A night in

I'm not going to lie to you. My blog post today is a lot ho hum. I wrote it and didn't even want to re-read it for spellcheck purposes. That's how bored I was. So, I thought I'd try to add something fun at the start. Here it goes.

I'm sure you're all at home reading this in COVID lockdown or quarantine or you're just hiding from other people for a few minutes. Well, that's what it's been like for me over the last 16 months (or so). Typically, during covid-times if I leave the house, and that's a huge if, I am likely going for a walk or to the grocery store. The most I need to take with me are my house/car keys, wallet and personal phone. I've been really struggling with the amount of stuff I have to take with me every time I leave the hotel room or get out of the car. 

• Wallet
• Personal Phone
• Work Phone
• Car Keys
• Hotel Key
• Mask / back-up mask
• Camera
• Any drink I may have, because it's hot out
• Sunglasses
• Charger for my phone, so I can plug it into the USB port in the car and link the maps to the screen in the car. I forgot a second phone charger, so I have to keep bringing it back and forth between the car and the hotel.
• Snack, because I've already had one blood sugar issue and I'm not about to have another one

I hear you. "Why don't you bring a purse or a bag?" I do. I have a camera bag that doubles as a messenger bag, so most of that stuff fits in there, but I still end up having my phone, charger, two sets of keys, mask and drink in my hands while trying to throw the bag over my shoulder and I don't like this. I feel like I'm literally juggling and I have dropped things many times. 

Is this what life was like before? I mean, minus the mask?

This meme comes to mind.

-----THE BLOG POST-----

My lovely co-workers suggested I take an extra long lunch to check out Oklahoma City (and reminded me to put my SD card back in the camera), so I placed an order for pick up in Bricktown and planned on that long lunch in the city. 

I imagine Bricktown is the hot and happening part of town on a Friday night in OKC, but lunchtime on a Tuesday was sleepy to say the least. I think I saw 10 people. 

I tried HARD to find the part of the city that felt like a city and, though Oklahoma City is a "Large American City", it does not exist. I think there are a handful of tall(ish) buildings in the city center area, but it felt like something I'd find in a smallish suburb back home. 

The tallest building in OKC - Devon Tower (844 ft)

That's it folks. That's the tallest and second tallest building in the city. (Chase Tower, 500 feet).

I drove around and saw some art, which I snapped pictures of from the car because I didn't feel like going for an hour long walk to see not much. 

I was really hoping that OKC would be a cute city with fun things to do. Maybe not like New Orleans. But maybe more like Nashville, which is 90% residential and 10% music and sports. OKC feels 99% sprawl and mini malls, or whatever the modern version is that has a few restaurants and a Trader Joe's. 

Here is an idea of the sprawl as taken from the car near Bricktown and the City Center 

Why is there so much empty space?

Also, I saw the Oklahoma City Hall / Municipal Building from the highway, which immediately reminded me of buildings I saw in Berlin that were built by Nazis, which architecturally makes a little sense because it the OKC Municipal Building was built between 1933 and 1939. 

Tell me I'm wrong.

Oklahoma City Municipal Building

House of the German Council of Municipalities

Anyway, nothing really spoke to me in OKC today. So, I decided to order room service for dinner and treat myself to a bath with a bath bomb I've had for maybe 3 or 4 years. 

I'm working tomorrow and then I have two proper vacation days. Wednesday at lunchtime, or maybe after work, I plan on hitting up a few spots for fun OKC pictures (stay tuned) and a museum or two on Thursday. You probably won't be disappointed. They have a pigeon museum, y'all. And then on Friday morning, I'll drive up to Kansas, through Wakita (Twister movie shout out!) and head back south on Saturday and Sunday. I fly home from Dallas on Sunday evening.