Tulsa, Oklahoma USA part one

I have been back and forth across the ocean a couple times and most recently found myself smack dab in the middle of a giant hunk of land, with nary a drop of ocean in site. Unk, Insomniac and Conspiracy were kind enough to put me up a few nights before this land-locked visit where I landed in the house of TwystTye aka Celeste. It's been so long that I began to wonder if she planned to hold me for ransom!

When I first arrived on a rainy September evening, everyone wanted to be the first to see me (I felt so adored! Except this one adult guy that wouldn't have anything to do with me - something about the principle of the thing - I didn't get it). And I got to see what happens when you break your wrist, too - you get to wear a funny brace for a long time - that was Celeste's daughter. I met the little blue fellow there - his name is Moo and he is also a travel buddy, but Oklahoma USA is his permanent home - he's retired from traveling and belongs to Celeste's son. Moo threatened to beat me up at first but I think that was just jealousy since he never went to Australia. Turned out to be a nice guy. Talks a lot. He told me he's been to England, France and Japan, plus a 12-state car ride in the USA all the way to the Atlantic Ocean and back, so I don't know what he's got to be jealous about.

Both of DS and Celeste's kids wanted to have me stay in their room, and made two mini-rooms and beds up for me. I was pretty tired and spent my first night in the girl's room (she won the coin toss).

I spent every other night in a more masculine room furnished in navy and brown (I gotta say, even though it's hot pink, that bed the girl let me use is pretty darn comfy). My first full day in Oklahoma I went to school to see what middle school is all about. I found out that eighth-graders talk a lot.

When I got home I found out I was done for - the girl wanted help with graphing linear equations (but if you ask me she was spending most of her time on those cartoon drawings under her paper - she's pretty good with art)!

The next day I went to school with the boy; he has a cool lunch sack. I didn't think he'd really try to eat me.

Over the weekend the rain kept pouring, so we didn't do much except stay inside and play video games. Oh wait, Yes! I live to play! Celeste let me hang out and watch her "farm" all day for Charr carvings. With Halloween approaching, which means special events in Guild Wars, she wanted to be prepared for getting a ton of in-game beverages. Celeste waxed nostalgic and told me about some guy named Halc that introduced her to this farming spot way back in the day a few years ago (I think I nodded off somewhere and missed the rest of the tale). It was a lot more entertaining when she played some PvP in the arena. I woke up again then and watched her bash in a few heads (just an FYI - she gets kinda violent there!).

Finally by the first weekend of October the rain cleared off and I got the grand tour of Tulsa, Oklahoma USA. First I started in the back yard of TwystTye's house, where all the rain had gotten the giant mushrooms to sprouting - I tried out a new house in a pretty fairy ring, but decided it wasn't sturdy enough for long-term residence.

We started the adventures with a tour of downtown, and as the kids are big fans of books just like their momma, they first took me to the main library. This is the fountain "wishing well" that TwystTye has been visiting since she was just a baby and learning to walk. Here I am with the shiny new penny she gave me for my wish. No, I can't tell you what I wished for - that would be bad luck!

The view outside the library really shows the contrast of the old ornate buildings in Tulsa and the newer sleeker designs. The boring plain looking building on the left is the Williams Tower, and the black mirrored-glass shorter buildings belong to the Williams group, too. The building on the right with all the ornate stonework is just one of many that were built in the heyday of the oil days in Tulsa back in the early 1900's.

They have some really fancy churches here, too. This one of the downtown Baptist churches.

This one (below) is the Boston Avenue Methodist church. I had to get far away to get the whole thing in the picture with me. Boy, those oil barons sure spent a lot of money on these churches (but they sure are pretty).

We looked around at some other buildings, too. This is the south side of the old passenger train depot, right across the street from that plain-looking Williams Tower building. TwystTye's mom and family used to ride the train into Tulsa from the country back in the 1930's. Now it's just a 20 minute ride on the highway by car to their old childhood town and passenger trains don't run anymore. When Twyst worked nights for WilCom (one of the Williams companies), she liked to park here.

The train depot has been converted into a concert hall now - the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame - that's what the purple banner there on the right says.

It gets kinda dark and spooky down on the street in between all these tall buildings. In one of these old stone-carved buildings (the picture didn't turn out), Celeste's mom worked as a telephone switchboard operator in the 1940's - yes, those old plug-in type switchboards.

We had parked near yet another church downtown, and this one had an inviting alcove right off the street where we parked. It looks almost like something right out of Guild Wars.

The week after my downtown tour, I went along with TwystTye on some errands. She stopped by this nice lake and took my picture (what does "water treatment plant" mean?). The Cherokee Casino was just up the road, but she wouldn't stop to let me go gambling. Spoil sport. Hmph.

On the way back home, we stopped at a real pond where we could see those downtown buildings, just pale lavender shadows in the distance.

Right behind me on the same stone bench, there was a wide field with giant round bales of hay. Celeste showed me horses and cows just a couple miles from here. Tulsa sure is a mixed-up city.

The sunset was pretty, and she assured me we would see a few more sites before she shipped me off, so we went home to rest up again.

(to be continued)