. Pepper Company created a booklet titled, "The Liquid Bite" which explained how sugar is an energy booster and was therefore needed by the soldiers.  Based on the efforts of the Dr. Pepper Company and others, carbonated beverages were declared "essential to the war effort" and reclassified as a food by Congress.  Here are some pictures!

Hello Waco Texas, Hello Chip and Joanna Gaines!

We are so excited to be in Waco to visit Magnolia and the Silos.....if you watch HGTV's Fixer Upper, you know why....we are where the show is filmed and it is the home of Chip and Joanna who have single handedly put Waco on the map.  They have created a wonderful family and retail space at the Silos located right in the downtown!  Apart from the large retail market, there is an open space with outdoor seating and toys for families to enjoy....a large stage for performances...food trucks....a bakery....and a Seed and Supply store.  There is also a trolley that took passengers for a 15 minute tour of the area.  We had such a good time browsing (of course, a little shopping)!  We also went to Joanna's bakery where we purchased her signature cupcakes and cinnamon rolls!  What an amazing experience to see the sights that we see on their tv show....we even took a picture of the Alico building which is seen at the opening of Fixer Upper show. The only thing that would have made our visit complete would to have seen Chip and Joanna in person!  Oh well, perhaps next time!

Johnson Space Center continued

Once we returned to the main plaza, we continued to explore the exhibits....we rented earphones so    we could go on our own guided tour.  We were fascinated to see the models and artifacts from previous missions such as Apollo 13.....we saw a Lithium Hydroxide Canister which was modified to fit the life support system of the lunar module to remove the CO2...this was critical to the crew's survival....remember that part in the movie!  We also saw their checklist!     

             Some of  the other exhibits we saw were models of the astronauts on the moon surface with a Land Rover as well as the actual Apollo 17 Command Module which was the last manned spacecraft to have traveled to the moon. This Command Module orbited the moon and housed astronaut Ron Evans while Astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt headed to the surface aboard the lunar module.  Commander Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon!

  

    

                                  As we neared the end of our visit, we were able to see actual Moon Rocks    
as well as the Apollo Command Module Trainer which is a mock up to familiarize the astronauts with the basic operations of the CM. We were also fortunate to see the movie, Last Man on the Moon, which is a documentary on the late astronaut Gene Cernan.  On our way out, Lee visited the Astronaut Gallery which boasted one of the world's comprehensive collections of spacesuits.