USA trip in March 2012 Part II of III

Oklahoma City

After a fun filled few days in Houston (read part I) we travelled north to Oklahoma City to visit Emily and Toba (her dog) who live there.  The flight went really well although was a little bumpy.  Emily told us to call when we landed and she would come and pick us up. Great no hire car required.  We called and just as we collected our bags she was waiting for us, great timing.  

Then it was off back to her house to meet Toba (aka "horse dog").  Toba is very well trained though super excited to see new people. 

Toba.. Can I eat Fiona she looks so tasty

On guard Toba

Fetch

Friday

On Friday we went shopping, as much as I dislike this task with the rate Fiona is growing it is a necessary evil.  We loaded up and hit the outlet mall.  On arrival Fiona was allowed to walk in the pedestrian area, they had some big concrete balls to stop traffic entering this area, Fiona shouts "Ball" and runs at one to try and push it, it didn't move she bounced off and got up looking all confused saying "Ball?". I only wish we had a video camera running it would have made "You've been framed" or "America's funniest home video's" for sure!


Saturday

All registered and ready to go

Saturday was Race day.  Amanda and Emily are completing a competition against each other to try and cover the distance between Bogota and Oklahoma City in the shortest time (see link here) Because of this they both try to exercise as much as possible. At the moment Amanda is injured so this meant that Amanda, Emily and Fiona took part in the 1mile fun run at the race, it also meant that I was able to run 5km race without pushing Fiona.  We arrived at the event and managed to get signed on.  

Amanda, Emily and Fiona lined up for the fun run and did really well, 20min for a mile is pretty good with legs as short as Fiona has. Once back I got to race, I am really pleased with my result since I'd been sick in Bogota and not run for a month before this race.  I managed a personal best and won my age category, we even got a picture of me overtaking second place on the home straight :)

 

Bang

And they are off

Finished!

My Race start..
I'm near the back

Me passing someone
at the finish 

Post race I'm shattered
and it was only 5km!

Getting gold medal
for my age group

After the race we went and did a little more shopping albeit at a running store (can you see a theme here) then we went for lunch and yet more shopping.

Sunday

Sunday may be a day of rest for some people but when the Blades show hits town it is another opportunity to wear yourself out.  We started the day early so I could get some photos during the so called Golden hour at the Oklahoma City National Memorial (thanks Amanda and Emily again for getting up early).  The memorial marks the spot in 1995where Timothy McVeigh parked a rental truck full of explosives and the detonation and subsequent collapse of the building  killed 168 people, each of whom is marked by an empty seat indicating their location during the explosion.

Reflection pool

Gate of Time

Field of Chairs

We then moved on to Bricktown and to have a look at some statues depicting the centennial land run which took place in 1889.

Clear the river

About to get run down!

Giant bottle

After breakfast we headed out to a place called Pops near Arcadia on route 66.  This is a petrol station and a dinner. It is also home to a large selection of pop and a giant sculpture of a bottle.

Following a short stop here we headed back to Oklahoma city zoo as we were meeting Jennifer and Scott there.  We decided to take a short detour on the way back. Going from Emily's map in the car it looked like it would be good roads. Don't think any of us expected this though.

When roads go bad :)

Oklahoma City Zoo

Gorilla

Thanks to Scott, Amanda's friend Jennifer's husband we had a great time at the zoo, guest entries and Emily and I were able to get a back stage tour to see how they feed the apes and actually help out, an experience I'm sure neither of us will forget.

Orangutan

Owing to the heat and the fact that once again Fiona didn't want to ride in her pram we kept the time at the zoo short and sweet. We did see quite a few animals though, here are some photos.

They also have a baby Elephant at the zoo which was super cute.  

Following the trip to the zoo we headed back to Emily's place to have a BBQ. Jennifer and her baby Mia came along, sadly Scott couldn't make it as he was watching "OKC Thunder" play or from the garbled message we got from Amanda "the cloud or something"

Monday
Continued in part III