OKLAHOMA!

I just got back from vacation. My daughter and I went to Oklahoma for a week to visit one of my best friends, and coincidentally my vacation marked almost exactly our 10 year anniversary of when we met. The first day we left was hell every step of the way. I like to leave early so we actually can do something the first day we arrive. The plan was to leave SeaTac around 6 am, have a little layover in Minnesota, and be in OKC around 3:30 pm. What actually happened was not that! We boarded the plane on time in Seattle, but probably about 15 minutes past departure time we were still there, The crew on board made an announcement that they didn't know where the co-pilot was, but they were working hard to find him. Apparently he just never showed up to work that day. After another half hour of that, they decided to have everyone get off the plane and tell us they were going to provide us with donuts, coffee and juice for the inconvenience and to contact a gate agent if we had connection flights for rescheduling. I of course did, they determined that our plane out of SeaTac wan't leaving now until about 10 am, and the only other connection flight in MSP to OKC wasn't until close to 8 pm. To top this off they scheduled my daughter and I for different seating areas. When I brought it to the gate agents attention that I'm traveling with a 6 year old and she has us in different rows and this will absolutely not work, I was seriously told that she can't do anything about it and to ask someone to switch seats with us in Minneapolis when we board the flight (the Delta crew at MSP graciously fixed that for me, however, when I explained the situation to them).  We arrived in Oklahoma about 9:30. So that was problem one. Problem 2, was the car rental.

 I did a prepay deal where it locks you in at a lower cost for the car rental, so my credit card was charged in February. I called the rental company and told them we were going to be much later than expected due to airline issues and was told that was fine, my car would still be there. We get to the rental agency and I'm told that they don't have the car any longer and that they are pretty much out of cars and only have 2 left: a minivan and a SUV. I said give me the SUV then, they end realizing the tabs are expired. I said if it's absolutely necessary I will take the minivan, but would REALLY prefer something else. The woman ends up calling her boss and getting an override for a car that had just been returned but not fully checked in.  Finally was the hotel.

 We stayed at the Wingate by Wyndham. Overall, it was a pretty decent hotel. I got a deal by booking through booking.com. That being said, there was a slight problem when I got there of them trying to charge me $99 /night which is much higher than the reservation said. The desk clerk tells me they have no record of that (but yet they had  the reservation) so I tell her I'd be more than happy to show her my email confirmation that stated what my total price would be. Low and behold, somehow along the way it got put into the deleted email folder which I didn't know at that moment. Fortunately for me, I had also printed a copy of it. They claim they honored it, but my credit card is pending not one, but two charges for almost $700 each. I guess I have to wait and see what it actually clears as being. Despite this issue and one other small issue of sugar ants in the hotel (which I actually seen all over the place in Oklahoma) I'd be likely to book with them again. Some of my favorite things about this hotel was that breakfast was provided and not just a cup of coffee and a muffin style breakfast, they actually give you real shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and makeup removal wipes that are individually wrapped, and that they had a swimming pool indoors (which was primarily for my daughter's benefit).

Oklahoma is of course in the Midwest, and I got to say I was ill prepared clothing wise as to what I packed. Looking online it looks like some years during the time of our vacation it's been smoldering hot, and some years downright freezing and snow. The weather report was saying high 70's low 40's.  I decided to err on the side of caution and pack jeans and tee shirts and bring a heavy jacket in case. Definitely not needed. It was hot! Besides all the issues the first day, everything else there was pretty smooth sailing except on Monday night when I was visiting my friend. We were sitting outside on the porch swing and pretty soon lightening starts, followed by thunder, and then pouring rain. I tell my daughter to get ready to go we need to get back to the hotel. By the time we get to the hotel and park the car, the wind picked up crazy! The power went out briefly at the hotel. My child is freaking out that there is going to be a tornado. We go to bed and slightly after 1 am I get an imminent severe weather alert on my phone saying that there may be flash flooding in my current area. There was 85 mph winds, some relatively large power outages in some of the surrounding cities, and now flash flood alerts. I end up waking my daughter up and making her put on actual clothes instead of just her nightgown in case we had to evacuate for some reason. We woke up the next door to another hot day with birds chirping.

I actually did quite a bit in Oklahoma. We visited both the OKC Zoo and Tulsa Zoo, the Museum of Osteology, the Science Museum Oklahoma, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Myriad Gardens, the Sam Nobel Museum of Natural History, Oklahoma State History Center,  the Veteran's Memorial, Museum of Art, and Bricktown. I had planned on doing the memorial, but my kid was DONE with museums. We did snatch up my friend's daughter and went to a place that had go carts, wall climbing, and put put golf among other things.  I probably could of done without taking the two hour drive to Tulsa to go to that zoo, I was not super impressed for the most part. My favorites were actually the osteology museum and Sam Nobel. The art museum had a pretty cool exhibit currently called Intent to Deceive that I thought was very interesting and would recommend. I took well over 1000 pictures. most of them are of my daughter and the attractions we were at, here are a few outfits of the day (sort of).

Shirt: Lane Bryant (the gold dots on this tee are little skulls and hearts!), Jeans: Target. Shoes: Nike. This photo was at the OKC Zoo.

Cowboy Museum

 Myriad Gardens

 Shirt and Necklace: Walmart. Jeans: Target. Earrings: Icing. The picture above was at the Museum of Osteology which was AMAZING!

Shirt: Torrid. Necklace: Walmart. Tulsa Zoo 

 Shirt: Torrid. Necklace: Claire's. Earrings: Old Navy.

 Last photo, me and the girls eating lunch at KD's (Kevin Durant's) our last day in Oklahoma. My daughter was crying because I "punched" her in the eye, aka accidentally poked, lol playing up the dramatics. This restaurant has some seriously amazing food. I got blackened catfish stuffed with crab and shrimp. Seriously the best catfish ever. I know my daughter was pretty happy with her meal as well. She had cheese, yogurt, and fruit for lunch. Sorry about the Supa Dupa long post.