Vacationry
I just got back from visiting family in Kansas and Oklahoma. The trip wasn’t nearly as boring as it usually is because we actually got to go places and do things. My dad and his parents took me to an Oklahoma history museum in Oklahoma City and got to see all sorts of local kids’ shows and radio programs that my dad remembered from childhood. There was also a Native American wing with amazingly detailed models of the different kinds of dwellings that the Oklahoman tribes built. At one point we saw a 19th century stage coach and my dad commented on how high you had to step up just to get in. When I jokingly noted that women might accidentally show some ankle getting in, my normally uptight grandmother mimed inching up a skirt and made a little “ooo” noise!
In Kansas City I went to the Nelson art museum. It has a huge Asian art section that seems to go on forever. There are whole rooms devoted to Japanese paintings and Chinese furniture and one giant room has the actual façade of a Buddhist temple! I would have been happy with staying in that part of the museum but my dad made us go through the modern art wing. I don’t really like modern art and I have a hard time appreciating pieces that are just a big black square or a giant squishy light switch made out of orange leather. Anyway, we also went to the World War One Museum. There was this cool part where you look through these little squares in the wall and look at a reconstructed trench. It was broken up into sections that focused on different aspects of living through trench warfare (like dealing with bad weather and boredom). There was also a room that was supposed to make it seem like we were standing in the crater of a bombed building. The interesting part was that they piped in people talking about living with air raids. The part I remember is a woman talking about the poor French who had to spend the whole day stuck underground in the subways. I’m assuming that they were actual accounts from the period. I just can’t imagine living like that and I know that England had to deal with that in WWII as well. Crazy stuff!
The only bad part about the trip is the not so subtle comments we got on how dangerous New Orleans is from people in Kansas City. When my dad asked my Nana (my mom's mom) if we should lock the door leading into the garage, she said that there wasn't any point because the garage itself will be closed. She then added "This isn't New Orleans". Excuse me?! What are you saying, Nana? My dad had to really try hard not to bring up the fact that Nana is the one who was mugged in her own driveway and it was my aunt and uncle's house (also in Kansas City) that had been broken into. The most my family has EVER had to deal with was a stolen lawn mower and a porch plant. There was also an annoying woman at the Nelson. Aside from demanding that my brother and I look at a modern art painting that we'd expressed our dislike in, she asked my dad if the New Orleans Museum of Art had been flooded. I don't remember his response but she responded by saying "Yes, Y'all weren't even prepared where you? At least in Florida we always prepare." What the hell? So it's our fault that damage was done? Does nobody remember that the city actually survived the hurricane and that it was levee failure (a human flaw) that caused the real problems? I admit that over the years we all slipped into a false sense of security but you still can't blame us.