TUESDAY: This morning was pretty slow, but by 11, we woke up Kyle and Chelsea and we got ready for our day to the big(ger) city (cities, really). We first went into town to pick up Chelsea's car from the shop, and I got a better view of the City of Ada. Nice big post office they have. After picking the car up, we headed back to the house to figure out the plan for the afternoon of adventure. We'd still be taking my truck, but we would also take Lizzie and Joe's truck, too, and split the five of us between the vehicles so no one would get carsick or just plain hot and uncomfortable. It was Liz and Chelsea in one truck and the boys and me in mine, and so we headed out.
Our first stop, at about 3, was Norman, Oklahoma where the University of Oklahoma is located. We headed straight for this vegetarian restaurant that Chelsea had been to before called The Earth Natural Cafe & Deli. Delicious! I had a scrumptious blueberry-peach-strawberry smoothie, a 'Moonmaiden' grilled cheese (with tomato, avocado, and sprouts), and a salad, too. So good, and so filling. We walked around a bit and checked out a shoe store and a little boutique called Antique Garden. They had a bunch of fun things, but also had Sorority hoo-hah all about the store too, like, 'Get your rush week dresses and attire here!' I bought some earrings, but most everything else was either too expensive or too tiny. I'm being a Goldilocks about it, but you know, I think the earrings were just right. Anyhow, after that we decided to try to go to a winery east of town, and just as I thought we were getting lost, we arrived... but it was closed, so we headed into Oklahoma City, or OKC as it's affectionately known.
In Oklahoma City, we headed for Bricktown, a revitalized part of town that has the Bricktown Brewery (our first destination), a canal, the American Banjo Museum, and lots of other attractions. Since Oklahoma's centennial was in 2007, there were lots of awesome murals around the city and a bunch of buffalo, too. Not the real kind, but the fiberglass-decorated-by-artists kind. There was one that I found particularly clever: a buffalo nickel, sponsored by BankOne. (Pictures to come shortly.) Bricktown Brewery seemed pretty busy, but we got our beer and drank it, and as I looked around, I found it very strange that at a local brewery people would dare order Bud Light, but there it was. Crazy, in my mind. After we left the brewery, we headed for the canal and walked around. We stopped in to Put a Cork in It Winery for free wine samples, bought OK postcards, got frozen yogurt at Peachwave, wandered around the Red Dirt Emporium (where I got a cool ring made from a spoon), and then took a water taxi ride. The water taxi ride was actually quite informative. We heard about what the Bricktown area used to be like (abandoned warehouses, criminal activity, lots of homeless people), but we also learned about OKC history and history of the land rush as well. It made me want to read up on it a bit more. It still blows my mind that Oklahoma was the 46th state. We live in a pretty young country as far as our government is concerned.
After the water taxi ride, Chelsea and Kyle headed homeward since Che had to work in the morning, and Liz, Joe, and I walked around some more. We saw awesome mosaic murals by the new ballpark, took pictures with Flaming Lips Alley (who knew the were from OKC?), and generally wandered for a while. We headed home a bit later, getting back to Ada around 1 and hitting the hay HARD. Oh yeah, and I fell asleep to a thunderstorm. A big and bright one, and it was a lovely lullaby.
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