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
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