November, 2022
My original entry into Oklahoma was through the Cherokee Nation. The first thing I noticed, after the casinos and the pawn shops, was that in a 30-minute time span, two separate police SUVs made a U-turn when I passed and followed me for several minutes. I am guessing my California plates were the trigger and they were trying to figure out why a California car was around and if it was stolen. Or maybe just coincidence. The next thing I noticed was my new favorite road sign that reads “Watch Out. Don’t Hit Our Workers. Avoid $10,000 fine“. One would think the gravely injuring a worker would be the deterrent and not the $10,000 fine. Though maybe the sign is geared toward the very aggressive drivers of which they are many. I found drivers to either be really aggressive, coming right up on your tail rather than passing or overly polite, waving you through at an intersection even if you just assume let them pass through.
Driving into Oklahoma from Arkansas, the trees and terrain continue though it becomes drier and a bit more brown and as you head east, pretty flat. Surprisingly to many, there are several mountain ranges in both the south and the north as well as some lovely towns in these areas. Oklahoma is as with neighboring states, loaded with churches (the most beautiful located in Tulsa) that from what I could tell, often empty parking lots, even on Sundays. The modern mega churches seemed to fare best. You also run into towns that are completely shut down on Sundays. This was the case with Muskogee. I thought it would be cool to explore the inviting downtown, but everything was closed. I am not sure what it is like on any other day, but the downtown looked like it could be fun. Allowing alcohol at restaurants is relatively new. It is said that the Baptists used to stumble drunk to vote every year on efforts to legalize the sale and every year voted no, though small steps began, first in 1959 with the allowance of room temperature sales at licensed retail stores, then in 1984 with legalization of sales by the drink passing with 51% of the vote. Not until 2016 was a new law passed allowing sales at grocery stores and allowing liquor stores to sell cold beverages.
One thing I really liked about Oklahoma outside of the beautiful buildings, was all the public art, primarily murals, and unlike many cities, they are not littered with graffiti. Overall, I enjoyed Oklahoma though the flatness and the weather would deter me from living there. While snow can be pretty for a short time, when it is flat it is not quite the same as snow in the mountains and man the wind just bites.
WHAT TO SEE / FREE THINGS TO DO / WHERE TO EAT, DRINK AND SLEEP
TULSA. Tulsa is a nice small city. The downtown is growing into something and the arts district, though tiny, was nice and clean. They have a highly ranked art museum and the Woodie Guthrie museum (neither of which I tried as not open on the day I was there). There are a number of stylish restaurants, coffee venues and bars and I understand a lively scene on weekends (the Cherry Street neighborhood looked like it too could be fun at night – I was there during the day to try out Coffee House on Cherry Street which serves Nordaggio’s – not as good as Topeca but they have a nice outside seating area). Downtown Tulsa also has a series of tunnels (hallways really) that run under several of the buildings that were used in the past by the more affluent if you want to get a bit of local history. They are free to roam through though I think taking a tour might make them a bit more interesting. You will also find yourself at the center of the United States with a statue named, unsurprisingly, the Center of the Universe. If you stand in the circle under the statue, you can hear your voice amplify and echo but anyone standing outside the circle cannot hear you – my friends and I tried it and it worked.
The latest excitement is the newest addition of the Gathering Place funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation and 80 corporate and philanthropic organizations. This is a 100 acres (when completed) park, Tulsa’s version of Central Park or Golden Gate Park, though geared mostly to children. If you have kids, this is the place to go as there is endless free entertainment with cool looking playgrounds and all sorts of things. I wandered around the grounds, a nice stroll with greenery and at the river side, views of the massive construction project. My favorite area of Tulsa was the Cathedral District with its series of beautiful churches built in the early 1900s. They have various denominations and the architecture is reminiscent of what you would find in Europe. I toured the First Methodist church which on the outside is a cool Art Deco building and on the inside as modern as can be with a similar internal set up as found in the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City – a sound and video set up that small concert venues would long for. The Catholic church was impressive inside as well and I would have taken a photo but there was a mass or something for children going on so I peeked in and quietly backed out.
For amazing coffee, Topeca is a must stop. There are several locations and the Vast building is likely the best as the Barista there seemed a bit more engaged in his job than at the other locations and, though in a lobby, it is a nice place to hang out with high ceilings and ample seating. For a super splurge meal my friends Sherri and Dave took me to the Bull in the Alley, a fantastic steak restaurant set up in speak easy fashion. There is no sign on the door (which is down an alley), just a small bull above the door and the inside is something you would find in New York City. The place rounds out with a lively and entertaining waiter and highly skilled mixologists.
BROKEN ARROW
Bordering Tulsa is Broken Arrow which has a cute downtown with various restaurants, coffee shops, and ice cream venues. I was there with friends Sherri and Dave on a Monday night so a bit quiet but still folks out eating and walking around and I imagine it would be really fun on a warm summer night. We ate at a place that makes various wine cocktails and enjoyed some really good post dinner chocolate at Nouveau Chocolates, which is worth a visit.
BARTLESVILLE.
This area was once bustling with oil tycoons as the headquarters of Phillips Petroleum before mergers and splits and a move to Houston. Now it is mixture of very nice and the very run down depending on where you go. While few people were out walking, I felt safe here unlike in some other cities. Maybe because it was clean and devoid of homeless. The main attraction I came for was to visit Price Tower Place, Frank Llyod Wright’s only completed high rise building.
As you can see, it is not necessarily the picture of beauty and the angles required that custom office furniture be brought in, but cool to see. After exploring the small museum and art gallery, I took the elevator to a higher floor where a restaurant that is current closed for business once stood and took in the views. After, on my state park quest, I drove to nearby Osage Hills State Park which was pretty deserted at this point and devoid of water, but did get to see a Texas speedbump / aka armadillo (I did not invent the term but later understood it seeing some dead on the road in Texas). Looked like it could be a nice place to camp in the non-winter months. I also tried my first of several ice creams from the Oklahoma/North Texas chain Braum’s which my Broken Arrow friend Sherri turned me on to (my arteries are cursing her now as these are not small scoops). It was really good. Had their chocolate chip and their mint ice cream, this first time as a sundae with hot fudge. Yum! For under $2 a scoop, this is seriously good ice cream and I found myself at Braum’s multiple more times on my travels and was sad they had none when I made my way down to south Texas.
OKLAHOMA CITY.
Though lacking the small town charm and compactness of Tulsa, OKC has transformed itself with lots of hip neighborhoods and great food and coffee. I was greeted with an unusually early snow storm on my first night. I did go to the basic tourist areas, including the almost empty on a Saturday (maybe due to the cold) riverwalk area and downtown which I found to be pleasant with its abundant outdoor seating areas in mini parks. I explored the outside of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and took in a paid entry at the Museum of Art which has a large Chihuly exhibit as well as other blown glass and a work by William Morris. Also waked around the Myriad Botanical Gardens (beautiful and free) which includes the Meinders Garden, but did not get to see their highlight, the Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory, as it was unfortunately closed for renovations, with the reopening scheduled for a few days after my departure.
The neighborhoods I found the most interesting were places not so heavily listed in the guidebooks: Automobile Alley with its fantastic buildings, coffee shops (try out EOTE coffee – quality coffee in a really cool space), bakeries, and little boutiques; the artsy Paseo District filled with some quality art galleries, and the neighborhood of my AirBnB, the Plaza District with its cute strip of restaurants (Empire Slice House was really good) and bars and these amazing rotating works of art in mural alley (alley photos below).
The area where I felt the least comfortable was Stockyards City, the largest stocker/feeder cattle market in the world where cows are sold each week, but on the weekends, folks come decked out and made up. I felt out of place wearing no makeup, my REI clothing and camelback and a bit disheveled with my typical non-styled hair – very Marin like. I was told that if I wanted to see old Oklahoma, I needed to go to McClintock Saloon which I did peer into but given I did not want a drink and was not interested in a steak, I moved on and opted to buy food and cook in. The most hopping place in the area was Cattlemen’s. One other noteworthy stop in Oklahoma City was the Capitol Building. This place is just beautiful with its domed ceiling and artwork throughout.
WINSTAR WORLD CASINO. This casino in Thackerville is worth a stop just to see the crazy hodgepodge facades like the Milan entrance and New York City entrance. What was sad was the neighboring large Pawn sign…I found it interesting to see the dichotomy of the PAWN sign with arrows and in the background the WIN BIG sign for the casino.
OKLAHOMA MOUNTAINS
Oklahoma has several mountain ranges which though not super impressive, are quite nice. I made it to some of them, starting with the 200 miles long Wichita mountains where you can also find the very cool resort town of Medicine Park.
WICHITA MOUNTAINS / MEDICINE PARK:
Quartz Mountain (Baldy Point). Quartz Mountain is in southwest Oklahoma and was pretty mostly because it overlooked Lake Altus-Lugert which shores were almost ocean like (complete with the harsh winds).
Mount Scott. In another area of the range is Mount Scott which I intended to hike up but it was so blasted windy and cold, I ended up driving to the top and taking photos from there. There is no off road path either – you basically hike up the exposed paved road with the cars. The views are pretty spectacular.
Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Preserve. My next stop and favorite natural area in the Wichita Mountains was the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife preserve where I was able to see herds of Bisons grazing and in the campground another armadillo.
Medicine Park. Bordering the preserve is the small resort town of Medicine Park which is really cute with water from the nearby Medicine Creek purported to have medicinal qualities. I would love to have made it to Medicine Park on a day when the winds were not blowing at 40 mph and the temp in the 40s. I did walk around town anyway admiring the cobblestone buildings and went for a small hike in the hills with my rain gear head to toe acting as a wind breaker. I would definitely put this on the to do list if in Oklahoma during the warm months.
ARBUCKLE MOUNTAINS. My least favorite (pretty but a bit boring) was the Arbuckle mountain range and the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. This is the oldest known formation in the U.S. between the Appalachian and the Rocky Mountains. It would probably be nice in the spring after some heavy rains so that there were actually waterfalls rather than dried out beds. If you want flat hiking though among the trees, this is your place.
I finished off my Oklahoma trip by driving south to Texas.