Oklahoma City is OK in Our Book
Most of you probably know by now that I don’t like to move across the country quickly. When we set out on our full-time RVer life, my goal was to explore all the things the country had to offer. I don’t like zooming from one town to the next without taking the time to “stop and smell the roses” per say. Unfortunately when your timeline to get from Maine to Texas is one month and your list of stops equals ten you don’t get much time to truly explore. Add to that that travel plans should be made in jell-o as problems can arise at anytime .…. yup, I’m looking at you Big Tow’er! With a few extra days needing to be spent in Kansas, our stop in Oklahoma City was short and quick. We arrived at a lovely campground less than 10 miles from downtown OKC. I do realize that this would be some people’s worst nightmare to be that close to a big city, but as much as we love our mountains, we also are city lovers! Since we only had one afternoon to explore, as soon as we got set up, we were headed back out to play tourist. I had my sights set on the National Softball Hall of Fame Complex. You see, Oklahoma City is the Softball Capital of the World! I’m sure most of you didn’t know this or probably didn’t even really care to know, but as a young softball player it was the place I always wanted to “make” it to as it is where the College Softball World Series is played. It just took me a little longer to make it there than I anticipated, nor was there a game being played. Regardless, it was still cool!
Located next to the Hall of Fame Stadium, was the National Softball Hall of Fame & Museum. The museum itself was small, but had several interesting displays and artifacts. I learned quite a bit about the history and evolution of the sport that in 15+ years as player I never knew. There were also lots of pictures of Hall of Fame players and a dedicated room to the USA Olympic teams! The gift shop was full of reasonably priced softball loot, but nothing I needed to bring home to Charlie! To make the Hall of Fame & Museum even better was the price tag, it was a free (donations appreciated). While a bargain attraction is right up my alley, it also makes me a little sad that softball isn’t a more popular sport. Of course its counterpart in Cooperstown has no problem charging a whopping $23 dollars for admission. Fair, I think not. Right, Coach Bowman! Just putting that out there…
The Hall of Fame Museum and Stadium was located in an area called the OKC Adventure District. This area Northeast of the city is home to a long list of tourist attractions. We could have certainly spent some time learning about the old west at the National Cowboy Museum or checking out the history of man’s oldest feathered friend at the American Pigeon Museum (Bet you didn’t know there was one, did you? Neither did I). We love exploring unique and quirky places like this, but our one night stop in Oklahoma City didn’t allow for it. Not my ideal type of visit. Our next trip through town will also include some time at the Oklahoma City National Monument, a weird museum or two (maybe the American Banjo Museum - did you know about that one?), and some time to walk in the City Parks and Gardens. After our visit, I learned about this place called Bricktown which pairs navigable canals, trails and green space with restaurants, sporting events, and small business shopping! Sounds like a place I would fancy.
For some reason I wasn’t really expecting Oklahoma City to really be much, but I found myself enjoying the area. It could have been the sunshine after several days of clouds or Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods located nearly side-by-side, but I will give Oklahoma City another chance to capture my attention on a future visit.
We did finish out our stay in Oklahoma City with a bargain dinner at Zoe’s Kitchen thanks to a sweet coupon, a few loads of laundry at the campground, and two trips for fuel (gas for the Pilot and diesel for the The Big Tow’er)! Next up….. the biggest state on the map, TEXAS!
