I recently signed up on www.couchsurfing.org . For those of you who are unfamiliar with couchsurfing a brief way to put it is you open up your couch/extra bedroom/floor for people who are traveling to stay in rather than they pay for lodging at a hotel/hostel. Brilliant if you ask me. I have not had the chance to surf any couches but I did host my first surfers for the past 2 days. Let me just say, I had the best 4th of July ever.
The 2 surfers, best friends Lindsay (http://tinyurl.com/ouhejm) and Courtenay, are originally from Olympia, Washington and together they are going on an epic pilgrimage driving all over the country. Lindsay is an aspiring photographer and is using the trip to put together a portfolio of some sort for her classes back in Washington. Courtenay can speak french almost fluently if I'm not mistaken and is moving to France to teach English in the near future.
I received a couchsurfing request from Lindsay asking to surf our couch for July 2nd. I could not have been more excited! With such short notice I wasn't able to request off work for this. I was concerned I wasn't going to have time to show them around city. Luckily, when I got my schedule I was off Thursday night, July 2, and I was ecstatic! Unfortunately, Lindsay and Courtenay weren't able to make it July 2 due to being stuck in an RV in Santa Fe. After being contacted by them, they said they would be getting in late July 3rd. My roommate and I, both, had to work that night. However, Lindsay and Courtenay arrived right when we both got off work. Couldn't have worked out more perfectly. They were extremely tired from the long 8 hour drive from Santa Fe so we decided to just head on home and take it easy for the night.
The next day (Happy 4th of July!) my roommate, Fitz, had to work. Lindsay, Courtenay, and I decided to lay low until she got off work before doing anything that way we could all go together. After she got home, showered, and everyone was all fixed up I decided the first place I needed to take our surfers was Pops (www.pops66.com). The amazing gas station on historic Route 66 stocked with over 500 different sodas. Before even getting inside Lindsay loved it. Shooting pictures of the giant classic Coke bottle with a straw outside and laughing at the bone-shaped gas pumps. After requesting for a table for 5, (our friend Ben joined us) we ventured back to the refrigerators to select our sodas for lunch. I got a classic Route 66 root beer (mmMmmmm!). Lindsay got a kiwi soda, Courtenay got a Leninade, Ben got a Fitz's and Fitz got a Barack Obama blueberry soda. Lunch was cheeseburgers, hotdogs, and a grilled cheese with french fries, onion rings, and okra. What a lunch!
We then headed outside to enjoy the (quite humid) Oklahoma outdoors. The storm had started to roll in at this point. The clouds presented Lindsay with the perfect opportunity for some great shots. Lindsay and I walked around the side to the grassy area outside the wall and laid in the (surprisingly soft) grass watching the clouds pass. In the midst of cloud watching, the little kids inside of Lindsay and I overtook us and before we knew it we were log rolling down the soft grassy hill, laughing our heads off only to run right back up and do it again. Courtenay joined in soon as well.
After Pops, we headed to The Paseo. I thought the perfect place to get to know our surfers was Sauced. I invited a few of friends to come join in on welcoming Lindsay and Courtenay to OKC. Our group of 8 sat outside in the still humid Oklahoma air, watching as the dark storm clouds rolled in. Lindsay tried relentlessly to capture a lightning picture. Courtenay said it was because there is never any lightning in Washington. Unfortunately, she never did get her lightning shot. Maybe next time. If I ever catch one, I'll send it to her. Inevitably, the rain came and it was a outright down pour. Not wanting to go inside, we stayed under the roofed patio. Lindsay and Courtenay declared they wanted to "dance in the rain" and I was deemed photoshooter :) After raindancing and photoshooting, the lot of us ordered a pizza and a couple more beers and shared a couple hours of stories, jokes, laughs and even found a way to incorporate talks about astrology (courtesy of Courtenay and Fitz). Best time I've ever had at Sauced.
At 9:30 it's fireworks time. Still wet from head to toe, Lindsay and Courtenay climb in the back seat of my car and we head to downtown OKC. We meet up with a friend and enjoy the fireworks show from an alley behind Brew Ha Ha. More photo ops for Lindsay. After the show, we made a plan to have everyone back over at our house since Courtenay wasn't 21 yet (otherwise Edna's would have been the next stop, hands down). Before heading back, Lindsay, Courtenay, Fitz, and I all walked over to the OKC Bombing Memorial.
Lindsay and Courtenay found the little "beeper" things for the blind people at cross-walks very amusing ("Mickey Mantle, Mickey Mantle, Mickey Mantle"). On our way there, I pointed out things like the Skirvin and Leadership Square and the Cox Center and the Myriad Gardens. We headed down Broadway to pose in front of the American Flag painted Bison. Continuing down Broadway, the park dedicated to Robert Kerr caught our eye. It was mostly the waterfall that did but nonetheless, we stopped. Me being me, I, (probably illegally) and definitely obnoxiously, got in the water and walked to the other side of the waterfall while Lindsay took pictures of me on the other side. I was then coaxed into sticking my head through the waterfall. Fitz eventually took part in my water playing games while Lindsay and Courtenay laughed and took pictures. After successfully getting completely soaked we trekked onward to the Memorial. Lindsay and Courtenay didn't know any of the story behind the memorial. When we got there, I filled them in with the significance of all the things that were there. 9:01, 9:03, the chairs, the pool, the Survivor Tree. (http://twitpic.com/1ymuf) A bit serious for us after trudging through waterfalls, but they seemed to enjoy being a part of it.
We then made the long walk back to the car and proceeded on home for a night filled with new acquaintances for them and many more laughs, stories, and good times.
Sunday, July 5th, Courtenay and Lindsay continue on their journey across America. Next stop, Austin, TX. We said our goodbyes and I wished them the best of luck for the rest of their trip and told them they always had a place to stay if they ever were back in Oklahoma. They returned the gesture with summoning Fitz and I to go to Olympia and stay with them. I don't think I could have imagined or asked for better people to be my first couchsurfers. It was, by far, the best 4th of July ever.
|strangers are just friends waiting to happen|
