Country Mouse, City Mouse

To say that we spent the majority of our Oklahoma visit in the country would be an understatement. The town where we stayed is an hour and a half away from the Oklahoma City airport. On the ride to the hotel, I saw more fields and cows than I think I've ever seen. I did see the windmills and lots of oil rigs, which were huge and neat to see as well. The town of Clinton reminds me of the movie, "Remember the Titans" where everyone knows everyone because they've all lived there for a hundred years or more, not to mention they are a huge football town. Go Red Tornadoes!! It's just so different from our way of living and even thinking.

We did take the escape one day to the city. Oklahoma City is not a huge metropolis like some cities we are familiar with...it is certainly not a New York City, Atlanta, or Chicago. But it definitely had more to offer in the form of entertainment than the city of Clinton.

We went to the Myriad Botanical Gardens (thanks dad...this was a stretch for him). I've never even been to the Botanical Gardens in Atlanta so this was a pretty neat experience. We were three of five people in there so we could pretty much walk around as we pleased and take as many pictures as we wanted in front of some beautiful landscapes...which is exactly what we did!

After leaving the botanical gardens, we bundled up and walked around the city to a section called Bricktown...

This area was really nice, clean, and had some neat sights to see. There is a canal that goes right through the center of Bricktown with restaurants, shops, and other entertainment on either side. There is water taxi that will take you the length of the canal and back, but it was way too cold for that! We found out in our walking around that Sonic's headquarters is based out of Oklahoma City. They have the nicest Sonics you've ever seen! Their corporate office overlooks the canal and is quite nice, might I add.

Of course, Ella loved the ducks just as much as anything. By the way, ducks love puffs too!

It was approaching dinnertime so we began our search for somewhere to eat. Among the many choices: Hooters :), Toby Keith's "I love this bar and grill," and of course plenty of Sonics, we decided to eat here:

We just had to! Earl saw BBQ but didn't see the name and didn't believe me when I told him. It was a yummy BBQ eatery similar to Shane's Rib Shack. Ella ate her pork sandwich while Earl and I tried the "Big Earl": BBQ, brisket, and...smoked bologna. Go figure...

It was great afternoon and evening and I can now say that there is much more to Oklahoma than a Hampton Inn, a Homeland (the grocery store), an Adalena's Mexican restaurant, and a Del Rancho. Yes, all of the restaurants above look exactly like they sound- but at least the food tasted good!

But, now it's back home (to the city for sure)...and glad to be here!