Earl and I spent a wonderful day in the beautiful city of Oklahoma City today.
To start of the morning, we had a light breakfast (waffles, french toast, double order of bacon) courtesy of Embassy Suites. If it’s within your budget and at your destination, I highly recommend Embassy Suites for your lodging of choice while on vacation. Earl and I stay at Embassy Suites whenever we get the chance, and we are never disappointed.
After breakfast we headed to the Oklahoma City Memorial Site… where the bombing took place on April 19, 1995. The memorial is beautiful and to visit there is an emotional experience. It is a tasteful, respectful and insightful memorial, and if you’re in the area, I highly recommend that you visit the site.
After the Memorial, we headed to the Myriad Gardens. I have to admit that we were both disappointed with the Myriad Gardens. It’s basically a park with lots of flowers, walkways, fountains and waterfalls. While portions of it were quite nice, it had a general air of disrepair about it. We had the feeling that the gardens had seen better times.
We then went to Quizno’s for lunch. Wow! Quizno’s toasts their subs and spanks Subway any day.
We then headed south of OKC and drove through the prairie to see some of the more rural areas of Oklahoma. We drove through several small towns. Looking for a simpler life, I was quick to appreciate the lifestyle we observed… everyone was friendly and seemed to be looking out for each other. There was a definite sense of community.
After the drive, Earl needed to touch base with work (yay! for e-mail) and then we freshened up for supper. We decided on a local restaurant called Cattleman’s Café which is famous for it’s steak. One of the appetizers and entreés listed was “Lamb Fries”. Neither of us were familiar with Lamb Fries, so Earl asked what they were. The waitress replied “Rocky Mountain Oysters”. I instantly knew what they were, having ‘experienced’ Rocky Mountain Oysters a number of years ago. But Earl was not familiar with the dish, so he pressed her for more information. She replied, quite simply “Lamb Balls”. I wish I had the camera on when he found out what Lamb Fries were. Needless to say, he wasn’t about to give them a try.
The steak and sides, delivered by a handsome man with wonderful sideburns (I’m always a fanatic for great facial hair), was out of this world. I had a T-bone, Earl had the Blue Ribbon 14 oz. Ribeye. Absolutely delicious. Best steak I’ve ever had. Any thoughts of my previous vegetarianism are completely out the window. We highly recommend the Cattleman Cafe in the Stockyards on Agnew.
Earl and I both love Oklahoma City. We’ve always thought that we would move to the desert when we retired, but after this trip we’re rethinking that line of thought. We’re really liking this area… the fact that there is a definite change of seasons I(but not too extreme) and the friendly, sense of community.
Tomorrow we head to Wichita to continue our Americana Adventure. I’m really looking forward to the drive.
