OKC July 2023 Part 2 of 2

Sunday, July 30th was a stay at home day, playing games and eating in. The weather was still blisteringly hot so this was a good decision. Jeremy zotted over to the dojo to pick up Autumn from her sleepover after her highly-welcomed breakfast of donuts. Even physically fit martial art students enjoy the sweet pleasures of life.

Autumn painted and assembled a 3-D wooden craft kit of an octopus I had brought along in my suitcase. She was so engrossed and did it with such independence. I felt proud of her and also of my success in gift selection for her.

Throughout the day we played games. Isaiah took major interest in the Go Fish and Uno card games.

As well as Go Fish and Uno, Autumn enjoyed playing Quirkle with us, a tile game of matching shapes and colors. Later her mom Robin joined us, too.

For dinner we had home-cooked turkey chili which Autumn and Isaiah made. They browned the ground meat under Jeremy's supervision and added three different kinds of beans. Jeremy gave them free rein to choose which spices to add; they sprinkled them in independently. The resulting chili was excellent and extremely tasty, even for me who is not a fan of turkey.

In the evening, after dinner, Robin, Jeremy, Frank, and I played El Dorado, a card deck building game which Frank and I have played with them before, on previous visits. Each player travels over a terrain of jungle, waterways, or dessert with the tools of machetes, oars, or coins. I guess I gained no wisdom from prior experience because, of the four of us, I came in dead last. I did not have the foresight, or knowledge of game strategy to build my deck of cards with what was needed to be successful in the future, instead of instant gratification of the moment. Hence, I sadly got left behind.

On Monday, July 31st, once inside the Science Museum Oklahoma,  Autumn and Isaiah headed straight for the play structure within CurioCity immediately off to the right of the museum lobby. This elaborate multi-level playground is good for delivering at least 30-45 minutes of parents and grandparents sit-on-their-butt-and-rest-and-observe time.

Around the play structure are other fascinating hands-on curiosities. There is device that for lack of a better name I call the ball popper. A tight fitting bowling ball sized "eyeball"  is manually raised via kid power (or grandpa power) within a narrow clearance tube. A basket at the far end is filled with small lightweight balls. When the "eyeball" is dropped, the air pressure pops the little balls up into the air, even as high as the ceiling depending on how many small balls are loaded in the basket. Fewer balls cause higher flights. Not one to just observe, this intrigued Frank. He would raise the "eyeball" repeatedly as long as kid power gathered up all those small balls and reloaded the basket. 

Wending our way through CurioCity we came upon a bed of nails. First a "victim" crawls into a replica of a wagon as would be in a gypsy caravan and  lies flat on a thick plate of plastic. The jury is still out on whether, with the punch of a button, the plate lowers or the nails rise up from within a grid of holes in the plate. Either way there is definition a sensation throughout the victim's body when contacted with the nails. Autumn tried it out first, convincing us it was a weird sensation that we had to experience.

I tried next and it did tickle in a weird way. The nails did not poke into the back of my head but when they were retracted I did feel a bit dizzy for some unknown reason.

Frank was a bit reluctant to do it but succumbed to pleas of, "Please Grandpa...". Fitting his 6'4" frame within the confines caravan wagon was a bit tricky but with some scooting and shuffling, he managed. He did not find the nails pleasurable.

What I experienced as a bit of dizziness, hit Frank like a ton of bricks as full on vertigo. There was a line of kids waiting to use the attraction so Frank could not just continue to lie there. Robin supported him and led him slowly hand-in-hand to a the nearest restroom. He went in and entered a stall only to be confronted with a child height toilet. He made do and emerged 10 minutes or so later, mostly recovered, and only needing to sit and rest a bit. This was when all of us took time out from exploring to have a snack. 

Isaiah had seen a balloon artist in another part of the museum and we went there for him to get a sword and shield made for him. He was so thrilled with them.

There was a display with a pendulum to illustrate resonance. By flinging out a magnet on a string, attaching it to the pendulum drum, drawing and releasing the pendulum toward and away from you, you could substantially increase the amplitude of its swing. Frank and the kids played with this for quite a while.

This piece of artwork of a bird in the palm of a hand drew me in. It is an ode to the art of creativity. Normally a science museum caters to the logical left side of the brain. This structure called to the more artistic right side of the brain. I enjoyed its uniqueness and message. Be sure to peek inside. 

The remnants of creativity are carelessly strewn in the little creator's haste to make tangible from the intangible.

This model of a streamlined electric locomotive built for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), in the northeastern United States is called a GG1. It brought back strong memories for Frank as he exclaimed his nickname for it, "a GuggaUnity"! Frank routinely rode passenger cars drawn by one of these back and forth between Philadelphia, PA and Washington, DC in his college days at Saint Joseph's University. Per Wikipedia about the Pennsylvania GG1 class 

The GG1 entered service with the PRR in 1935 and later ran on successor railroads Penn Central, Conrail, and Amtrak. The last GG1 was retired by New Jersey Transit in 1983. Most have been scrapped, but 16 are in museums.

Look closely at the next photo and see the letters A.T.&S.F which stands for Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. There is a song on YouTube about this rail line.

Frank truly enjoyed looking at this train layout and more especially so when his grandkids joined him.

Frank and Robin pose near a model of a roundhouse.

Robin took a picture of Frank and me with Autumn and Isaiah before leaving the museum.

On the way home we stopped at GameStop to let Isaiah pick out a promised birthday present for his recent July birthday. Seeing what my grandkids picked, pointed out to me the wisdom to letting them pick out their own gifts since I do not have a clue what they like as they get older.

He picked several Minecraft blind boxes where a treasure is hidden inside a boulder of sorts, and the fun is in digging it out to find the surprise.

Autumn selected a Disney dance game for an X-box that has popular tunes from Disney movies such songs from Descendants including “Evil like Me” and “Rotten to the Core”.

Robin had had the foresight to put a pork roast in the slow cooker before we left for the museum. We had a juicy, delicious meal waiting for us when we returned from a long, but exhausting, day of fun.

Tuesday, August 1st we said goodbye to the kids in the morning. Shortly after lunch Robin took Frank and me to the airport. We had a 4:30 pm flight that left pretty much on time and took us via a connecting flight through Phoenix home to Oakland airport arriving 8:00 pm. Both Frank and I caught some decent naps on the first leg. The second leg had a poor baby who cried pitifully, (actually screamed, probably painfully), the whole way. I felt so bad for him and his mom but thankfully most passengers were understanding and many tried to be helpful. It was so nice to see the patience and goodness come out of people. A small blessing was that the flight was on time.

Overall, we'd had a great trip and were pleased to have seen the grandkids in their own environment and to have learned their own interests. We were, however, glad to be back on home turf. We walked out the door of the airport terminal to a blast of cold air and cool breezes. Oh, what a relief from the 100℉+ temperatures we had cooked through in Oklahoma! Never the less, we would not hesitate to make the trip again ... though perhaps we would plan better than to visit in July.

OKC July 2023 Part 1 of 2

Frank and I arrived at the Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City Wednesday, July 26th at 11:00pm. We hustled from the baggage claim area out to the car waiting for us with Jeremy driving and Autumn along as a co-greeter. We never did see the classic statue of "Oklahoma's Native Son", the focal point of an outdoor garden on the airport's lower, or baggage-claim, level although we remembered it being there. We were too busy with hugs and kisses and saying hello after a long day of traveling. When I looked for a photo for this blog post, since I had not taken one of my own, I learned that this statue being overlooked is a concern. A tunnel to the parking garage and relocation of car rental facilities from the garage have further diverted the beaten path of visitors from beside Will Rogers and his horse Teddy. I found this 2016 article on its possible relocation - which still has not yet occurred. Will Rogers was a nice guy with a fond legacy and humor that amused me. The next time I visit Robin's family I will make an effort to give his bronze sculpture more of an acknowledgment, busy as we might be. 

It was not just at the airport that we hit the ground running. Bright and early the next morning, Thursday, July 27th (two hours earlier as perceived by my California biological clock) I left with Robin for the Cole Center to help hang quilts for the Central Oklahoma Quilters Guild (COQG) annual show. Robin had three of her own quilts entered, and she joined a many-membered team of volunteers to do the hanging. I came along, an extra set of hands not really needed, since the bottle neck of the dispersal process was the judging. But I enjoyed meeting her guild-mates and getting a sneak preview of about one third of the quilts in the show. Only one of Robin's quilts titled Christmas Traditions had been hung in the morning. Robin and I took a break to join Frank for lunch at McAllisters and then Robin returned in the afternoon without me in tow to complete hanging the quilt displays.

It was a long day for her, stretching into early evening. Jeremy had gone to work while Autumn and Isaiah were enjoying the final Thursday of their summer daycare Dino Camp experience held at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. They loved the program there with scavenger hunts throughout the museum and other engaging activities. Conveniently it is located on the University of Oklahoma campus so Jeremy can drop them there when he goes to work. 

Frank and I used the quiet afternoon in the house to good advantage, resting up and settling in from our travels the previous day. That night we all convened at Clark Crew BBQ, "an Oklahoma based World Champion BBQ team", near the Cole Center and enjoyed a great meal. The desserts we took home were also fantastic. Per Clark Crew BBQ's website 

Clark Crew BBQ has won over 700 Top 10 Awards, along with World Championships, The American Royal, The Jack Daniels, 2x National Team of the Year, and multiple Oklahoma Team of the Year titles. We’ve cooked on some of the biggest stages against some of the best teams in the world. Winning is what drives me every day and what makes having you join us at Clark Crew BBQ so exciting.

On Friday, July 28th, Frank, Robin, Isaiah, and I attended the opening day of the two-day COQG quilt show. Autumn chose instead to go to the final day of Dino Camp to say goodbye to her summer friends. Isaiah, like his two cousins at another quilt show a couple weeks earlier, was fascinated by the quilting machines. He watched with Grandpa and asked tons of questions. He raced up and down the aisles as Robin tried to see what colors and patterns he might like for a quilt for him.

These are the other two quilts Robin displayed at the show. The first is the quilt she made for Autumn titled Story of the Sky and the second one titled Simple Gifts. For an overview of other quilts in the show see the post in my DianeLoves2Quilt blog, entry dated 8/6/23.

Saturday, July 29th the original plan was for all of us to go to Comic Con in Oklahoma City.

A comic book convention (one-day event) or comic con is a fan convention with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other.

For Frank and me the event would be out of our element, and we would probably be clueless about most of the characters and references, but we were looking forward to the new experience. At least we thought we would be for an hour or so but a whole day...? It was a moot point anyway, as plans changed. Autumn chose instead to go on a hiking trip to cold water springs with her martial arts demo team. Jeremy went along as a chaperone but opted out of the follow-on overnight back at the dojo. Frank, Robin, Isaiah, and I instead went to Yukon to check out a model train exhibit at Route 66 Train Town (inside an archery store) and the nearby Yukon's Best Railroad Museum. The two sites were about a half-hour drive from Robin's home and a few yards from each other across a stretch of railroad tracks.

Once in Yukon, we parked diagonally in a strip mall, a few places down from the address cited in the Route 66 Train Town website. Not seeing any "Train Town", we phoned the number listed on the website and learned we were a few feet away and that train town was inside a store called Archery Traditions. A sign in the window informed us that the Route 66 Train Town was inside, off from the store lobby. 

Once inside it was a bit dismaying to see the extent of the layout but it did have a lot of detail and was well done. We were told that the back wall will be opened up and plans are for the layout to triple in size.

Isaiah's comment was that the setup was "very loud, but cool". He liked the M&M theme toward the far right end of the layout with M&M factory and billboard box cars in the iconic Peanut M&M packaging.

The theme was carried out in the M&M dispenser from which Isaiah enjoyed a treat. It is a small replica detail, the likes of which are rarely overlooked by model railroad engineers, but the dispenser contained milk chocolate M&Ms, and not peanut M&Ms as were modeled on the layout.

A delightfully unexpected fun part of the store was the archery range in the back section. Isaiah had wandered into the Pro Shop part of the store and a young man took an interest in Isaiah's fascination. He led him out to the shooting area, showed him some of the equipment, let him shoot a bow, and helped him march out to collect arrows from the target area. Isaiah was in seventh heaven and instantly wanted to sign up for lessons.

When we left the archery shop we drove across railroad tracks and a few blocks away to the Historical Museum Complex of Yukon, OK containing train and farm artifacts. The train portion is housed in converted train cars and a caboose at Third and Cedar – just north of Main Street near to the railroad tracks.

When we flew in from Livermore, we left behind a week of 100+℉ temperatures that dropped after our departure to temperatures of about 80 ℉. We arrived in Oklahoma only to bathe ourselves back in the 100+℉ temperatures we had left behind. At this museum, the caboose was air conditioned but neither of the other two railroad exhibition cars were. Even Frank's interest wained a bit as the sweat gather on his brow and back. Whoa! Those boxes sitting out in the sun were little furnaces!

Robin and I did take some photos to prove we had been inside there. The complex recently held a grand re-opening in May 2023 when the museum moved to these railroad cars from a previous location in an old school building at 601 Oak Street a few blocks away. In these railroad cars we viewed Oklahoma Czech and Yukon Post Office displays, railroad ticket booth and signal lights, and a model train layout. Also there but we did not view were Yukon school yearbooks and photos, Yukon Miller and Garth Brooks memorabilia, old farm machinery, historic newspaper and magazine articles. Maybe we would have browsed more leisurely on a cooler day.

The Czech display in the third car confused us. Why were there costumed mannequins representing Czech culture in this rail car? Oklahoma history reveals a strong influence of Czechs in the area. 

In the areas of their highest concentration Oklahoma Czechs, primarily involved in farming, exerted a significant influence on regional culture. The Czechs were associated with relatively intensive farming practices, emphasizing diversification of crops and conservation of resources. Women and children often participated in fieldwork.

Oklahoma history also cites Yukon and Prague as two towns of historically high Czech population. They are about 70 miles apart from each other with Oklahoma City in between.

In Oklahoma at the beginning of the twenty-first century, there was evidence of a continuing Czech ethnic identity in two major annual festivals, the Kolache Festival in Prague and the Oklahoma Czech Festival in Yukon.

After we left the railroad car museums we gazed at the closed Yukon Mills in the distance. We drove by but there was nothing there to get out and explore. Yukon itself is a pretty interesting town, though. But Googling revealed that per the OK History organization:

The mill became the largest flour plant in the state and the Southwest. By the 1930s, the mill had the capacity to produce 2,000 barrels of flour per day. And from the Yukon area, they exported “Yukon's Best Flour” to every state in the U.S., and to some locations abroad.

I also learned the town was named after the Yukon territory of Canada since it was a Canadian flour company. Per MillPictures, this bag was found in Ludwigsburg Germany about 20 years ago in a dumpster. It is proof that this plant really did provide flour internationally until its closing in 1972. This flour had such a widespread influence that in the 1930s, Yukon high school changed its mascot  to the Millers.

Later that evening Robin went out to pick up her quilts after the closing of the show and their takedown from display. She and I made a quick commando raid at a fabric store where I bought a few more orange fat quarters and a couple patterns, yes, in addition to my purchases as her show. In the evening Frank, Isaiah, and I met up with Jeremy at Panera Bread after he returned from his cold springs hike with Autumn and had dropped her off at the dojo for the sleepover. Saturday, July 29th had been a  fun-filled day; comic-con had not been missed at all. We still had Sunday and Monday to enjoy the remainder of our visit. Stay tuned for Part 2.