Friday, November 30, 2012

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A!

I went to visit my friend Lara in Oklahoma City in October. When I arrived, she announced, "Welcome to Oklahoma, where America hasn't quite made it to 2012." Man, I thought, growing up in Ohio, I'd seen America. I was wrong. Oklahoma is about as America as it gets.

DSC04005

These are outside of the airport and are about 2 stories tall!

DSC03998

Church's Chicken. I didn't know that these existed outside of Ghost World.

DSC03999

Lara is a professional baker and she made me a cake for my visit. Macaroni and Pearls is a reference to a purse-making business that we tried to start that lasted about 5 minutes.

DSC04000

DSC04001

DSC04002

It was a chocolate cake with a hazelnut mousse filling. Omagah!

DSC04003

DSC04004

DSC04006

Then we went to "Affair of the Heart," which wouldn't surprise me if it's the world's largest craft fair. It was held at the state fair grounds and encompassed about 5 or six convention halls. It was insane. We spent 5 1/2 hours there, bought a crapload of crap, and the people watching was unprecedented (and that's coming from someone currently living in NYC)

DSC04007

Midwesterners are keen on putting giant bows on their baby girls.

DSC04008

all of these cocktail rings were mesmerizing.

DSC04009

After 5 1/2 hours of walking around in my own pair of plastic jelly flops at 5 months preggo, I actually thought these looked tempting.

DSC04010

If you look at them the right away, their eyes follow you.

DSC04011

You know what this place needs to tie the room together?  A leopard print cross.

DSC04012

Snack time. Strudel. It's a craft.

DSC04013

Educational craft felt boards. These are so much more sophisticated than the ones I ever made at the library.

DSC04014

Take a good long look at this.

DSC04014

Ok, so, these are patches that are made of sequins. You glue them to clothing with fabric glue to make "Shirt-scapes." Shirt-scapes. Yeah, Shirt-scapes.

DSC04016

We need another snack. A giant cinnamon roll will fit the bill.

DSC04017

We split a pecan roll with buttercream. I could have eaten a whole one by myself, but I didn't admit it.

DSC04018

It was huge.

DSC04019

Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle...Rita?

DSC04020

Challenge: Where would you put this in your home?

DSC04021

This man was selling visors that had furry hair attached to them to make you look like Guy Fieri. Oh, and chitlins.

DSC04022

My only regret in life is not getting a photo of this guy from the front.

DSC04023

Oh, hey, look who got a street named after them.

DSC04026

Aaahhh, after the craft fair, we visited Womb Gallery, the brain-child of Wayne Coyne.

DSC04027

You enter through a vagina.

DSC04028

DSC04029

They were not pink. There was no need to call Yoshimi.

DSC04030

Outside, they were having a pet adoption festival.

DSC04034

They had a tent full of kittens!

DSC04031

Did you hear me?

DSC04032

I said A TENT FULL OF KITTENS!!!

DSC04033

DSC04035

I can't tell if I like the catfish more, or the expression on my face.

DSC04036

Just thought this was cool.

DSC04037

Lara said we could visit the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. I thought I wanted to just drive by. I'm glad she made me get out of the car and look around. It was really beautiful.

DSC04038

DSC04039

DSC04040

DSC04041

DSC04049

I was in OKC for less than 48 hours. Right before we left, Lara took me to the Stockyards, which is a place where they auction livestock and is basically a mall of animals. They have THE BEST steakhouse I've ever been to there! It looked a little chintzy, but was out of control amazing.

DSC04046

Steak for breakfast? Yes, please. And it came with everything you see here: Steak, eggs, potatoes, biscuits and gravy and toast. And coffee. I ate all but about 3 bites.

DSC04043

Just in case you didn't get enough gravy, or you want to add it to something unconventional, you can get it as a side.

DSC04045

I don't know who this was, but watched us eat.

DSC04047

The best part was our waiter, Sharp. Yeah, that was his real name. He was amazing and happily posed for this picture with me!

DSC04048

The Stockyards.

DSC04050

And right before I left, Pop's had to be visited. They have pop. From all over the world.

DSC04051

I didn't get Bacon Soda, but I did get an apple pie soda and a butterscotch root beer!

And that's all folks! There's a lot of other places I want to go to next time, like the Museum of Osteology! I highly recommend Oklahoma City for a fun weekend trip!



No comments:

Post a Comment