Kansas City

It was a pleasure to be driving in excellent weather with excellent visibility as we left Tulsa, but unfortunately there was nothing to see, or rather a lot of nothing to see.  The road was mostly rural, straight and empty. There was a farmhouse here, a John Deere store there, some silos, flooded fields devoid of any evidence of crops growing, and that was pretty much it. Occasionally we would have to slow down for either an intersection or a small town - sometimes they were the same thing - but then the speed limit would go back up and we were in more of “sameville.”  And then with no notice whatsoever we entered Kansas; we could tell because the two-lane road turned into a one-lane and the road marker had a sunflower on it. Since that is the state flower of Kansas, we guessed we had made it.  We were later told that this particular section of southeast Kansas doesn’t have much of a population, therefore not much representation in the government and therefore doesn’t receive much money for anything, especially for a “Welcome to Kansas” sign.

The real purpose of our trip to Kansas City, in addition to Cindy needing the check off the state, was to visit our dear friends Julia and Ted and to christen their new guest quarters, which were lovely, private and cool. We arrived in time for cocktails and dinner and got all caught up on our various activities and were given our ‘touring’ schedule for the next two days.  I immediately excused myself to go to bed since I was exhausted just hearing about all that was ahead of us. Actually, it was a very relaxed schedule with nothing planned before eleven in the morning and long lunch breaks!  But it doesn’t take much for me to start having cold uncontrollable sweats if there is a museum or gallery mentioned. 

The next day we headed to one of the most magnificent museums I’ve ever visited. It is the National World War I Museum and Memorial.  I had only heard of it because Ted has been a guide there for eight years and kept telling us we had to come and visit so he could give us a private tour.  Everything about this place was overwhelming, from the impeccable grounds to the fantastic displays and videos - and of course, having a personal guide. This link to the museum itself will give you a chance to see more of this marvel and if you have the time, watch some of the excellent videos. (Actually if you have the time, visit the museum!)  We spent several hours there, only touching the surface, which is why your ticket is good for two full days. 

We adjourned to lunch at, what else, a KC BBQ joint!  We normally don’t do BBQ, but we knew we wanted to try the real deal and it was a blast. I ordered the daily special with a local brew to wash it down. I thought I had ordered modestly but seriously, it came looking like something out of Fred Flintstone. The plate arrived with four rather large pork ribs and a bowl of baked beans which was really one-third beans, one-third pulled pork and one-third BBQ sauce. There was a single slice of white toast and a small mound of sliced dill pickles. I sure loved the entire thing, just as I’m sure I’ll never do it again! (at least for a year).

Our next museum was a surprise, The Arabia Steamboat Museum.  Ted had been pretty cagey about what this was and we didn’t look anything up since we wanted to be surprised, and surprised we were. This steamboat had sunk one hundred and fifty years ago in 1856 and luckily enough there was no loss of human life, just one mule that didn’t make it. The ship was filled with the kind of cargo you would expect for folks heading west to make a new life. I encourage you to read and look at all the pictures in the link above and I think you’ll be as amazed as we were.

Our last museum of the trip was really quite unexpected. It is in the small river town of Weston Missouri, which is a really cool place all by itself.  It is the National Silk Art Museum, run by one person who is so dedicated to this that he has made it his life’s work to enhance and expand all the holdings.  Again, it is one of those places that you have to experience for yourself, but the link above does a rather good job of re-creating the experience we had there.  Best to all, Cindy and Wm

Weather

We used to joke that being a television meteorologist in San Diego was the easiest job in the world with the same report every day:  Mild, sunny, overnight lows in the 60s and highs in the low 80s with a nice offshore breeze.  Every day.  The opposite would appear to be true in Oklahoma and nearby states: These meteorologists WORK it - maps and pressure systems and predicted rainfall and rain already fallen and floods having happened and floods about to happen.  The hotel bar television in OKC was usually tuned to a news station and the only news was the weather all evening long. “This just in” and they would cut to their storm chasing car whose windshield was splattered with heavy rain and they would suggest that a tornado was on the way.  Five minutes later, “This just in” and we were treated to what appeared to be the same car, rain obscuring any view, and the suggestion to take cover. Their maps and feeds and videos from storm chasers and all the rest were outstanding, but for us to be told that Pullman County was under an alert did nothing since we didn’t even know what county we were in. It appears that the spring storm season keeps those meteorologists on their toes literally and figuratively.  Quite amazing, and we’re glad we don’t live in that area! Having said that, we didn’t see any damage like we experienced last May at our house when we had that big hail storm and incurred thirty-thousand dollars of damage!  Go figure. 

Here is a cute little flyer that was posted on all the elevators and in all the rooms at our hotel in Tulsa.

Tulsa

Our luck with good weather snapped the minute - and I mean the minute - we got into our rental car. The heavens opened up and stayed open for six hours, heavy wind-driven nasty rain.  We had all the directions we needed to get from OKC to Tulsa but we were thwarted by lack of signage and horrible visibility. The highway entrance had NO signs due to construction so we missed it; recovered pretty well on an alternate route that led to a toll road. Now here is a fun fact:  Some Oklahoma Turnpikes only take COINS - no bills, no credit cards, exact change only. I had not a single coin and Cindy had 30¢ not 70¢ as required, so we called the 800 number listed on the coin basket and got instructions for calling and paying later.  Who carries coins and why didn’t the rental car place tell us since they knew we were going to Tulsa and there is only one way to to get there?  Cindy, bless her heart, spent far too long on the phone dealing with this 70-cent issue after we got to Tulsa. It must have cost them ten dollars to charge our credit card for 70 cents!

But I digress. We continued to drive in a major rainstorm and all the while the radio was blasting flood warnings and tornado alerts. At one point we saw that funny color of green right next to a black cloud that had lightning zapping out of it. Goodness, it was a fright for sure. Once in Tulsa our GPS took us to a side entrance of the hotel so I sprinted to it only to find out that it was locked so I had to run around the building in the rain to figure out where to park. There was no self parking, only valet, and given the storm I did not argue since I was soaking wet and not wanting to get any wetter. We moved the car, ran into the lobby, gave the valet the keys and registered. We were quite hungry and my white knuckles needed something to relax them. The kitchen in the restaurant closed at 2:00 and it was 1:55 so Cindy dashed over to try and order some food. The wait person looked at us and looked at the clock and said, “if it’s two o’clock the kitchen is closed but it looks like you have 2 minutes.”  And they’re not even German!  So we quickly scanned the menu and ordered and then ran up to the room to leave our suitcases.  We had a very nice lunch and in the end they were very accommodating and pleasant.  All during lunch it rained buckets and we were so glad to be inside - for the rest of the day/ night.  The dinner menu looked quite inviting and even if the weather had been better we would have elected to stay in.

After a well-deserved nap, we took advantage of a lull in the rain to walk for an hour to get the lay of the land. We had thought we were going to be able to visit a few museums but it was not to be, much to my great sadness!!  We went back to the hotel and changed for dinner and went to the top of the hotel for cocktails. For fifteen shining minutes the sun came out and we were able to see most of Tulsa from the rooftop terrace. The river was swollen and running fast and all of the low lying areas of the city had been blocked off to traffic with much of it evacuated. Dinner was a strange affair:  The menu looked fantastic but the reality was somewhat less than appealing, or for that matter edible.  We actually met the chef who seemed very proud of his work but apparently he was reaching beyond his ability - e.g., duck confit is meant to be a leg conserved in its own fat.  He got those elements right, but he had over-brined it and it was so salty as to be inedible. 

The next morning was bright and sunny and Cindy went to the hotel’s torture chamber to work out while I walked the city. Our hotel, The Mayo, was quite similar to the one in OKC, the oldest in Tulsa and restored to incorporate some modern amenities while keeping the old charm. There were cool little rooms on the Mezzanine: a writing room, a card room. a sewing room and a few little corners with views. The surrounding area was again void of stores, pharmacies, bodegas and even tourist shops. We decided to skip another museum since it didn’t open until 11 am and we had a four+plus hour drive ahead of us. 

I suppose since they don’t get a lot of tourists in Tulsa, they don’t want them to leave because once again it took us forever to get out of town. The valet told us how to get to the highway we wanted but the entrance was blocked due to high water. The same for the alternative route. Finally Cindy found a “longcut” (too late for a shortcut!) which was really the only way out, and we settled in for the ride. Well, we settled in for about four minutes before we heard this ding-ding-ding indicating a low tire pressure and a warning to fill immediately.  We pulled off at the first gas station and found the tire pump. Since the message did not say which tire, I had to check them all, and sure enough one was at twenty pounds of pressure.  I filled it up and we were once again on the road to Kansas.  Kansas was Cindy’s 49th state and now she only has Alabama left.  

Best to all, Cindy and Wm

Oklahoma City

We really didn’t have any expectations or knowledge about Oklahoma. For me it was my 50th state, for Cindy her 48th.  We knew there had been a land rush and we knew - or thought we knew - about the bombing of the federal building in 1995.  We also knew they had miserable weather in May with hail, tornadoes, tons of rain and resultant flooding, but that was it.  Our young and dumb Uber driver who picked us up at the OK City airport added nothing to our knowledge base as we drove to the hotel.  In fact, we had to tell him a few things about history, trains, and westward expansion - and he didn’t seem to give a damn about any of it. Oh well, not his job, so we tipped him for the ride (Daisy being the first driver ever that we did not tip).

I had chosen a hotel based on two factors:  It had to be within walking distance of most everything we wanted to see, and it had to be of historical and architectural interest. We ended up at the Skirvin Hotel, which proved to be a fantastic choice. It is the oldest hotel in OKC and the staff was just perfect, as was our suite. As we were checking in they asked a question, which we would get a lot, “Why are you here?”  We would reply that we had never been to OK before and they would repeat, “But why are you here?”  We suspect that there aren’t a lot of tourists that go out of their way to visit Oklahoma City.  The positive side of that is that they are VERY proud of their city and were eager to ensure that we have a good time.

Our first morning was filled with strong winds and empty streets. It seems that the downtown is just for business and on this Memorial Day, there weren’t any cars, people or commerce. Fortunately, the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum was open and that was the first thing we wanted to visit. It is truly moving and we spent three hours walking the grounds, visiting the interactive museum and just marveling at how OKC pulled itself together after such a tragedy.  (For those interested in a five minute video summary of events click here.)  This was the first of SIX museums we would visit in our six-day trip; that is how much I love Cindy!

We had some fun experiences at the bar of the hotel. It turned out that the World Series of College Women’s Softball was to be played starting the day we were to depart. ESPN was covering this event and many members of the broadcast crew were already in town setting things up, so we got to talking to the ones who frequented the bar.  These were interesting and funny guys and they enjoyed talking to us since we knew nothing about sports and they had fresh faces to amaze with their stories. We met them twice at cocktails before we headed out for dinner and each time they were still at the bar two hours later when we returned, still laughing and talking and drinking. We would sit with them for a bit and then retire while they seemed to be getting their second wind; amazing that they do that night after night!

One of the coolest things we did was accidentally discover the Oklahoma City Land Run Monument.  We were just walking the length of the small canal that runs through a neighborhood called Bricktown and we came across these remarkable statues. On the way home we walked around Mickey Mantle Drive and looked at statues of lots of famous folk from OKC.  We visited a Rain Forest in the Myriad Botanical Gardens which was really amazing. We had walked in the gardens during our morning exercise but going into the Crystal Forest was educational and fun. The OKC Museum of Art had a fantastic exhibit of Dale Chihuly art glass; we thought we knew a lot about his work but we were wrong.  He certainly has been prolific.

Can’t say very much about the food in OKC. I suppose if you love steaks and other meats, you would be happy since it seems every restaurant is a steakhouse. We did have a marvelous lunch at a little place downtown called Kitchen 324, which featured farm-to-table food. Nothing else stands out - except for the price of wine, which was quite expensive due to the tax structure.

Stay tuned for Tulsa!  Cindy and Wm

Cindy's Birthday Trip: Part One

You have to leave home but you don’t have to go far to have fodder for a travel blog.  Every year Cindy picks a place she wants to visit for her birthday week. Usually it is a city in the USA that she doesn’t know and wants to get to know. We have gone to Memphis, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh, and every time it has been a gas.  This year she wanted to go to Oklahoma and Kansas City, so I planned the trip to include Oklahoma City, Tulsa and KC.

We got off to a rather difficult start, which involved a trip to Dulles using Lyft. I know we are in a rather remote spot for share riding services - in fact Uber doesn’t even cover our area - so we have not been surprised when Lyft drivers show up in rather old cars, or packing a gun which had to be hidden when we entered Virginia since he didn’t have a permit for Virginia.  Usually we have to wait for the driver to show up before we get to see what surprise is in store for our ride, but not this time:  The surprise preceded the arrival.  As I followed the Lyft GPS app I noticed that our driver, Daisy, had taken two wrong turns. I tried to call and text her but she did not respond so I ran up the the end of the street and flagged her down when she was close enough. I thought that her being 20 minutes late would be the big surprise but I was in for a treat.

First of all, she never got out of the car to offer to help us with our luggage - she looked to be in her 50s and was wiry and very thin (too thin) and was wearing yoga pants and might have been strong - but we’ll never know.  When I opened her trunk it was FILLED with fishing equipment and a huge first aid kit.  She had to be asked to move it - which she did while muttering under her breath about her life-saving efforts with the first aid supplies - but she made no attempt to help with the luggage.  I had to manhandle all our luggage to get the two larger bags in the trunk and the two little carryons in the front seat, since there was no room for them in the back due to the two bags of garbage and Daisy’s purse. This was a 2007 Nissan-something that did not have a functioning AC and it was a hot day. At several points in the trip she was unsure as to where she was going and despite our attempts to guide her she made mistakes, like getting off on the wrong arm of a roundabout instead of getting onto the highway. We both thought she was going to drive into the woods and shoot or otherwise maim us.  We finally made it to the airport and we leaped out of the car, reminded her to open the trunk (she would have driven away with it!), grabbed the luggage and dashed into the terminal.  We needed to distance ourselves from Daisy and to finally get some cool air.  We were both thinking, if this is just the start of the trip, what else do we have to look forward to?

After all the machinations involved with getting through security, we repaired to a lounge for a glass of wine while we waited for our flight to be called.  We had booked a non-stop flight from Dulles to Oklahoma City, thus avoiding the problems that can develop with transfers in another hub. Our plane was a small one but quite comfortable - and they even served a meal, which is almost unheard of in the world of United Airlines.  We lucked out with the weather and there were no tornadoes in our flight path, just some manageable turbulence, and we were soon in the Sooner State ready for out next adventure. 

To be continued:  Cindy and Wm