April 19, 1995 9:02 a.m.

I guess everyone knows what the title refers to. It was a very dark time in the history of Oklahoma, as well as America. While it was not the first terrorist attack on our soil, it was the worst at that time. And it was made even worse by the fact that it was one of our own who did it. Actually, two of our own.

The Memorial is a very solemn place. It's also very beautiful. It's well done and I'm glad we finally went. It's actually two seperate sites, the outside area which is the actual Memorial and is where the building stood and the building next door which is the museum. Pictures are allowed outside, but not inside so these are just the outdoor area. Captions are beneath the picture they describe.

This is the entrance. It's not visible because of the trees, but it's engraved at the top 9:01.

This is a section of the original fence that was around the site while it was being searched, and when the memorial was being built. There are two pieces of fence, one on each side of the entrance. People still bring things to leave on the fence.

This statue is across the street from the entrance. I can't remember the name of the church, but it was damaged in the explosion and the corner has been turned into a memorial by the church. The statue is called Weeping Jesus. It's beautiful. It's not visible in the picture, but the stone ground is pockmarked. It's damage from the explosion.

The tragedy of that day touched us all, not just Oklahoma natives. We all hurt. Some of the remberances people left were from other countries.

Across from the entrance, at the opposite side of the site is another arch. This one reads 9:03.

This is what sits between the two arches. It's only an inch or so deep, but it is black granite like the arches and it looks much deeper. The reflecting pool is actually the area that was originally the street. The same street where the truck bomb was parked. It represents 9:02, which is when it happened.

The area where the building stood is the actual Memorial. This is one of the chairs that make up the Memorial. Each one is engraved with the name of a person who died that day, it didn't show up in the picture but the name is engraved at the front in the glass. The chairs light up at night. Spaced between the rows of chairs like this one are smaller chairs. They are engraved with the names of those precious, innocent children that were there that day. Not all of them were in the onsite day care, there were some that were there with parents or grandparents who had business in the building. The chairs are in neat rows. Off to one end is a section with several other chairs. They represent people who were not actually in the Murrah building but were killed in the explosion. Some of them were in the building across the street which is where the museum is, and at least one of them was in the street in front of the building. And one of them is for a nurse who went inside to try and rescue people if she could, but lost her own life when something fell on her.

This is the entrance, I think this picture was taken from inside the memorial grounds.

The logo of the Memorial is a tree. This is the plaque explaining what the tree logo means. The tree was across from the building and it was damaged in the explosion, but it survived. It's still there and is thriving. At one point, it had to be fenced off from visitors because while it survived the bomb, it was nearly killed by people taking pieces of bark off of it.

Here's the tree. It's known as the Survivor Tree. The gift shop inside the museum sells seeds from it. I didn't buy any, but I would have if we'd had a place for one.

This was painted on the building across the street, during the rescue & recovery efforts on the day it happened. "We search for the truth. We seek Justice. The courts require it. The victims cry for it. And GOD demands it."

This is a shot of the building site itself, with the chairs visible. I was standing under the Survivor Tree when I took this shot. Distance makes it look smaller than it actually is.

Also taken from under the tree, the opposite end from the first picture.

This is the 9:03 arch, the chairs for the people not in the building itself are grouped at that end.

The 9:00 arch. The church steeple visible in the background is the church that has the statue on the corner. There was a building of some type on that corner that was destroyed by the blast.

Like I said before, this one hurt all of us and that includes Texans.

One more shot of the fence. I didn't take a picture of it, but there was one more item left on the fence when we left. Otter stopped her watch at 9:02 when we got there. Then when we left, her watch was hanging on the fence. I was very proud of her for doing that.

This is the wall that the statue of Jesus faces. The church built this as part of their own memorial. Each hole like this one represents a person who died in the bombing.

The double holes represent an unborn child, because there were a few women who were pregnant and their babies died with them.

The museum was very impressive. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to go through it. The first room has a diorama display which shows were everything was located at. It also has a picture on one wall, a picture that was taken from the security camera and shows the truck parked right outside, up next to the building. And one other picture, of the daychare children which was taken about a week before it happened. A few of the children did survive, but most of them didn't.

The tour starts with a recording that was of a meeting in the building that the museum is in. It's a hearing on someone's application to drill for water or for water usage. It started at 9:00. And it ends with the sound of the explosion.

From there, it's divided into several rooms with displays in each of them. It's pretty intense. But it's done so well. One of the rooms towards the end is lined with pictures on the wall. Each picture is one of the people who lost their life that day. There are also pieces of the truck itself in various spots in the museum. And a couple of recreations of what it was like inside, after the explosion.

Here's the website. http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/ It's worth checking out.