For the holidays Liz and I
flew back to Oklahoma. We spent the better half of a week playing
connect-the-family-and-friends dots. I am fairly certain that we covered a
quarter of the state in a matter of days. It was an enjoyable flourish before
we hit I-44 to Oklahoma City.
Since I moved from OKC, I had
not seen Devon Tower completed, gone to The Mule, eaten at Kitchen 324, visited
The Womb, shopped at Dwelling Spaces OKC, or seen anything but plans for
SkyDance Bridge. In 36 hours my to-do list was dominated. Doubly so for The
Mule and Kitchen 324.
The new-to-me location that I
was most looking forward to was SkyDance Bridge. I was curious to check out the
structure that Americans for the Arts named one of the nation's 50 best public
art projects. The co-designer and manager of the bridge project, Hans Butzer,
was also the designer of the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. My unofficial
go-to place for solace when I lived in OKC.
SkyDance Bridge is a
pedestrian bridge that spans I-40. It measures 380 feet long, 20 feet wide and
197 feet tall. The design was inspired by the scissor-tailed flycatcher,
Oklahoma’s state bird. It is almost as if the oversized, metal bird is flying
into downtown to perch on the skyline.
The first visit back to OKC
was the perfect balance of comfortable familiarity, and genuine appreciation of
the continued growth of a city that I still love.
