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.



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



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



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.







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







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)



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



all of these cocktail rings were mesmerizing.



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.



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



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



Snack time. Strudel. It's a craft.



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



Take a good long look at this.



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.



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



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



It was huge.



Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle...Rita?



Challenge: Where would you put this in your home?



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



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



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



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



You enter through a vagina.





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



Outside, they were having a pet adoption festival.



They had a tent full of kittens!



Did you hear me?



I said A TENT FULL OF KITTENS!!!





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



Just thought this was cool.



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.











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.



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.



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.



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



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



The Stockyards.



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



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!