Oct 1, 2001

Chris and I have wanted to visit the Memorial (site of the Murrah Federal Building Bombing in 1995) since we first saw the pictures of it when it was finished. So, we made of point of making sure we allowed extra time on our October trip from Tucson to Tennesee.

We stayed at a hotel nearby in downtown Oklahoma City and went down to see it and photograph it. We expected that we would be there perhaps an hour. We thought it would nice to be able to pay our respects and stroll the grounds. We had no idea at the time we went that they have a complete Memorial Museum. It's housed in a building directly north of the site of the bombing, in what used to be an older building that housed a newpaper (if I remember right) at the time of the tragedy. That building sustained heavy damage from the bomb, some of which has been left for visitors to see. Fire escapes on the south side of the building (facing the blast) were damaged and deformed and they are still there.

Inside the old newspaper building, there is the Museum which is something that I wish everyone in this country had a chance to visit. They have done a wonderful job creating it and it takes you through the day of the blast, from a few minutes prior to it, to the aftermath. There are video and audio displays and many, many still pictures. As you travel from one level to the next in the building, you travel down that day in time. It's a sobering experience. It ripped our hearts out, just as watching the scenes on television that awful day in April had done.

You finally come into a room that has the pictures of all the victims and in some cases, some of their personal items. We've all heard the numbers and also seen pictures before of some of the victims - but when you are in an area that displays each and every one and their names, it is a moving and emotional time. So many lives taken from their families that day - so many children.

They ask that you not videotape or take still pictures inside the Museum and we certainly respected the rules. So the pictures I'm going to share with you are simply the ones taken outside the museum and at the actual site of the bombing. As we left, three hours after arriving, Chris and I both felt that it was an experience that we wouldn't have missed for the world. They have taken something that was so dark, so awful, and have turned it into a place of beauty and peace and reflection. I hope you will enjoy sharing it with us through my photos.