The Oklahoma State Capital was, on the outside, quite traditional as many of the capitals are apparently. Taking our now traditional in the front of the capital picture was a feat in that it was nearly impossible to get everyone to stop fidgeting and saying repeatedly how hot it was outside. We persevered however and got a decent shot in fairly short order. The humidity here is nearly palpable! The temperatures are totally acceptable by Chico standards but the humidity is quite unacceptable to us dry heat persons. (Our trailer had dime sized water droplets on the ceiling it's so heavily laden!)
So we quickly made our way to the interior given the heat!

The inside of the capital was beautiful with marble and/or alabaster. It was very grand (not quite as grand as Utah's had been which was significantly larger) and full of beautiful paintings that had been commissioned to depict specific scenes and/or important people from the state's history. The self-guided tour was exceptionally thorough and allowed us to see everything and have detailed information without following a guide around that wouldn't move at our desired pace. Also as many of you might guess we already have a good guide-voiced person in our group (Mike obviously!) so why look to a stranger when we have one we can tell to move on when we aren't interested in particular topics?! The Senate, House, and Judicial chambers were all impressive. They had been recently updated with paint, new stained glass, freshly marble painted banisters, and beautifully rich woods. The Supreme Court does still use the chambers within the capital which, from what we have previously seen, is rather unusual.

We ended with the gift shop where I found a dish towel as a keepsake for the trailer, Rebecca a traditional keychain, Katherine a shot glass, and Emma got a dinosaur excavation kit. We almost got a whole bunch of "cowpies" (ugly piles of fudge) for our dearly beloveds back home but we weren't sure they would make the trip in any kind of acceptable state! ; ) Overall this capital is a good view.

We also drove by the memorial of the Oklahoma Bombing. It is a significant memorial in effect as well as size. There are still the chainlink fences with lots of personal memorials and mementos. The memorial itself has a cemetery type set up with artistic "gravestones" for those that were lost. Although of course depressing it is a worthwhile thing to see to be reminded of what can be lost at the hand of those that don't cherish the lives of others.