Oklahoma and Two More Great Visits

Scott, Heather, Deborah, and Jerry at Joseph's in Drumwright for dinner on our Anniversary

 Our visits were first with Jerry and Deborah Brichacek in Drumwright and second, with our oldest son, Joshua, in Tulsa. We have known Jerry and Deborah for many years, cruising with them in Belize and the Bay Islands of Honduras. We both have our boats at Tortugal Marina in Guatemala and we visited them at their ranch in Drumwright years ago when Joshua and his family lived in Tulsa. During our 3 day visit with them, we met their oldest son Don and his daughter Jonna, did some sightseeing in Oklahoma City, and had some great talks and meals together. It was our 42nd anniversary and we enjoyed spending that occasion with Jerry and Deborah.

Jerry and Deborah have a large ranch with cattle, oil wells, and a gas well. You can see the difference in the colors and things got even greener after the rain and as we moved east.

And I should talk about the weather and the huge change in scenery when we entered Oklahoma. It was a movement from Red/Orange/Yellow to Green/Blue. From constant sunshine to rain and clouds (and of course, there will be sunshine, but not yet). The beautiful greens so reminiscent of Vermont impressed us so much. We hadn't seen those colors (except for a few evergreens high in the mountains) for a long time. The first night in Drumwright it poured - all night. The sound on our trailer was so lovely and soothing. I slept well! Happily, the whole next day while we went sightseeing it held off. Thank you! And it did the same, although no sun, our day in Tulsa. But starting that night and all the next day - sometimes torrential - while we drove to Hot Springs, Arkansas, it poured. 

On our full day sightseeing, we saw both the Cowboy and Western History Museum and the Centennial Land Run Monument in Oklahoma City. The first was founded in 1955 and beautifully expanded and renovated later. It's huge and we could only see a part of it. We'd love to go back. The Land Run Monument was designed and sculpted in bronze by artist Paul Moore. It depicts the opening moments of the frenzied Land Run of 1889, when the "unassigned lands", given by treaty by Indian tribes under duress and divided by their support of one or the other side of the Civil War. These Indian tribes had already been displaced from their home lands to Oklahoma. But it's a moving and dramatic portrayal of the desperate homestedders that wanted to settle in the area (some had already settled there and had been expelled before the treaties were signed). 

It's hard to get a feeling for the immensity of this sculpture installation but here's some of it. As you can see we didn't have the best weather, but it didn't rain until just after we'd finished seeing everything!

Joshua is a Radiation Oncologist and works in the Dallas and Tulsa area. He lived in Tulsa for years but his home now is in Dallas - we spent 3 weeks visiting him and his family in February. This was just a short visit, unfortunately. He took us out to dinner at an amazing place, The Bull in the Alley, and we danced virtually on Sean's 2nd Annual Zoom 5 Minute Dance Party for His Birthday. What fun! Josh fixed up a strobe light in our trailer for us to dance to - A Want to Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston. That afternoon before meeting him we enjoyed seeing The Gathering Place along the river in Tulsa. This award-winning public park packs in more fun and art in one place that we have seen anywhere really. And it is very beautiful and practical. 

Joshua, Scott, and I at Bull in the Alley Restaurant in Tulsa, OK

We spent several hours with Deborah and Jerry at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. We could have spent a day here there is so much to see and learn, much that we have never been exposed to.  To start was a huge hall of photos of women through time that have either been famous or never seen before, that impacted the history of the west. The photos were so moving and well chosen to represent the huge variety of women that made history here.

But somehow these funny shots came through.
The Toy Story movies are favorites of mine so
I loved seeing these characters with this beautiful
replica stagecoach. 

Prosperity Junction is a turn of the century small
town which you can walk around and even enter
into the furnished stores and public buildings.

This history of African American cowboys and
settlers in the early West was much appreciated!

And since I love Western movies
and old TV shows, I enjoyed the 
room of photos, history and 
memorabilia.

The sculpture tears across a beautifully landscaped
park with a pond wandering through it.

The sculptures are larger than life and so realistic.

A Barrell fell out of the wagon causing this accident.

Jerry and Deborah's home

A fire was burning at The Lodge in Tulsa at
The Gathering Place

There were hundreds of Koy in the pond.

Comfortable chairs with padded seats were 
scattered evrywhere.

The architecture of all the buildings was 
outstanding - here is the boathouse.

Drawers pulled out from the wall and contained
collections of just about everything! Here are
political buttons - Bernie's was in the upper right!

The Hall designed by artist Mark Dion

Only part of the huge playground at the 
Gathering Place.

I thought of the song, "Knock three times and whisper low..." when we saw the entrance to the Bull in the Alley. The green doors are the entrance with no sign but a tiny bull hanging over them.