Day 12: Quartz Mountain SP and Oklahoma City National Memorial

For our last hike of our trip we headed over to Quartz Mountain SP. It was really more of a climb than a hike: one step onto the trail and we were already scrambling over boulders. Though short, the steepness of the trail still left us a little winded as we continued up the mountain. After about 20 minutes of climbing we finally reached the top, where we snapped some pics and admired the view of the lake below. We didn't stay at the park for long; it was out of the way and we still needed to drive all the way to Oklahoma City for the night. Carefully navigating our way back down the mountain, we kept a keen eye out for rattlesnakes lurking between the rocks. Once back in the car, the first thing we did, as always, was blast the AC in our faces. Then we hit the road.

We only had one thing left on our to do list in Oklahoma City, and that was the city's National Memorial. This monument was dedicated to those who were killed, survived, or effective by the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. The Memorial was made up of a shallow reflecting pool between two large archways, one bearing the time 9:01, and the other 9:03 - representing the minute before the bombing and the minute after. To one side of the reflecting pool was the Field of Empty Chairs. Here, 168 chairs made from glass, bronze, and stone, were placed in nine rows, each row representing the level of the building the given individual was on. Because the Federal Building had a day care, the second row consisted mainly of smaller chairs. Behind the chairs were remains of 3 of the building's walls. The memorial was beautiful, in a tragic way. It's hard to imagine the kind of hatred in the world that drives people to commit such murderous, remorseless acts. Though heartbreaking, the Memorial is definitely something we will never forget. That's why it was so beautiful, because it unites the living and will forever continue to honor and remember the lost.