Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Oklahoma: Day 1

After spending most of the day in the airplane or airports, we arrived in Oklahoma around 1:30pm. We got our rental car and headed straight to the training center so John could start his VisionIP System Administration class. I then headed to our hotel to check-in, relax, read and figure out where we would explore that evening.

We decided to head to the historic Stockyards City district - home to the Oklahoma National Stockyards, the largest cattle market in the world. They had various businesses along the street to explore. We were amazed not only at the amount of cowboy boots for sale, but the various colors, styles and prices. Something else we noticed was the heavy use of crosses as decoration: T-shirts, boots, wall hangings, whatever you could think of! Crosses were everywhere. After a little browsing, we decided to have dinner at Cattlemen's Steakhouse, famous for their steaks. The restaurant opened in 1910, but transferred owners in 1945 due to the owner betting on a high-stakes craps game and loosing. Our steak was delicious and was served on a platter with Au-jus poured over the steak - unique, but quite tasty. The house salad dressing was also rather unique. Looked just like they had put a big blob of mayo on our salads, but turned out to be rather flavorful and addicting. Recipe was a creamy garlic and cheddar dressing. Something we did not order off the menu: Lamb Fries. I actually had no idea what they were so checked on-line. Glad I did not order - no need to eat boy lamb parts...