Okay: I've been in Nashville for 3 1/2 weeks now and I'm still blahgging about the road trip getting there. So I'm going to try to push through the last two days so I can move to the end of the space time continuum that everybody else is operating in (is that good?).Even though it's situated in a dreaded red state territory I was really looking forward to the National Memorial in Oklahoma City - built on the site of the Alfred J. Murrah building which was bombed in 1995 - and the adjacent Museum which occupies the former Journal Record building. The effort to create this memorial/museum has been much written about because it was such unique effort - many different constituencies (survivors, victims families, service personnel, governmental agencies, etc.) were all tapped for input in a open but structured process. And someone evidently had final say because (unlike the 911 site in NYC) they finished the thing.
So we arrive in OKay Citay around noon on Thursday, May 2nd (where else can you just drive up to the front of a national memorial midday and find ample street parking with 2 hour meters). The first thing we saw was a long chain link fence with the personal decorations that people leave at these places (there's now like 60,000 items there). 
You can't see the memorial at this point because there's a big concrete barrier fence behind the chain link. You just proceed through this opening and this is what unfolds in front of you. What you don't realize is that there is a matching portal to the one you see at the end of the pool (you just walked through it). These two gates represent the minute before the bombing (9:01) and the minute after (9:03). It's very monumental and impressive and beautiful and (on the day we were there) quiet.Then to your immediate right is the Field of Empty Chairs.
This is my favorite part of the memorial - 168 chairs, one for each person who died (including 19 children who perished in the Murrah building day care center). The chairs are bronze with translucent glass bases (where the names are etched) and so if you look quickly the bronze parts look like they're floating. There are several set apart from the bulk of them and they commemorate people who were outside the building when they died. The very first chair you reach is for Rebecca Needham Anderson, a nurse who died from injuries she sustained trying to rescue others.
The 9:03 gate (that you're facing when you enter the memorial) is also one of several spots where you can interact directly with the memorial (although you're not prohibited from touching anything or walking anywhere on the grounds). Here's someone trying to make his mark on the gate.
I have tons more pictures that I'll be posting later but I want to get to what's in the museum: they've done a fantastic job of presenting information and relics from the entire history of the building as well as during and after the blast. Organized into "chapters" the topics range from "Chapter 1 - Background on Terrorism" through the explosion itself (you can sit in on a hearing of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board which was being audio recorded and thus hear the blast itself which is really unbelievable) all the way through the investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators. They seemed to have saved tons of rubble and debris from the event which is now very interestingly displayed. The huge bronze seal of the building is displayed - the thing is enormous and the damage it bears demonstrates the power of the blast.The most fascinating thing for me was the recorded interview of some of the survivors; which I think were done several years after the bombing. Ernestine Clark, a librarian at the Journal Record building, gave a long and detailed interview of her experience. She was in shock but did not realize it and spent many hours looking for coworkers and seeking help for those injured. Her intelligent, unemotional and very self-observed remarks of the chaos of the event are some of the most darkly humorous yet chilling things I've ever heard:
* Outside her own building, trying to flag down help: "...the typical kind of logic a person in shock uses, I thought, they [ambulance] can't come here because this is a one-way street."
* On hearing that there was a triage unit set up: "...it seemed[triage] a very dramatic word for anything having to do with Oklahoma City."
* On reflecting on her experience: "But I can tell you a librarian...no matter what,... is not prepared for a bombing or running from the threat of certain death."
We left Oklahoma City reluctantly but had to press on. Here we come to the "lesson" of the road trip: expectations can be horribly wrong so unless you have factual data - keep an open mind (and tummy). Case in point: Fort Smith Arkansas. I never, ever thought I'd ever be in Ft. Smith, so I approached the prospect of overnighting there with real trepidation. What a surprise! This is a jewel of a town: historic, preserved, artsy yet still authentic to Bubba culture (Clinton's home state). I did not take any pictures on the perfect evening we rolled into town but we did find our way to a great restaurant: Doe's Eat Place!
http://www.doeseatplace.com/our_history.htm
Made famous in "Primary Colors" this is a fantastic (if supersized) steak place set in a lovely old stone building. MM and I were reposing on its back porch, a soft breeze (replacing the screedy wind of the west); robins chirping in one ear, good ol' boys jammin' in the other (playing a wide and well executed variety of tunes). We ordered our steak and what did they drop on the table first (which they don't even discuss on their website) but these "drop" biscuits with butter and honey. Dessert first! Yeah!
What they don't tell you about drop biscuits is that they've been baked and then dropped into a deep fat fryer - OMG! These are some of the best things you'll ever put in your mouth! They make regular donuts look like the sickly sweet wannabes that they are and of course they bring like 6 of 'em for two people.
Have I told you I'm starting to like the South?
All for now (so much for finishing). As Ernest says: the sun also rises.
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