The time we spent in Oklahoma was short and sweet. However we managed to pack in two great museums and two great meals.
From Wichita, KS we drove directly south to Oklahoma City, OK.
Trip Advisor lead us to a trendy restaurant downtown, and within walking distance of the museum, to Kitchen 324. No breakfast meant we were pretty hungry for lunch and this place had a great menu full of fresh/local stuff. John got the Fried Chicken Pot-pie and Danielle got the Cauliflower steak with kale and couscous.
Still wanting more we shared the brulé banana pudding poke cake.
A few blocks away was the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. We started outside in the memorial first. There are two gateways, One with 9:01 (the minute before the bombing) and the one across the reflecting pool with 9:03 (the minute after the bombing. The inside walls are what is left of the Murrah building.
There was also an empty chair (which lights up at night) for each of the victims.
A beautiful survivor tree also sits within the memorial.
The second part is the museum itself. While only two floors of exhibits it is extremely well done. It walks you through minute by minute the events of the day and then the rescue events afterwards as well as the capture and conviction of McVeigh.
There were so many personal stories and videos to sit down and watch. One part really worth mentioning was the room where they play the water authority hearing. Across the street on the day of the bombing the Water Authority was hearing a case for a permit for a farmer to bottle and sell water. Its custom to record all hearings and this one started promptly at 9:00am the day of the bombing. The complete audio was recovered. They had the room set up to look like the hearing room and they played the audio recording. Two minutes into the recording you heard the explosion, and then the panic in everyone’s voices. It was gripping.
The museum then went on to really show the death and destruction this act of terrorism caused. I’m not sure how anyone left this portion of the museum without crying.
They then moved on to the rescue efforts and while there are many stories of people not found, they showcased all of the amazing and heroic efforts of first responders. It reminded me of the Mr. Rogers’ quote from his mom reminding him to “Look for the helpers”.
This museum and memorial was extremely powerful and I highly recommend that if you ever find yourself anywhere in the vicinity of Oklahoma, you go out of your way to get there. We spent almost two hours there from start to finish and probably could of stayed longer.
That evening we headed to Tulsa and found an awesome restaurant. Not only did it have a full size Mexican wrestling ring when you walked in, it also using extremely sustainable practices and local ingredients. It was called Elote café and catering in downtown Tulsa.
We both tried the puffy tacos. First time we have ever seen these on a menu and they were amazing! Also got the fried avocado in the same puffy goodness!
They even gave use a free hot churro for dessert!
The next morning we drove to Tahlequah, OK to visit the Cherokee National Museum. The museum and heritage center here was great and we really enjoyed walking around the grounds of what a post-removal village would look like.
They sell a “Cherokee Passport” that gets you into all 5 museums. (We made it to 4/5, but since the passport never expires hopefully we can get to the last one sometime!)
We also went to the Cherokee Supreme Court Museum which is in the oldest judicial building in Oklahoma. Right around the corner is the Cherokee prison museum. Both very small but worth the visit while in town and helps give you more of an understanding of the Cherokee culture and judicial practices.
The last museum we were able to get to was the John Ross museum. Again, very small and we were the only people there but that meant we got to speak with the curator about all sorts of stuff. We drove up to the cemetery and saw the gravesite of John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokee from 1828-1866.
We really enjoyed these museums and it was a great follow up with the study we did back in 2014 through NEH and Western Carolina University.
Again it was over 100 degrees both days so on our way out of Oklahoma we stopped at a Braum’s for some ice cream!
Dietz Summer Road Trip 