Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum

My family started our OKC tourist day at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, which was a pretty somber experience. The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum was very well done, and really captured the anguish of that day in 1995. The museum had numerous artifacts recovered from the rubble, as well as a shocking volume of items related to the investigation and subsequent execution of Tim McVeigh. The guy planned and executed the whole thing (almost) using a fake name. At bottom, if he hadn't screwed up and used his real name to order Chinese food from a hotel where he'd registered with his fake name, he'd likely have never been caught as there would have been no link to a real person. Good thing he wasn't as smart as he thought. A particularly powerful part of the outdoor memorial was the empty seats - one large seat for every adult and one small seat for every child that died in the bombing. The number of small seats was heartbreaking. If you're ever in the area, this is a must see - just be prepared for an emotional experience.

I was privileged to be shown around by an exceptional park ranger, Dan McKee. He described the solace of the moments. The past, present and future of the site. The inspiration for the architecture and design of the memorial was breath taking. If you are in the area this is definitely worth a visit. The grounds themselves are amazing and Dan is a wealth of knowledge.

This was amazing! It's a must see if you're in OKC and you have about 3 hrs to go through it. It was very emotional going through this memorial museum. There were some younger kids there with their parents that had a hard time going through it. You can't help but want to cry and yet be angry that it happened in the first place. Definitely worth the time and money. They do have a parking ramp to park in.