When: May 26 to June 26, 2022
Where:  Roadrunner RV Park, Oklahoma City (they don’t have a website)
Cost:  $660/month
Biking: West River Trail and Lake Overholser Trail
Bucket Lists: Women’s College World Series

After selling our home in Columbia Missouri to live full-time in our RV, our first stop was OKLAHOMA CITY!  I realize that most people don’t think of this fly-over state and red-dirt town as much of a destination.  However, Oklahoma City has been on our bucket list for a long time.   So…what is there to do in Oklahoma City?  WE STAYED THERE A MONTH TO FIND OUT!

#1:  Visit one of the FREE Public Gardens

Oklahoma City offers residents and visitors some AMAZING public outdoor spaces.  Here’s our top three picks:

Scissortail Park

Scissortail Park is a massive outdoor 36-acre public space located just by the Oklahoma City Thunder arena in downtown Oklahoma City.  Another adjacent 34 acres is currently under construction, and the two spaces will be linked by the SkyDance Pedestrian Bridge.  That iconic bridge, which spans Interstate-40, was inspired by Oklahoma’s state bird, the scissor-tailed flycatcher.   According to the website, the Park project budget was $132 million.

The city opened the park in 2019, and WOW—this park was designed so that there is something for everyone!  The space is filled with native trees, flowering perennials and walking trails.  The grounds include a very large children’s play area, splash park, and an Event Pavilion where we saw everything from roller skaters and Zumba lessons. Hungry?  Check out the lakeside café located at the Scissortail Boathouse known as The Perch for some decent grub (sandwiches, wraps, salads, hot dogs, pretzels, and other snacks).   On weekends, The Spark near the amphitheater also serves burgers, fries, and ice cream. 

We visited Scissortail Park on close to a dozen occasions – for early morning walks, for the Saturday Farmers Market, and for the annual gay pride celebration in June.   It truly is a park where there is something for everyone to enjoy!

For more on Scissortail Park, check out an exerpt from our video.

Myriad Botanical Gardens

Myriad Botanical Gardens is a 15-acre free public garden located in the heart of downtown Oklahoma City.   The garden contains numerous flowering perennials, small dog park, a children’s play area (with climbing structures and a carousel), several sculptures, and an outdoor amphitheater – all that surround a sunken lake that a few ducks, geese, and fish call home.  During our visit in June 2022, the indoor Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory was closed for a $10M renovation, but the walking paths throughout the outdoor space kept us busy exploring for a couple of hours.   In fact, the gardens were so beautiful that went back to Myriad repeatedly. While the outdoor space is free to visit, the indoor conservatory does charge a fee and is expected to reopen in the fall of 2022.

Take a video tour of Myriad Gardens.

Will Rogers Gardens

Will Rogers Gardens is a 30-acre free public garden that dates back to the 1930s.  During our visit on a very windy day in May 2022, the iris garden was already done for the season, but many of the daylilies were still in bloom.   Interestingly, there were also numerous cacti and other succulents near the entrance – plants that I usually associate with drier and more southern climates.  Walking paths took us by a couple of lakes, over bridges, several outdoor sculptures, and through manicured gardens.  Perhaps my favorite part of greenspace were the fairy and birdhouses tucked in all of the trees. 

The Ed Lycan Conservatory, which contained mostly succulents, was named after the first employee for the Oklahoma City Parks Department.  We saw several local volunteers tending to the plants throughout the grounds, and it was obvious that these historic gardens are loved by many Oklahoma Citians. 

Check out this video excerpt for more on Will Rogers Gardens.

#2:  Remember at the Oklahoma City National Memorial

It seems odd to call the Oklahoma City National Memorial a “bucket list” experience, but it was for me.  For many folks of my generation, the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was what the Kennedy assassination was to our parents: an act of violence that exposed some systemic failures in our country, but also an event that brought the country together in unprecedented ways.   I was a law student at the University of Kansas at the time, and the fact that this happened in a midwestern city struck very close to home.

Prior to visiting the Oklahoma City National Memorial, we watched the 2017 PBS documentary Oklahoma City so that we could refresh our memories on some of the finer details of what happened and so that we could get more out of our visit.  That film chronicles how the events of an over-zealous government at Ruby Ridge and Waco ultimately lead Timothy McVeigh to park that Ryder truck at the Murrah building and commit the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in America’s history.  Although the documentary does not lose sight of the people who died the bombing, the first responders, and the aftermath, much of the documentary is devoted to McVeigh and his old army buddies - Terry Nichols, who helped build the bomb, and Michael Fortier, who was aware of the bomb plot.  The film won was nominated for an Emmy and won a Peabody so is worth your time prior to visiting if you have the time. 

During our month-long stay in Oklahoma City, we visited the Memorial three times.  The first was over Memorial Day weekend, and the crowds were so thick that we decided to just visit the outdoor area and visit the indoor museum on another day. 

I was immediately overwhelmed with emotion as I encountered the chain link Memorial Fence covered in stuffed animals, pictures, notes, trinket, flowers, and other items that have been left by visitors over the years.  We climbed a few stairs to the Memorial grounds, which includes two massive monuments – one marked 9:01 and the other 9:03 – that flank a large shallow reflecting pool.  These “Gates of Time” frame the moment of destruction – 9:02 – when the world forever changed.  

The Field of Chairs is equally moving; those 168 empty chairs that represent those who were lost in the bombing, including 19 smaller chairs representing the children killed.  Arranged in nine rows like the nine floors of the building, each person’s each person's chair is on the row (or the floor) on which the person worked or was located when the bomb detonated.  The western edge of includes five chairs representing the five persons who died but were not in the Murrah Building at the time of the blast: two in the Water Resources Board building, one in the Athenian Building, one outside near the building, and one first responder.  American flags were posted at each chair in honor of Memorial Day.  

Near the “9:01” monument is the Survivors’ Wall.  Granite panels salvaged from the Murrah Building are inscribed with more than 600 survivor names from blast.  They include people from the nearby First United Methodist Church, St. Joseph’s Old Cathedral, AAA Loans, YMCA Building, Journal Record Building, Oklahoma Water Resources Board Meeting, a local law firm, and others.   It is important to show that the blast affected so many that call themselves survivors.

We climbed a grassy terrace to then see the Survivor Tree – a large elm tree that survived bombing.  Seeds from the tree are harvested each year and distributed on the anniversary of the bombing so there are thousands of the tree’s descendants now in existence. 

We visited the outdoor memorial a few weeks later on a weekday evening.  That visit was a more moving experience than our first time.  We were able to experience the Memorial without the crowds, and also see the Field of Chairs lit at night with the cross from St. Joseph’s Old Cathedral watching over.  The Gates of Time are illuminated as well.  By that time, we had also already visited the indoor museum and could put the outdoor space into better context.  

PRO TIP: VISIT THE OKLAHOMA CITY NATIONAL MEMORIAL AT DUSK.

The indoor museum costs $15/person and was worth it.  While the documentary Oklahoma City focuses largely on McVeigh and the bombing itself, the museum’s focus takes a much deeper dive into the building’s namesake, the victims, the first responders, and the recovery efforts, including that immediately after the bombing, the building of the memorial, and the city’s decades-long resurgence.  The museum is one of the best I’ve ever visited. 

Here’s a video exerpt about our time at the Oklahoma City National Memoral and museum.

#3:  See Some Color on the Plaza Walls

 Did you know that USA Today ranks Oklahoma City #1 in the nation for street art?  A big part of that ranking is probably the Plaza Walls, a curated, rotating mural project in the Plaza District of Oklahoma City managed and produced by The Oklahoma Mural Syndicate.  Dozens of vibrant murals line the ally-ways and building walls of this funky little part of Oklahoma City.  The murals are constantly changing too – so the area is worth revisiting every now and then to see what new art is in store!  We actually saw one of the murals being re-painted!

The murals are 100% funded by non-profits and volunteers (no city, state or federal funding). A huge THANK YOU to the artists and sponsors who make public art a priority. We truly appreciate you!

Check out this video excerpt about the Plaza Walls!

 #4:  Bike To and/or Around Lake Overholser

Oklahoma City is home to a growing recreational trail system.   During our month-long stay, we rode our electric bikes about a half-dozen times to explore the city.   Our favorite ride included the following route:

• Start at the Ferris Wheel and the iconic OKC sign in the Wheeler District

• Take the Oklahoma River Trail westward (about 5 miles)

• Merge into the West River Trail and head west, passing Crystal Lake

• Continue on the West River Trail as it goes northward along the North Canadian River

• Connect up with the Overholser Trail and continue north

• Stop at the Overholser Dam for a photo op or water break (it’s HOT in OKC, and we always needed water!)

• Bike over the Old Route 66 Bridge (west) on what is now Overholser Drive

• Continue biking around Overholser Lake and stop at the Route 66 Park near NW 23rd Street for another rest or water break

• Take the County Line Road to south to 10th Street

• ·Complete the loop around Overholser Lake by taking 10th Street east to connect up with the trail (this is a busy street, but is only a mile or so)

• Take the West River Trail and Oklahoma River Trail back the starting point.

In terms of planning a route, we found this map to be quite helpful.

Our advice is to avoid the Grand Boulevard and the Will Rogers Trails, which together bisect the city in a north-south direction.  Those urban trails are well-maintained, but numerous intersections created a lot of stop-and-starts, and the folks in vehicles did not seem cognizant of bikers. We also though that the loop around Lake Hefner was largely a bust; mostly that was because there we ate a bunch of bugs biking on the western side of the lake.

#5:  Stroll Along the Bricktown Canal

Bricktown is a 50-block entertainment district in the heart of downtown Oklahoma City where restaurants, bars, shops, and other businesses centered around the Bricktown canal.   From Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill to the Coyote Ugly Saloon to the Bricktown 16 Movie Theatre, the area screams “tourist!.”  Despite this, walking along the canal is worth doing if you have the time.  There’s a put-put course and Ferris wheel on one corner for the kids.  Other things worth doing in the Bricktown district include:

·       Catching an Oklahoma City Dodgers game at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, home of the AAA Dodgers affiliate.

·       Sampling a flight of beers at Bricktown Brewery.

·       Seeing the Oklahoma Land Run Monument near the south end that helps you visualize what “Boomer Sooner” is all about.

#6: Grab a Drink at an OKC Brewery!

Oklahoma City has an amazing craft beer scene!  During our time there, we stopped by over 20 breweries in the area. Many of the breweries are listed in Beer Hop OKC and we picked up one of the guides at our first brewery stop (Broke Brewing).   The guide is great, because it provides information like whether the brewery serves food, allows dogs, and the kid policy.  There are also handy maps in the guide as well.   The Oklahoma Brewers Association has a Oklahoma Craft Beer Trail mobile app where you can check in to the venues as well (we kept forgetting to use the app though). 

While it’s hard to pick out our favorite breweries, the following deserve a special shout-out:

• Crossed Timbers Brewing was serving up TWO pickle beers.  The Bob Dillin is a sessionable Dill Pickle Gose packed full of real dill pickle flavor, and his cranky sibling, Angry Bob Dillin', keeps the beer music humming a little louder with jalapeno and serrano peppers!  (Check out more

  Oklahoma City pickle beers).

• The décor in Vanessa House Beer Co a mixture of 80s toys and super-heroes.  I loved sipping on our flight, including my my Broken Tile hazy IPA, while looking at E.T. and a ninja turtle.  Yet, the “Slush Fund” smooth sours were the true heroes of this brewery.  We sampled the Lucky Punch Slush Fund (pink guava, mango, and vanilla smoothie sour) and walked away with a can of the Bananna Sunrise Slush Fund (banana, orange, pineapple, and a touch of pomegranate smoothie sour), courtesy of our favorite beertender in the area.  

• Our second favorite beertender called Coop Ale Works home.  She knew all of the locals in the taproom, and made us feel at home.   Since 2009, COOP has created a core lineup of seven year-round beers, four seasonal beers, and various limited and barrel-aged releases.  We had tried their F5 IPA in cans before, and the stuff on tap was even better.  We marveled at the plans for the new brewery that will be built in the historic 23rd Street Armory block, along with a hotel, event center and restaurant. The taproom paid homage to some classic beers in its can collections so it was fun to look at what people used to drink before the craft beer craze.  

#7:  Support Local Artists at Factory Obscura’s Mixed Tape

OKC is home to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, we think that Factory Obscura's Mixed Tape is the best bet for art lovers.   After entering the 6000 ft2 collaborative art space through an ear, visitors are invited to experience several interactive art installations, each with a different music and mood.   For example, there’s a love tunnel with spirals of valentines on the wall with a range of teenage emotions that lead to a teen girl’s bedroom that reminds me of my angst and obsession for the latest music.  Another large room reminds me of an “Under the Sea” prom theme.    

A ”Somebody’s Watching You” sign leads to a live feed of other people in an art space.  We originally thought there was another room at Mixed Tape that was the source of the feed, but later figured out that the video was from the Meow Wolf’s Santa Fe location, which we had visited about six months ago.  We loved that artists from different metro areas communicate and collaborate in real time!

Mixed Tape ($20/person) is substantially smaller than Meow Wolf  ($42/person) but the overall vibe is similar.  We like supporting the local art community and hope that it can grow.

Mixed Tape provides each visitor with a pair of refractive glasses, and the certainly add to the experience. We geeked out and experienced each rooms with and without the glasses.

For more on Factory Obsura’s Mixed Tape, check out an exerpt from our video.

#8:  Attend the Women’s College World Series (or an OU Softball Game)!

BUCKET LIST ALERT!   To many like me, Oklahoma City is the home of softball.  Since 1990, thousands of athletes and fans flock to Oklahoma in early June for the annual Women’s College World Series (“WCWS”).   Today, the series is comprised of eight teams that make it from a field of 64 NCAA-selected tournament teams.   The series format involves two four-team double-elimination brackets. The winners of each bracket then compete in a best-two-of-three series to crown the champion. 

We bought our tickets eight months in advance, hoping that our beloved Mizzou Tigers would make the final eight teams.  The Tigers came up short, but we were still SUPER EXCITED to see the teams that made it:  Arizona, Florida, Northwestern, Oregon State, UCLA, Texas, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma.

While Arizona (1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2006, 2007 championships) and UCLA (1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2019 championships) have both been powerhouses in the past, today the clear dominant team is the University of Oklahoma Sooners (2000, 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2021 championships).   Talk about bats!  The team’s #9 hitter bats over .400!   Those girls put the BOOM into BOOMER SOONER!

The player that I most wanted to watch was OU designated hitter Jocelyn Alo,  This year, she smashed the NCAA all-time home run record with 122, leads the NCCA in slugging percentage (1.212), and batted a whopping .512 this year.  She is just one of those elite athletes where the stats don’t lie.   I was excited to watch her make history at the Women’s College World Series, and Alo did not disappoint.  During the WCWS, Alo batted .667 (12 for 18) with five home runs, 12 runs scored, and 13 RBIs.

Not surprisingly, Oklahoma won the WCWS in 2022, and Alo was named the MVP for the series.  While OU lost one game to UCLA, that game was probably the best game of the series.  OU ultimately defeated Big 12 rival (soon to be SEC rival) Texas in the championship series.  Given that OU’s home is just twenty minutes away in nearby Norman, Oklahoma, the stadium was packed with red from fans.  It was hard…really hard…not to become an OU softball fan over the course of the series given the excellent play and the fan enthusiasm.  BOOMER SOONER!

If you cannot make (or afford) tickets to the WCWS, the next best thing is to take a drive to Norman Oklahoma to see the Sooners in one of their regular season games. While you are there, be sure and check out the University' of Oklahoma’s campus and some of its amazing architecture!

We document all of that and more in our video.