Vicki's 2014 Visit - Part 3

On Monday, after the speed bump in Oklahoma City, we drove to Tulsa.  I have a Garmin for my car but probably since I've not connected it to my iMac in two or three years, it's not really up to date.  So, Darling Siri guided us to our stop for the night - The Best Western in Tulsa.  We grabbed dinner at Ruby Tuesday which was right next door, and retired early.

We left Tulsa early-ish on Tuesday, and stopped for a few photo ops along the way to Little Rock.

Vicki's proof we were in Broken Arrow, OK

 On the way to Muskogee, we spied a sign that noted a WWII museum and after a few wrong turns wandered through an industrial area at the end of which was a CLOSED WWII museum.  The USS Batfish is stored there on the Arkansas River [not the Red River as someone mentioned].  Since the museum was closed and we had no access to the USS Batfish, there's no photo of it.  Instead, . . .

A tank and truck.

 We'd read that there were several antique malls in and around Muskogee, as well as an Indian Museum.  We were told the antique malls are only open Wednesday through Sunday so another speed bump.  We did, however, find the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and spent some time being entertained and guided by Ron Borren, a musicologist and 7th generation Texan who moved to Oklahoma when he was a kid.

Here's the "dance hall" where performances are held and t-shirts are sold.  Yes, that's Vicki buying a couple of t-shirts.

After a quick stop at Braum's for a cone, we headed to Little Rock.  We toured the River Market and were told by a couple of folks that it was Spring Break and we might not find a hotel / motel.  We did a little shopping and touring, of course, but nothing noteworthy.  Since we'd been sitting a lot, we needed to get in some much-needed exercise.

At one point, a panhandler aggressively crossed the street to try to get to us, but when he saw that we picked up the pace, he went back to the other side of the street.

We decided to head westward about 30 miles to find another Best Western, which we did - and it was pretty close to an Applebee's so we chowed down there.

Along the way, we saw some spectacular puffy white trees and when we got home, I did a little research.  They were either Dogwood [but I'm familiar with them and they aren't very puffy] or Crape Trees.  In any case, they were beautiful and in some areas there were Redbuds nearby and the scene was remarkable.

Our trip home was uneventful [thankfully] with just a spritz or two of rain.

On Thursday, we hit a few "antique" places in and around Old Downtown Plano where I got two more mirrors.  High Street in Plano is a definite do again.

On Friday, we went to Fort Worth to the Montgomery Street Antique Mall which has 61,000 square feet of merchandise.  I got a mirror there, but the prices were much higher than in Plano.  We met a lovely lady there, Traci Williams, who told us to go to Lula B's two locations in Dallas.  After a little drive around Fort Worth, we had lunch at AF and B [American Food and Beverage].  Grass fed burgers and stupendous fries.  A definite do again.  Fort Worth has changed SO much since I lived there.

On Saturday, we did a little shopping.  Vicki talked to Matt at Lenscrafters as her new glasses didn't seem right.  She's going to have that taken care of when she gets back to New Jersey.  I'd bought a Fossill handbag a few weeks ago that just didn't seem to work for me so I took that back to the Fossill store at Stonebrier and then found another - cheaper - handbag at Macy's - 40% off!!!  Love a bargain.

On Sunday, we went to Lula B's in Deep Ellum and ran into Tracy Williams.  Didn't find anything there so we went to the Lula B's on Riverfront where I found two more mirrors.  The White Elephant is next door and they had some nice things but not what I was looking for.

On another note, we've NOT been to the movies since Vicki got here, but did watch a few films on Amazon Prime - The Descendants and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel [which Vicki hadn't seen] and Dallas Buyer's Club and Mud, both of which were very good.   It looks like we might not make it to the theater as our Dance Cards are full for the rest of the week.

So, that's a wrap for now.  Check back soon.

Vicki's 2014 Visit - Part 2

The best laid plans of Mice and Men . . .  Get the drift?  Vicki requested that we visit the American Indian Museum in Oklahoma City and since I'd seen several ads on TV about it, I secured the address, entered it into my Garmin and we headed off nice and early on Monday, March 24.  The trip was uneventful, the weather was nice and we got to Oklahoma City in good time.  However, when we got to 900 N. Broadway, there was no museum - it was a very upscale bicycle shop.  The young men inside said "the museum isn't open yet" and when I looked at my watch, they said "it's still under construction."  The office, however, was upstairs and we went up there and chatted with two lovely ladies who said the museum would open in 2019!!!  Hopefully, I'll be alive in 2019 and we'll try again.

So, we went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial which was stunning, breathtaking, sad and beautiful.  So many emotions, tears filling my eyes when seeing the tiny chairs.  These photographs don't begin to do it justice.  Absolutely amazing!!!

The last two above are at St. Joseph's Church just across the street.

After a quick lunch at Blu's BBQ, we headed to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.  It was definitely not what we expected have heard so many superlatives about it. In my humble opinion, the museums in Fort Worth are much better, if smaller. We were in and out in about 90 minutes but I did catch a few photos of some things:

So, having our day cut short due to one museum not being open for five years and the other being less than what we'd heard [in our opinions], we decided not to stay in Oklahoma City and instead headed east to Tulsa.  After a little dinner next door at Ruby Tuesday, we're now in our PJs at the Best Western.  Our plan for Tuesday is heading further east, going through Broken Arrow and Muskogee and heading to Little Rock or thereabouts.  Do tune in, if you've a liking.

Vicki's Visit to Dallas 2014 - Part 1

Well, Vicki arrived on March 19th and after a few days of catching up, we headed out, and since Vicki had just gotten her eyes examined, we headed to Lenscrafters at Willow Bend and picked out her new glasses.  What do you think?

On Saturday, we retrieved Steve for a visit to The Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff.  We had our "first meal" at Lockhart BBQ and it was very good.  The brisket was the best but the sausage was very good.  The ribs - well, Angelo's in Fort Worth has much better ribs.  After that we did a little shopping and walking around.  Vicki found this:

Dessert was in order so we walked over to Emporium Pies!!  Oh My Goodness!!!!  Killer Pies!!!  Below is Vicki's Apple Caramel, Steve's Snowball [coconut cream] and my Key Lime.  Absolutely amazing!!!

Still walking around, we moseyed over to Ten Bells Tavern and had a libation and shared a Creamcicle Pancake.  Sorry, no pic of the pancake.  Below, coffee, beer and mimosa.

Saw this on the way to Ten Bells Tavern and just had to snap.

After The Bishop Arts, we headed over to Clyde Warren Park which underwhelmed me.  It's nice but should and could have been much larger.  Not really big enough for a concert of any substance, but a nice transition from one end of town to the other.  Here's Vicki in front of the mosaic at the DMA:

On Sunday, Vicki and I did laundry and planned our OK City etc. trip.  Jay was lovely enough to take us to dinner at Chamberlain's Fish Market:

So, off to bed early in order to get an early start to Oklahoma.