By this time, my readers are probably as sick of my travels as we used to be sitting through other families’ slide shows, but we are almost at the end of our journey. We left the adorable Santa Fe Motel and Inn, which we highly recommend, and had a long drive to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. There was not much to see out of the window, except flat plains, miles of wind turbines, and cotton fields in full white bloom. As we approached Oklahoma, the earth turned red and the mounds and terrain became more interesting. And, of course, the sun was shining!

We only had time for one museum and made reservations yesterday to see the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum and Outdoor Symbolic Memorial. Listed by TripAdvisor as one of the top 25 museums, we were impressed by the scope and depth of the exhibits. Bill and I were teary-eyed through the entire museum. It was extremely difficult to see the destruction, lives lost senselessly, and the number of artifacts saved that depicted the horror of the bombing in 1995.

We walked around the Children’s Plaza, the Survivor Tree, the Reflecting Pool, and the fence with love letters, tokens, and photos hanging. The Field of Empty Chairs was heartwrenching in its quiet simplicity, with a chair for each life claimed. The small chairs for the children were especially sad to see.

We checked into our “bougie” Bradford House hotel near the city. (Priceline.com is great for deals!) The independent boutique hotel was originally luxury apartment homes built in 1912. Our room is in the newer section and is beautifully appointed, as is the restaurant, lounges and other rooms. The courtyard outside our room is perfect for Bill’s nightly scotch and cigar, as he watches sports.

Tonight we dined in the artsy restaurant at the hotel, savoring homemade Gazpacho, other delicious dishes, and broke loose with two desserts. We are headed east tomorrow to Little Rock, Arkansas to yet another city we have never seen.