Summer Fun

Summer is well under way, and we started ours off with lots of little adventures! These photos are from a hike we did one day back in June. The view is from near the top of Turkey Mountain, looking over town. Seeing these again, I keep comparing the different landscapes Ryan and I have lived in. I realize that my time spent on the Wasatch front taught me that this is really a hill and not a mountain, but living in the foothills of Virginia taught me to let things, like small hills, dream big. Ryan would add that while he misses the Rockies, he's loving being engulfed by the greenery Oklahoma has to offer. So I guess Oklahoma is reminding us both to appreciate all types of beauty and to love where you live. And there, my friends, is your Pocahontas-style lesson for the day.
On a huge tangent, this all reminds me of a Hugh Grant movie "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain". Am I the only one who has seen it? That's highly possible. Well, its a quirky one, and the title kinda gives the ending away.



On a another weekend we decided to really explore Oklahoma City, tourist-style. We spent most of a day wandering "Bricktown", which is a pretty and new-ish section of the city that is full of food, shops, murals, and little nooks all along a sunken canal. It reminds me a lot of Carytown in Richmond, just without the toy shop....and with a canal running right through it.

 For lunch that day we had Cajun! (See photo of Ryan) Shrimp has never tasted so good. :) For dinner we discovered a hole-in-the-wall pizza place.(See photo of me). It was easily the best and most creative pizza I've ever had. They were so packed inside that we were seated in giant, fancy tent outside the actual building. We took it as a good sign.

Our neighbor had recommended we visit the 45th Infantry Division Museum on the outskirts of OKC. We did, and it was possibly our favorite part of the entire weekend. It was such a surprising place. I have been to a lot of museums, especially ones with WWII connections; it's a natural side effect of learning German. I was still very impressed with this place. It's all privately done, not connected to the Smithsonian, or any national organization, but Ryan and I couldn't get enough. There was a huge field outside of tanks, planes, helicopters, etc that were from various wars, not just replicas. We learned that the Oklahoma 45th Infantry Division was the group that liberated the inmates at Dachau at the end of WWII. I was so stunned, because Dachau was the prison camp I visited in Germany. Small world, huh?

Ryan ran with one of his co-workers

  For Independence day Ryan ran a 5k. This is the first of many to come and he really did an awesome job training for this one. He finished first in his age group! And though he's not yet back to his personal best, he's on the way and this time there were no injuries. (Success!) His final sprint totally surprised me, and while watching him finish strong, I missed him in the photo I took. All that I got was his foot, haha. He was just too quick for me. All our love, from these dreamy Oklahoma hills.