Bricktown and Around Town

All of July has been brutally hot for our 2016 stops in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and now Oklahoma.  We thought starting out for Bricktown early this morning and catching a water taxi first thing would be the cooler way to go.  We were mistaken, it did not even cool off below 90 degrees last night.  Oh well.  It is as cool as it is going to be so off we go.

As mentioned in the last post, Bricktown is a revitalized industrial section of the old city (Oklahoma City).  So instead of belching smoke and pumping out manufactured goods it now feeds throngs and quenches the thirst of pub crawlers with enough shopping for anyone to drop from.  A navigable canal winds its way through the district going past all the restaurants, bars and shops.  With the name "water taxi" we had expectations we would be able to get on and off at points of our choosing.  But like the hope for cooler temperatures it was not to be either.

Water taxis at the Bricktown canal.

No matter, the ride will take us past most of the businesses and let us map out things we want to come back to.  All we have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery.

OKC has taken a dilapidated, old industrial complex and turned it
into an attractive and interesting entertainment complex.

In addition to all the commercial properties, the developers have included public spaces with outdoor art and monuments featured prominently along the canal.  While there are murals and fountains, my favorites are the bronze sculptures.  The theme of the sculptures is the Oklahoma land rush.  Fifty thousand people lined up for a race (rush) to get their piece of two million acres.  At exactly 12:00 pm on April 22, 1889 potential settlers bolted head-long to the west from a point in central Oklahoma.  It was a wild scene of horses, buggies, buckboards, and covered wagons streaking across a road-less plain to stake their claim.  The artist(s) have captured some of the drama of that famous moment.

Taking pictures from the water taxi limited my ability to optimize the lighting
but even in silhouette you can see the drama of trying to get these animals to cross water.

The old and the new.  An 1899 scene framed by the modern skyline of the city.

Some of the settlers started with little more than the clothes on their back.

Some of the sculptures have an added interest in that they have the faces of notable people.  One of the wagon drivers is a self portrait of sorts as he has the face of the artist.  Others are notable or famous Oklahoman's such as Will Rogers.  The operators of the water taxi do a good job of narrating as they go along and will point out others as well as give the background on monuments along the way.

The canal also has some resident ducks.  Normally this wouldn't be something I would spend time writing about but there is one duck that has a particular "hair-do" that caught my attention.

I'm not the only one that this duck has caught the attention of.  The water taxi tour guides have dubbed him "The Trump Duck".

In a previous post I said something about going to Sonic Drive-In for dinner.  These drive-ins are all over the south but having grown up in Texas I always had the impression that this burger mecca was a Texas thing.  You could barely throw a rock without hitting a Sonic Drive-In with over 940 stores in the state.  The next most numerous stores is in the state where the company was founded, Oklahoma, at 275.  I have recently learned that it is not just a southern thing either with locations in 45 states.

Headquarters for a tasty treat maker.

The above photo was taken from the water taxi on the Bricktown canal.  Sonic invested in a completely new structure and moved its headquarters operation here.  And yes, there is a a place to order a corn dog and Blast in there.

We spotted a Louisiana kitchen while on the water taxi and made a bee-line to it as soon as the canal tour was over.  We were not disappointed in our choice, it was an extensive menu and both our choices were delicious.  From there we moved on through a labyrinth of shops ending at a Bass Pro Shop.

For those that are fans of 1980's rock bands, Oklahoma City is the home of the Flaming Lips.  They have been described as a band with a psychedelic rock sound coupled with space rock lyrics.  Go figure.  Anyway, our kids liked them back when they were growing up and when we came upon this road (an alley really) named for them we just had to take a picture and send it to them.

This alley is right in the heart of Bricktown and borders a beach-sand volley ball court and outdoor dining area as well as all the shopping in every direction.

It's unbearably hot now so we are getting back in Big Gulp and going to scout out things to do tomorrow.