Kim's family vacation from 2001 continues with days 12 & 13. Oklahoma & New Mexico are the places we visit in this post. I do have to make a correction. In yesterdays post I said that Mike's niece Jamee & her husband Mike left to go back to California when we were at Mike's brothers house. But I was wrong. You have to remember I'm getting old so the old memory isn't what it used to be. Jamee & Mike continued on our vacation until we got to Albuquerque New Mexico. That is when they decided they wanted to go straight home.
Wednesday, July 18, 2001:
Objectives: Leave Val and Judy's house early and drive a LONG WAY to Albuquerque. This is going to be our longest drive. Once in New Mexico, we'll probably hit the sack early, but who knows for sure until it happens. I will keep you posted.
Our Experience: We left Val & Judi's house about 9am & drove to Oklahoma City where we visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial. This is the memorial for those who were killed when Timothy McVeigh blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City in April 1995. It was a very reverent place. It really touched all of us. There are 9 rows of chairs. Each chair represents a person killed in the blast & on what floor they were on or visiting. There was 9 floors in the building that was blown up. There are also 5 chairs on the right side that represent the 5 people killed that were not in the building. There are 2 big walls on either side of the memorial. One has 9:01 on it to represent the last minute of innocence in America & the other has 9:03 which represents the first minute of healing. All the area between the 2 walls represents 9:02 the time of the explosion. There is a reflecting pool between the walls to help in healing. We spent about an hour at the memorial & walked past the chain link fence they still have on one side where people still put flowers, pictures & other mementos to those who were killed. After we left Oklahoma City we drove & drove & drove to Albuquerque, New Mexico. It took us about 11 hours of driving. We got hit by a few thunderstorms on the way but luckily we didn't see any tornadoes on our trip.
Photos:
Oklahoma City National Memorial grounds.
Jesse at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Everyone at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Jesse standing in front of the 9:03 wall.
Panoramic view of the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Message painted by a rescue team after the Oklahoma City bombing.
Thursday, July 19, 2001:
Objectives: We'll be in Albuquerque, New Mexico all day and see what there is to do in the area. We also may drive up to Santa Fe, and see some of the historic sites up there.
Our Experience: Mike, Brandon, Jesse & Kim drove up to Santa Fe, New Mexico & took a tour of the city. We learned all about the history of Santa Fe & saw some old churches, art galleries & residential areas. It was very informative. Made it easier to walk around afterward to see what we really wanted to see. We went to Loretto Chapel which has a miraculous staircase. Back in the 1800's the chapel was built with a choir loft with no way to reach it. The sisters wanted a spiral staircase built as there wasn't room for regular stairs. All the builders & architects said it couldn't be done. So the sisters prayed. Along came a man who said he could build their spiral staircase which he did. Took 7 months & had no center support, nor braced to wall. No nails were used, only wooden pegs. When the sisters tried to pay the man, he wouldn't take any money & mysteriously disappeared. When the sisters went to the only lumber yard around to pay for the wood, they were told the wood didn't come from them. The sisters said this was a miracle.
On the way back to Albuquerque we stopped at Sandia Peak to ride the Sandia Tram to the top of the mountain. This tram is the longest tram ride in the world. We went from about 6000 feet up to almost 11,000 feet. Kim got altitude sickness. It was very beautiful up on top of the mountain. Brandon & Jesse thought this was the best.
We didn't do anything in Albuquerque. Guess we may have to come back someday. It's kind of sad that our vacation is winding down. We only have 1 more fun day & then it's back to reality. We wish we could afford to be on vacation & travel all the time.
Photos:
St. Francis cathedral in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Some buffalo sculpture.
The New Mexico state capital building.
The miraculous staircase at Loretto Chapel.
Inside of Loretto Chapel.
Jesse, Kim, and Brandon standing outside of Loretto Chapel.
Looking west towards Albuquerque from Sandia Peak.
Looking to the top of Sandia Peak.
Jesse, Brandon, Kim, and Mike on top of Sandia Peak.
Looking west over the Albuquerque valley.
The Sandia tram ride.
Looking to the east down the ski slopes from Sandia Peak.
Cliffs on the Sandia Mountains.
Coming down the mountain on the tram.
Tomorrow we will finish up with this vacation with the last 2 days. Then on Monday I will start posting about our current vacation as we leave for our trip to Cave Creek Arizona.And Jodi should hopefully post some more of their current vacation to Snowbird. They had a little more excitement than they wanted last night. Mom had to be rushed to the hospital as they thought she was having a stroke. Turns out it wasn't a stroke & it wasn't her heart. They are not sure what happened, but Mom is now OK. Jodi said she would post more about it later. I am just thankful that Todd & Dad were able to give Mom a blessing and she is now completely OK. They will be staying an extra day in Snowbird before continuing on to Cave Creek where we will meet up with them.
And Eric's family has some bad news. They had to put their beloved dog Peluchi to sleep. Peluchi had been diagnosed with cancer a month or two ago and it finally got so bad, they had to put him down. Taylor has been the most devastated by this loss as she was the closest to Peluchi. Eric didn't dare tell her about Grandma last night as she was too upset about the dog. Luckily the news with Grandma (Mom) turned out good. And Peluchi is in a better place & is no longer in pain.
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