Actually, the day began with a run followed by us curling on the couch to watch Bedtime Stories. Then we went to the Myriad Botanical Gardens for a picnic in downtown OKC. I found the softest grass on earth here. If the ground wouldn’t have been damp, we would have laid directly on it. The place was serene and even had little bunnies hopping about. We sat for hours and just relaxed and talked about Lost and other important life events.
Ryan, my old managing editor for the Vermilion, was passing through OKC with his pal Allen that evening. They had watched the Rangers (unfortunately) lose to the Yankees in Arlington. Allen is in the Navy and is re-stationing in Washington state, so the two are taking a very similar track as us. We decided we were going to meet up for a beer that evening.
Nick cooked dinner for everyone while Kayla and I tried to buy some wine. Evidently there are more Oklahoma laws we were unaware of: they don’t sell alcohol on holidays.
WHAT!?!?!?!?!
We went to three different liquor stores and they were ALL closed. Yet again, I sound like a lush. But damn. It’s a holiday. That’s the time you normally want to stay home and have a drink or something.
Kayla was telling me just how conservative this state is: tattoos just became legal a year ago. It’s not like you would get arrested for having a tattoo, but there weren’t any tattoo parlors in the state. You couldn’t give or get ’em.
By the time Ryan and Allen got in, the only place to go was Hooter’s. Yay. Nick and I went join them and we watched a UFC fight and The Nuggets destroy The Lakers. I had a Blue Moon while the guys ate and talked sports. We thought it was pretty funny that they had “Cajun” shrimp on the menu. Ryan ordered it so we could decipher its authenticity. On a scale of 1 to 10, Ryan issued a 5.
I thought it was interesting because Nick had cooked pasta that evening and we had used bottled Alfredo, which turned out to be pretty good. But he’s Sicilian and made the comment that it would be like a Cajun person buying boxed Zattarin’s jambalaya. So not long after that, we had poser-shrimp. It was appropriate.
Anyways, after we ate, we went back to the Hampton Inn and played music for a few hours. It was the most random thing to have had happen yet on the trip and it excites me for what is to come. Especially since we changed route.
Unloading with LeeCee 