I start the day with a 10 minute drive from the hotel to downtown OKC as it’s called locally. It’s surprisingly quiet for a weekday. A few bikers with backpacks in semi-suits whiz by and homeless people lounging at bus stops.

I’m used to rising early but I missed coffee. I stop by a little modern coffee shop called Elemental Coffee, which had coffee that was meh but it was sunny and actually had people in it. They also had a warmer that had breakfast burritos for $4 and it was like the egg was infused with chilies and bacon, it was really good.

The clock at the church across the street begins a chime to mark the hour. It’s a song that sounds inspiring and sad at the same time, ominous of the experience I’m about to begin inside the museum.

The water in the nearby pool is calm, and its a serene experience to be there alone and feel grateful for: just being alive.

The large tree on the grounds, the Survivor Tree, is special because it survived the blast and continues to provide shade and a symbol of resilience and hope.

This museum is not a museum, it’s an experience. It was strange to see what was once a multi-storied building filled with innocents (and babies, for goodness sake), destroyed by one person’s hatred that culminated from radical ideas and a twisted sense of reality.

You begin by immersing in a recreation of a water permit hearing where you hear the actual recording of the blast and you begin the walk into the day as it happened, starting with the news coverage, viewing actual items from the building that were destroyed (or intact in some instances).

It was really cool to see the microphones and the cameras that were used in the early nineties and marvel at how far technology has come to modern times.

There were also interactive screens where you could see the different roles people at the scenes played. The museum also gave you a little touch tool pen to use the screens to stay nice and clean.

Not gonna lie, I teared up seeing the first responders with the utter despair on their faces. The teddy bears that people sent for the children who lost their parents to the blast. And the names of those who never made it home when they were just doing a normal day at work.

The museum also details how the bomber was caught and how the wheels of the justice system turned to end the story for them.

Time to leave OKC and head back to Texas. My stomach was curious to try to some barbecue Oklahoma style so I got off the highway at the tiny town of Pauls Valley for it at a place called – not making this up – Punkin’s.

It wasn’t as good as Texas BBQ, but the mac and cheese had a little kick to it and was pretty good.

Back off to the highway to make it home. But first, one more stop in the outdoors here in Oklahoma, with the Toy Story style clouds that this state is filled with to guide you.