34/50: Oklahoma
It was hard to believe we were already on our 34th state. Like many of the states, it was our first time in Oklahoma, and we honestly weren’t quite sure what to expect. We were fortunate to connect with the AIGA Oklahoma chapter to help us connect with Native designer Clint Walkingstick.
Our Veteran was just as unique because we were introduced to him by Alpha Industries, one of our main partners on the 50 States: Veterans + Artists United tour. They introduced us to U.S. Army Col. Greg Gadson, an incredible leader, double-leg amputee, motivational speaker, former linebacker stand-out at West Point, and even an actor who worked alongside Rihanna on the movie Battleship in 2012. In addition to everything else he has accomplished, he happened to also had connections at the University of Oklahoma with both their Army ROTC program and their top-ranked college football team.
We spent the first day on campus and then hosted Day 02 at Rise Co-Working, which was located in an area of Oklahoma City rebuilt after a tornado passed through a couple of years earlier. It was crazy to think that much of the area was left devastated in the wake of the twister, but it was great to see this part of Oklahoma City already rebuilt stronger than before.
Oklahoma City sadly stands out in our nation’s history for its domestic terror attack in 1995. The Oklahoma City bombing took place at 9:01 AM on April 19th. I was nine years old, and Kendra was 6 when it happened, so neither of us remembers much about it. We have since read and watched documentaries about it, but that still couldn’t have prepared us for the feelings when visiting the site.
We visited after our Oklahoma project at night and were speechless. We came back later in the week during the day and were equally impacted by it the second time. Having visited this site in OKC and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York, we hope this will be the last place we’ll ever have to see.
After our STATE 34: OKLAHOMA project and experiencing the Oklahoma City National Memorial, we needed a couple of days to catch up on laundry, some tour planning, and website work. The weather was brisk and beautiful, so we opened up the windows to sniff the fresh air with Noel — one of our favorite things to do from our Airstream home.
Once we had some time to re-calibrate our lives and laundry piles, we were able to explore OKC a bit more. Unfortunately we didn’t make it to an OKC Thunder game, the National Cowboy Museum, or the American Pigeon Museum, but we were able to attend an AIGA OKC event in which the sister-duo from Hoodzpah Design were in town visiting from Los Angeles to talk and promote their freelance designer book: Freelance and Business and Stuff.
We visited the Commonplace Books store in Midtown OKC and were completely inspired by their space and the products they sold. In addition to selling a large collection of incredible books, they’ve been building a strong community around them and even boast a kitchen and cafe within their modern space. If we had more money and more space, we would have bought A LOT of goodies — they had a great eye for everything they offered.
After multiple recommendations from locals, we decided to treat ourselves to fine-dining Mexican food at Barrios. Even though Kendra is a master chef, especially anything within the Mexican genre, we were not disappointed in Barrio’s presentation.
Even though we had already visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial at night, we felt we also needed to experience it during the day. The part that stood out the most was the Survivor Tree, the American elm tree that withstood and survived the 4,000-pound bomb that killed 168 men, women, and children and injured hundreds more.
Oklahoma was our last project before Thanksgiving. Since we were too far from Michigan and didn’t have the extra funds to fly home to spend it with our families, the three of us planned to have a low-key Thanksgiving in our Airstream similar to the one we had in Maryland a year before.
Before we could even plan our turkey-less vegetarian meal, my aunt and uncle in Seattle strongly suggested they fly us out to join their gang for a few days. If you remember from our Washington journey when we parked in the driveway for so long that we made it on Google Maps street view, we were happy to make a memorable trip back to the Pacific Northwest again.
As great as it’s been to experience the country on the road, it’s incredible to see it from the air. Nearly the whole flight, we tried to guess where we were flying over based on our previous state visits. Window seats are the best.
Although it was a quick visit to Seattle, it was well, well worth it. Between the dog walks down to Washington Lake, a lot of freshly brewed coffee, delicious home-cooked meals, great wine, even better conversations, and even a night at the bowling alley, the only thing we were missing us our furry baby Noel, who we had to board in OKC.
Another highlight of our time was helping them brainstorm the brand name of their latest family venture: a winery. It was a slightly different process than our HERO[series] projects, but yet very similar at the same time. Although they are a very creative family and could have done a great job landing on a brand name themselves, it was special for us to bring an outside perspective of how their family makes others feel when around them. The hard part was translating those feelings through a winery brand name.
After much deliberation, everyone agreed on the name Kinhaven — Kin (one's relatives or family) and Haven (a place of refuge or rest). While we enjoyed being a part of the creative process, we are more excited to try their first vintage this summer, especially their Rosé.
And just like that, we were on a flight back to Oklahoma City to pick up Noel and pick up where we left off. Next stop: STATE 35-ARKANSAS.
