Our Bonus Weekend Together

We slept in on Saturday morning, as anyone would after driving 6 hours and flying 2.

Mike introduced me to "Jimmy Egg", a breakfast chain in those parts. Although crowded with Sooner fans (this was gameday), it was very fun, and delicious; I had oatmeal, pancakes and eggs, of course. And after this, we drove over to the Oklahoma State Fair, in Oklahoma City. I was curious how Oklahoma would compare to the things I've seen in Washington and California; Mike had always spoken pretty highly of it, and he has been going every year for quite a while. I've been interested to see it with him for a couple years now.

It did not disappoint... at all! It's a bit smaller than the one's I've seen, but that, in no way, detracted from the experience. We crossed the fairgrounds first, and ended up watching a "history of frontier Oklahoma" show. They had a prancing Indian paint, cowboys and longhorn steer, a pair of performing oxen, three women trick riders, a 13 yr old boy riding a pair of white horses over a jump and around fire while standing up, like Toby Tyler. a professional lasso-twirler, and as a finale, a pair of American Bison who were taught to climb on top of their giant trailer! There were a couple performers we could have done without, like the cloggers or the poor excuse for a comedian group, but they had their moments too.

We checked out all the buildings... lots of the usual shops. Always fun to browse. And there were the annual Indian flute players that Mike has always mentioned. We heard them a lot as we walked between the various buildings.

Goodness! I've nearly forgotten to mention the duck races! It was a small enclosure, with a pool made out of a large, heavy-duty, blue tarp, some PBC pipe, and some chicken wire. They had a few dozen ducks... and the public was allowed to feed them prior to the show; that was in a separate pen from the pool. When it started, all the ducks were run from the pen on one end to the cage on the other side where the owners would pick the ducks from. Once I realized they picked people from the audience to do the actual racing, I had my hand ready to shoot up when they asked. I was indeed selected, and my duck won it's heat. All I had to do was hold onto the duck and drop it into one end of a 5-foot racing lane with four other contenders when the owner gave the signal. My duck was fastest! So I got to wait through four more heats before there was a championship. I didn't get the grand prize, but that was just fine with me... a little kid won it! My prize for the first win was a duck whistle... lol. Really, all I wanted to do was be able to hold a duck. :)

The animal building had much fewer animals than I'm used to seeing at a fair, but they had baby chicks... and that made up the difference! Fewer might be better though... we saw bunnies, sheep, goats, alpacas, chickens, and even a butterfly in the same building! And there was a covered petting paddock for lots of different animals; and in there we bought little cups of grain to feed the animals ourselves! On the other side of this was the camel rides! Mike and I rode one together! We both remember riding elephants at the circus in our childhoods... and it was very like that.

As for eating, they had most of the usual stuff. We each got lemonades, and Mike had his usual funnel cake.

The main attraction of the fair, by far, was the sea lion show. They had three sea lions... one retired from performing, one veteran, and one in training. They were so smart! Especially the veteran! Catching rings, playing basketball, and standing on one flipper! I loved it very much!

After this we went and listened to a blues band called "The 411". Mike said they were playing '60s classics... sounded great to me. We left when they transitioned into the '70s. :) We took a ride on the gondola thing that slowly arced over the park. Mike rode it for the first time last year when I was in boot camp, so it was very special for us to be doing it together.

On the way back to Norman, we had dinner at Red Lobster and both had their "endless shrimp"... shrimp linguine, scampi, sweet & spicy, with Parmesan, and breaded with marinara sauce. Yum!!! We were able to chat a little bit back at his house, then we watched that photography film about Jim Brandenburg in the north woods. It was a revisiting of our honeymoon! :)

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Sunday morning we went to Mike's church and he introduced me to his friends :) It was lovely to see where he goes, see what he does, and to meet those folks; not to mention worship the Lord with him. :) I liked it very much. They were starting a series on practical love. Beforehand they played older love songs instead of the usual contemporary worship music... and we felt right at home.

Then it was brunch at La Baguette, the favorite bakery/cafe. We had a quiche together before our omelets and toast. We stopped by the local art museum (for free) and saw our favorite painting of the girl by the river, then went to the zoo again... it's tradition! I loved seeing the baby elephant. It was throwing dirt on it's back as we looked on. Also went for a paddle boat ride on the pond and saw a pretty white crane, a few ducks and turtles. It really is a lovely zoo... we got another picture at the gorilla statue too. On the way home, Mike mentioned about how FFH was supposed to be playing that evening in a Baptist church nearby... we checked it out, but unfortunately, it was cancelled due to one of their members being sick. Stopped by Braums for some milk and ice cream... I had a burger first... then we got home and watched His Girl Friday for some laughs. When it was over, we thought we'd like dinner, so Mike took me to his favorite Chinese buffet. It was the best I'd ever had... even crab legs and shrimp! And egg drop soup! Mmm.

Everything went by way too fast. Monday morning I packed... Mike made me breakfast there, then we deposited the checks and got my name put on his bank account... and still had time to come back and watch one more episode of WENN before the fateful trip to the airport.

I've never left him without shedding tears, and this was no exception. We did have a second goodbye after drying them... this time with laughs instead... and that was good. :)