Oklahoma

It has been a few days since I have written in the Blog. Since then we have travelled uneventfully to Chicago. One interesting experience we had in South Bend Indiana was when we went to a Chinese restaurant next to our motel. As usual the rain that had been threatening all day settled in just as we were heading out to eat. We took a look up and down the street and decided that our most comfortable option was likely to be this nearby restaurant. Since we consider we have very good Asian food in Australia and all the ads for Asian restaurants that we had seen had only mentioned buffets we  were a bit sceptical. However we found the restarant was very tastefully furnished, it was all  alacarte and had an interesting wine list. I had one of the cocktails on special, my first I  hasten to say. It was very delicious pear and ginger with lime. The menu was influenced by the central Chinese province of Hunan so was different to any we had seen before. Bob couldn't resist having Singapore Noodles which were on the menu as an "old favourite". I chose a spicy prawn dish  which was very good.
The next morning we drove into Chicago. It was a bit "hairy" getting around all the motorway junctions to arrive in Downtown but Bob handled it well and we checked into  the International Hostel and returned the car without incident.
That afternoon we walked down to Millennium Park which is close by the Downtown area and then for quite a distance along the Lakeside walk path. Chicago Downtown is a very attractive city which I think I have said previously.
The next morning we flew to Dallas with only a slight delay due to thunderstorms and collected our hire car at the airport. Lou, Mike,, Brandy, Todd and the boys were there for dinner and we had a fresh fish dinner which was delicious. Since we had left Maine we had learned not to order fish in the restaurants so we were fish starved. On Friday morning we drove up to Oklahoma City for a bit of shopping at a Mall Lou Ann had recommended and then headed to Janet and Terry's. It was great to have a quiet evening with them and catch up on the family news. Saturday they planned a full day agenda. We headed to Choctaw to meet up with Kaleb and his lady, Jocelyn. Then we all went to a German Beer Fest which has been held in the town for 25 years. The beer was imported from Germany and just as good as we remembered. I am sure that the Brats were locally made but they were good too. We then visited the Olkahoma Bomb Memorial in Oklahoma City which has been developed into a beautiful site since we were there last. The museum was new and had very impressive audio visual details so it took us a while to work our way around. John joined us here and we then went to the top of OC's newest tower building to have a drink and look at the view which was spectacular particularly because the sky was clear. From there we headed to the  Downtown Bricktown Canal area. This had also been intensively developed since our last visit. The Canal area has been beautifully landscaped and we walked around before meeting John again. He had gone ahead to stake out a restaurant and claim a table. The restaurant is owned by a  professional basketball player. It is fairly new and was absolutely rocking when we arrived. After a bit of a wait we were give a table out on the patio overlooking the canal. This was highly desirable because the noise inside was deafening. There was a very loud rock  band across the canal but the food was good, the breeze was pleasant and we could talk in between the music.
Yeaterday was family lunch at Janet and Terry's. Kelsey made it home from College to complete the gathering. Once again we had fresh fish. Thank goodness we are related to keen fishermen. This was a very relaxed day with Kaleb asking us lots of questions about Australia and Janet and John joining in with reminiscences about their visit to Australia with Betty and Dale when they were young adults. Late in the day when everyone was heading home Janet and I made a lightening visit to the Outlets. Dinner was no problem. We ate well on left overs then slept the sleep of the just.
Tomorrow we head south again and fly out on Wed to arrive in Sydney on Friday for an overnight stay. Back to Perth on Saturday so this will probably be my last entry. It has been a great trip with beautiful scenery intergrated with catching up with family and friends. The  fact that our friends feel like family and we know our family over here well enough for them to be friends too has made the hospitality fantastic.