Oklahoma Attractions & Destinations

We would like to share some of our favorite Oklahoma attractions and destinations in our neighboring state of Oklahoma. We have been to various places in this wonderful state, over the last 8 plus years that our daughter and son in law have been living there. Her husband is from Oklahoma and they have moved back to his hometown. We not only visit them there, but meet them in other areas of Oklahoma as well. There is just so much variety in this state from, mountains, to flat prairie land. The offerings are just as diverse. Whether you want some big city fun, some small town fun or something in between, Oklahoma has you covered.

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Oklahoma City

Bricktown

Besides enjoying shopping, dining, culture and events in Oklahoma City, it also has so many different neighborhoods to explore. Bricktown is one of these neighborhoods and we have been there several times. My daughter and her aunt (my sister in law) have the same birthday and mine is 4 days later, so we do a girls trip (usually in Texas or Oklahoma) every year to celebrate. The 1st time we went to Bricktown, we had such a fun time exploring and laughing and celebrating! We stayed at the century old Colcord Hotel and walked or used the hotel shuttle to eat and play in the hopping center along the canal. This historic hotel (actually on the National Register of Historic Places) prides itself on luxury and service. The fun, 50 block Bricktown district, is packed with so many entertainment choices. From shopping (stop in Painted Door), dining at Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse or Toby Keith’s Grille or so many other choices, to riding a river taxi or horse driven carriage, you can stay busy all weekend here. Maybe you prefer visiting Put a Cork in it Winery, catching an Oklahoma City Dodgers (AAA minor league team for the LA Dodgers) game, bowling, miniature golf, a movie at Harkins Theater, stopping for sweet treats or perusing Bass Pro Shop. With all of these options and more, no matter your interests, there’s not a shortage of enjoyable activities.

Northern OKC

In addition to Bricktown, another OKC area, that we spent our last birthday in, is the northern part of the city where we shopped at Classen Curve, Penn Square Mall and any other place that caught our eye. My daughter also shares her birthday with her best friend who lives in OK, so she and her new baby met us at Cheever’s Cafe for lunch to celebrate as part of this same trip. It’s a charming place with a wonderful menu selection. The chocolate bday cake they brought us was pretty awesome too!

OKC Outlets

Another area of OKC that we like is a few minutes west of downtown, the OKC Outlets. If we have time (and extra money!), I like to shop here on our way to Northern Oklahoma, where the kids live. It’s a good place to stop and stretch our legs anyway. There are plenty of restaurants around there too.

Museums

On other trips, while in OKC, we’ve visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, Myriad Botanical Gardens, and the Oklahoma Museum of Art. There are actually lots of museums in the city that we haven’t explored yet such as the Science Museum, American Banjo Museum, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, State Firefighters, Osteology, and others.

Tulsa

Tulsa is another incredible city in Oklahoma that we enjoy. I’ve stayed there with Big Dog and on a birthday girls trip. It’s a pretty city, great shopping, nice brunch spots and a good home base to explore other areas. Jenks is one of those nearby areas that is certainly worthy of visiting. We had a great time with our daughter at the Oklahoma Aquarium here. Us girls had a wonderful day at the Philbrook Museum of Art where we had lunch in the cafe, checked out all of the fabulous art, and explored the amazing garden grounds. There were artists scattered around in the garden painting that day too.

Downtown Tulsa

Blue Dome District

For our son-in-law‘s milestone birthday celebration, we stayed and played in the historic downtown Blue Dome District of Tulsa. This was a great little walkable area. Unfortunately, the historic Blue Dome building isn’t open or in public use, but it’s an awesome structure. I love how the street lights in this district are blue domes also. 

Hotel Indigo

We stayed at Hotel Indigo which was a very nice hotel and located within a block or so of everything we wanted to walk to. They have a rooftop bar that we visited to check out the Downtown Tulsa views. 

Peacemaker Lobster & Crab

We had a fun and delicious birthday dinner at Peacemaker Lobster & Crab. Great newer restaurant with friendly staff and a good menu selection. Our group did not go hungry here!

Dust Bowl Lanes & Lounge

After dinner, we walked over to Dust  Bowl Lanes & Lounge for some bowling, which I had not done in decades.  It was a lot of fun and most of us probably did better than we thought we would. Haha Our daughter Amanda embraced the retro vibe of the 70’s tribute bowling alley and lounge, with her ever loving fun style. 

Dilly Diner

The next morning we walked across the street to Dilly Diner for breakfast. This is another Blue Dome District jewel with an old diner atmosphere, Blue Dome building view, homemade bread and other bakery items. Here at Dilly Diner, you can eat  lunch, dinner or have breakfast all day. 

Gathering Place: Tulsa’s Riverfront Park

While in Tulsa, we wanted to visit the Gathering Place, or as much as we could! This massive 66.5 (going on 100 acres) Phase I portion of Tulsa’s Riverfront Park is more than I imagined. So through the tunnels we went and easily found the entrance and parking lot, equipped with an electric vehicle charging station, if you need one. It was only a short walk from parking lot to start exploring. 

What a dream for the littles with so many large-scale, themed play areas. Boat rentals are available as well as dining options and plenty of education opportunities. It is free to park here and there is no entrance fee.  You can even take public transportation to the park. This is a beautifully landscaped park promoting education and inclusivity.  Plan to spend a mind-blowing day here on your next Tulsa visit. 

Broken Bow 

Headed back to Texas from Tulsa, we took a detour for a visit to Broken Bow/Hochatown. This area has boomed and there is so much to do including camping and hiking in Beavers Bend State Park, boating on Broken Bow Lake, shopping in Broken Bow and Hochatown, dining, go-kart riding, bowling, visiting breweries and wineries, golfing or just relaxing in one of 2500+ cabins in the area.  This area is continuing to grow, but it’s still a great get away spot to enjoy nature and family activities. 

Pawhuska

We’ve also made the trek from Tulsa to Pawhuska a couple of times. This is home of The Pioneer Woman. I’m sure you are familiar with Ree Drummond, her cooking show, ‘The Merc’, etc. If not, she is a blogger, photographer and star of The Pioneer Woman which is her cooking show on Food Network. She has written several cookbooks, other books, children’s books, has a magazine and lots of product lines. As her popularity exploded, she opened a restaurant and gift shop. This is the famous Mercantile. She serves breakfast, lunch and dinner here from her down home cooking recipes. This is the most fabulous comfort food! There is also a ‘pick up to go’ area and a huge gift shop with lots of fun and unique gift items and apparel. Upstairs is a bakery for some amazing sweet treats created from more of her recipes. If you are lucky, you will run into Ree or her husband, Ladd, while visiting The Merc. We happened to be eating there when her husband was in the restaurant greeting visitors. At certain times of the year, you can also visit the lodge on their massive ranch. This is where Ree’s cooking show, The Pioneer Woman, is filmed so it’s not open to the public if they are filming. She has also opened P-Town Pizza and The Pioneer Woman Boarding House near The Merc. Those are two things we still need to check out.

Route 66

Route 66 Arcadia, OK is a cool spot. Maybe one day we will do an entire Route 66 road trip, but for now this little spot on the route was a fun stop. We visited and ate at Pops Arcadia which is a cool modern design style gas station and diner with hundreds of bottles of pop lining the walls of the diner inside. There is a 66 foot tall, neon lit soda pop bottle outside so you can’t miss it. Good ole typical diner food and 700 pop varieties inside. Good luck making a selection.

The other place we stopped on Route 66 in Acadia was the historic Round Barn. This was really cool. There is a small museum and gift shop on the lower level. Up the stairs on the outside of the barn you access the actual barn. Big Dog and I had to do a little two stepping on the old wooden floor. The wooden rafters of the ceiling were the main attraction tho! No one, other than some other tourists, were there when we stopped, but I understand they have live music at certain times. What fun that would be!

Lucy’s Two in McAlester

On the way to Tulsa recently, we stopped for lunch in McAlester, OK at Lucy’s Two. It’s a cute little café sandwich shop with good reviews. I had the Champagne Chicken Salad which was very good. Nice locally owned coffee or lunch stop, if you are passing through this way. 

Enid

Saving the best for last. Enid is the best place in OK to us, because this is where our daughter and son in law live. This is a mid sized town, but it has so much going for it. There is a fantastic convention center with a constant stream of major concerts along with many other events hosted here. I’m always amazed at all of the events my daughter is either directly involved with or attending for a town this size (maybe 50k people). There is an active civic theater, community connected library, women’s league, downtown events promotion, symphony, museums, planetarium, brewery, historic districts/organizations, so many shops, restaurants, etc and much more- most I’m probably not even aware of. There are several restaurants downtown that we like including PaneVino Wine & Steak and Callahan’s Pub & Grille. One of my favorite lunch spots is always Katy’s Pantry!

We’ve also spent some time in Eastern Oklahoma, which is gorgeous with the mountain views, driven through lots of south and central OK, stayed in Edmond, stopped to eat in several towns along I35, maybe even played at a casino 🙂 and we have always enjoyed this friendly state. I know there are many other parts of Oklahoma that we haven’t experienced yet, so we are looking forward to discovering some new favorite places!

Big Dog’s Review: Lulu and I travel to the great state of Oklahoma to visit our daughter and son-in-law. Besides every memory with them, here are some of my other favorite memories.

My cousin Ted and his family lived in Edmond, Oklahoma and upon a visit to see them we toured the OKC National Memorial and Museum. This is a very moving experience especially if you are familiar with the OKC bombing. I won’t go into detail here, but I would make it a must see on a trip to Oklahoma City. We also headed to Bricktown just east of downtown OKC. Fun place with many fun attractions that Lulu has mentioned. Another fun attraction, located in Jenks Oklahoma just outside of Tulsa, is The Oklahoma Aquarium. The aquarium has many fascinating exhibits. A road trip to the northern part of Oklahoma took us to the small town of Pawhuska, Oklahoma the hometown of the Pioneer Woman. We visited the Mercantile where we enjoyed a wonderful home style dinner. Afterwards we visited some of the shops in Pawhuska. On one of our visits Lulu and I experienced the fun of Route 66. I had heard of this highway since I was young, but now we get to drive it. Two interesting stops were the Round Barn and Pops Arcadia. The Round Barn is just that, a big, red, round barn. Lulu and I ventured upstairs and danced in the big ballroom. Hardwood floors are made for boot scootin’. We stopped for lunch at Pops Arcadia and had a nice lunch. The renovated  gas station is lined with glass shelves inside, displaying 700 different varieties of pop bottles. Oklahoma is great state with many attractions. Go check it out!

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