Oklahoma in June

Once again your regularly scheduled programming has been postponed, and in its place I am offering an excuse. There is no China post today, because I spent the last week in Oklahoma. I wrote all of last week’s posts while I was there, but for some reason, I never finished my musings on our last Monday in China, which was what I was planning to offer you today. Then, last night I decided to share just a few moments from my trip to Oklahoma instead.

It had been a while since I had visited, and I had forgotten how vast the sky is in the Midwest. I took these shots outside my father’s house upon waking up on my first morning there. The weather was overcast and cool (high 70s), just how I like it, as opposed to the 90+ degree temperatures that are possible in June.

It seemed at times that my entire trip was spent eating… hmmm maybe that is why I enjoyed it so much. I met up with someone most every day, sometimes going out with one friend for lunch and another for dinner. Therefore, it was only natural that I would have eaten at the Mont several times. I attended the University of Oklahoma, and the Mont has been my favorite restaurant since my very first visit in 1994. This amazing restaurant is famous for the Sooner Swirl, my drink of choice. I have decided that I am going to start rating my trips to Oklahoma in swirls. This was a three swirl trip.

There has been many a trip to the Mont where numerous swirls were consumed, but on this trip I only drank one per visit. Maybe I am just getting old.

Unfortunately, I did not take many pictures around the university, but I got a few. The campus has changed so much since I attended. All of these things are new or greatly renovated in the case of the stadium. The first picture is of a brick commemorating the original location of what was my favorite bar in Norman. I have not been to O’Connells since it moved; I think that it would just make me sad.

We went to listen to a band, the Birds of Chicago, one night at the Blue Door in Oklahoma City. I really enjoyed their music. The venue is a tiny little place, holding only about seventy people, and is BYOB. You could not ask for a better atmosphere for listening to live music.

I spent my last night in Oklahoma with my college roommate and another dear friend. We explored Bricktown in downtown OKC. I really wish that the Riverwalk and all of the great venues it sports had existed when I was in college. It is such a cool attraction now. The Riverwalk deserves more detail than I can give it today, so I will write more about it in its own post soon.

After a lamentable absence of three years, I was happy to be back in my old stomping grounds. It was great to spend time with so many friends and family members in Oklahoma. I wish that I had taken more pictures with people, here are a couple with my furry family members.

Now I am back home with my husband, who refused to accompany me on the trip, and my own furry babies. Let the projects commence!

Happy Travels!