Wednesday, March 12.- Hot Springs, Arkansas

Today we did a lot of driving. We got to Hot Springs around 2:30. As we entered town I saw a restaurant that was in my 1,000 things to do or see in the USA before you die book. So, since I was driving, I turned around and we ate lunch at McClard's BBQ. McClard's has been operating in Hot Springs since 1928 and it is being run by their family's 4th generation. We then drove down to bath row where the National Park headquarters is located in the Fordyce Bathhouse. In its heyday, before the 1930's, it was the grandest on bath row. It was restored to it's former glory by the park service. We toured the building and were amazed by it's elegance. Marble tables and benches, tiled floors and stained glass windows could be found throughout. Some of the showers and steam saunas however looked a little scary. On the 3rd floor was the favorite for both Sharon and me, the gymnasium.

The owners of this restaurant actually began by running the town motel.  One of their guests who had stayed for nearly a month and could not pay his bill gave them a BBQ recipe that he assured would more than pay for his lodging costs.  4 generations later, I'm sure they would agree!

The menu gave a brief history of BBQ that said it originated from a French term,barbe a queue, meaning "from beard to tail". Since pigs don't have beards, the belief is that they were roasting goats!  

Whatever we were eating, everyone certainly seemed to enjoy it!!



A ladies bedroom

The beauty shop

Indian clubs for workouts in the gymnasium

Gymnasium

Dumbbells and weights

A lift bed to lower disabled into the therapy pool

Stained glass skylights

marble bench

hydrotherapy room with steam cabinets

Ladies parlor

downtown Hot Springs

Bathhouse Row

more stained glass in the cooling room

marble hot tub

March 11 - Centennial Park

After our emotional visit to the memorial I wanted to try to find a park I had seen on the internet. The park was dedicated to the pioneers that had been a part of the great Oklahoma land rush of 1889. Thousands of men, women and children lined up along the perimeter of the unassigned indian lands of Oklahoma with the intentions of reaching and claiming a 160 acre plot of land as part of the Homestead Act.  One entry point near the now, Oklahoma City, had been nothing more than a crossroads, until that April day of the land run. Participants lined the river and awaited the signal of a canon, gunshot or bugle at high noon before racing towards the promised lands. They road horses, mules, took wagons and some even bought train passage to get an advantage to other entry points. Of course there were some that entered the area early and hid until the appointed signal. These became known as "sooners", and now you know the rest of the story!
The statues depicting this famous land rush are bigger than life and more are being added to this exhibit. We talked with a couple that told us the city is trying to revitalize the downtown by adding a canal similar to that of San Antonio. Many of the old buildings of Bricktown are being renovated as lofts and apartments. I would like to go back in several years to see the progress.

We ate at Toby Keith's restaurant

March 11 - Oklahoma City Memorial

Today was a very sobering day. First, as we were nearing downtown Oklahoma City, the traffic slowed to a crawl. After nearly 30 minutes, covering a half mile, we came upon a terrible traffic accident involving a semi truck and a motorcycle. We were thinking how fortunate for us that we had stopped for gas. We had no problems finding our way to the memorial located downtown. Parking was easily available nearby with just a short walk across the street to the memorial. We began by going through the museum before we explored the park outside where the Federal building once stood. The museum was on two floors and the first floor was for the entrance and gift shop. We took an elevator to the third floor where you arrived to follow a timeline beginning at 6:30 am on April 19, 1995. As we read accounts of when people began arriving for work, dropping children off at daycare you had the feeling that it was just another day in the life of these citizens of Oklahoma City. We then entered a room with a desk at the front and we soon realized that we were in a courtroom listening to a petition about water rights. The recording we were listening to was an actual tape of the court proceedings that had begun at 9 o'clock. At 9:02 we heard the actual blast and the screams and chaos that ensued. The doors then opened at the far end of the room and you walked out listening to the local news reports from that morning the room was filled with photos of and the actual debris from the blast. There were many screens that played interviews and first hand reports of what happened immediately following the blast. The most heartbreaking were the parents who were looking for their children who attended the daycare. The memorial is a wonderful tribute to those who lost their lives that day and to the first responders. I was near tears most of the time. The second floor honored those who lost their lives that day. A room filled with a photo of each victim displayed with mementos was one of the most difficult rooms to view. Next to this room was a chapel showing photos on a screen while hymns were being played in the background. There were also some exhibits referring to the trial but by this time I was emotionally spent.

An unclaimed stuffed animal from the daycare. 17 children were killed that day.

The blast occurred at 9:02, notice the clock.

The Memorial room

The last room had gold foil origami cranes hanging from the ceiling.

Outside in the memorial park, it was less intense and more serene. Today was a perfect day and the reflecting pool was beautiful. As I watched the other visitors I wondered how many were from out of state. I also wondered if some were there to grieve the loss of a loved one. It seemed to me that the city had provided a peaceful setting where the healing could perhaps begin.

The Reflecting pool had two identical ends with the exception that one read 9:01 & and the other 9:03.

 Each chair represents a person that died that day, small chairs indicated the children. The chairs were in 9 rows that told how many died on each of the 9 floors of the federal building that day. A name was engraved on each chair.

 This is called the Survivor Tree. It was the only tree that survived the blast that day. Today the tree is surrounded by a circular bench that overlooks the Memorial park.

This statue was titled, And Jesus Wept

Monday, March 10 - Roswell, New Mexico

Before leaving Carlsbad we stopped at the Living Desert Zoo & State Park. It is a very nice AZA accredited zoo that has mostly animals from the desert region. A few exceptions were animals that were endangered and part of a SSP breeding program. Among them were
Mexican wolves, a Bolton tortoise, and some parrots.

javalina

Bolson Tortoise

Black-tail Prairie dog

Bobcat

Succulent Exhibit

After the zoo we headed north and on our way to Amarillo we stopped in Artesia and Roswell.

When we checked in to our motel we were told that we could get picked up by a limo if we wanted to go to the Big Texan steakhouse for dinner. On our way up route 70 we saw thousands of cattle in stock yards so we had an appetite for a good steak. The Big Texan had been around since 1960 but originally was on Rte. 66 and is the home of the free 72 oz. steak. That is if you can eat it and all the trimmings in one hour.

The 72 oz. steak

My 8 oz. steak