Home Sweet Home -- Updated

Pictures include:
Weeping Jesus in front of the entrance to memorial; Reflection Pool which covers the at one time street where truck bomb was parked; and the still charred Survivor Tree. Photos copyrighted 2007, Lisa Jackson Duke.

Well, roommate and I just got home from our trip to Oklahoma City. Ahh, it's good to be home again. Don't misunderstand, we had a good time. A great, no fantastic time, but like Dorothy said while tapping her ruby red slippers together, there's no place like home.
Let me tell you about the stay.

We got into town around 4 pm Friday, we got a late start, had to make a lot of stops and encountered rain. We went to check into our hotel room before we met friend and her family for dinner. When we first decided on the dates for our trip I booked a room on-line at Hawthorne Suites. I knew Hawthorne is a fairly decent chain with good amenities and should be a good place to stay -- it was a nightmare. When we got to the front desk the guy said he found my reservation but didn't have a room for us. A lot of the rooms were blocked for some reason and it would take him about 30 minutes to figure it out. The manager happened to stop at the front desk at that time and we got him involved. He wanted to see the print out of my confirmation that was e-mailed to me so roommate went to the car to get it. I was about to ask him what was the point of a reservation if it didn't hold the room when he told me to go sit down in the lobby while he figured out what was going on. I was so shocked, I did what he told said. Finally about 7 minutes later he found a room for us to stay in for two nights.

Some time later the next afternoon, another guy from the front desk knocks on the door saying he tried to book people into our room because it shows to be empty -- did we miss check out time? Then, when we did check out, the manager's wife asked why were we checking out early because the computer showed we were supposed to be there for another night! I thought I was going to scream. I will not recommend Hawthorne Suites to any one ever again and I will be contacting their corporate office.

When we finally got checked out and were leaving, a young couple were outside waiting for a ride and the guy was on the phone with Hawthorne corporate complaining about their stay. I asked the young lady what was happening. She said in the night she called the front desk asking the manager for more towels and complained that there was a dirty towel left hanging on the bathroom door. She said the manager yelled at her so loud over the phone it woke up her boyfriend/husband. It was a bad experience for at least four people, don't let it happen to you!

Ok, about OKC. The first night we ate at a place called Elephant Bar and Restaurant, it was an African themed restaurant and thankfully they served fish, shrimp and chicken not TO, pronounced (toe). According to my brother, who went on a mission trip to Africa it was a main dish of one of the villages he visited. I can't remember what he said it was made from but I doubt I would order it at a restaurant. After we ate we walked around the mall that was near the restaurant and very close to the hotel.

The next morning we got up and out the door by 8:30, went to the lobby for the continental breakfast, which was pretty good. Then we headed out to the main area of downtown where there are a lot of attractions. This area is called Bricktown. We parked at the botanic gardens and caught a trolley ride (for a quarter each) over to the Memorial for the explosion of the federal building. It was quite moving and I took several pictures which will appear here at some point in the near future. We left there, caught the trolley to another stop, walked around Bricktown -- where I bought some gifts for my family members. Then we went to the botanic gardens tropical rain forest. It was humid inside but fantastic. There were so many beautiful flowers, butterflies and lizards (which I almost stepped on one). We left there, went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and then out to dinner. Roommate wanted a steak, I didn't protest because I love a good piece of meat.

We ate at a place called Cimarron Steak House. The steaks were melt in your mouth good. We were exhausted so we just went back to our room and early to bed. But not early to rise, we slept in late the next morning. When we finally got up, we gathered everything and checked out. We ate at IHOP in Bricktown and then went to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, I will have to tell you all about that next time because I want to research the artist whose work we saw, plus it's late and I am going to bed.

Until next time.