OK Oklahoma City

We first passed through Oklahoma in the late 1980s on a trip to Texas. It was my first time traveling south of Iowa. The oil rigs and red soil caught my attention. It took awhile, but we have been back several times since then, and always seem to gravitate to the Murrah Federal Building Memorial. This time we explored the revitalized downtown warehouse area now know as Bricktown. 

We started with the Bricktown Water Taxi tour. Our guide was excellent, explaining how Oklahoma City had a wake-up call when it lost out on becoming a major airline’s hub because “we don’t think employees would want to live there.” Ouch. Through creative funding and dedication, the city transformed the abandoned warehouses and run-down city center  into a thriving entertainment district. 

The abandoned warehouses were turned into trendy bars and restaurants. A few streets were dug into channels to create a canal. Along the canal, beautiful murals, waterfalls, and plantings add interest. There are even family-friendly activities like miniature golf and laser tag. 

In addition, major businesses are located along the canal like Toby Keith’s restaurant. Ok, I guess that was Kevin Durant’s restaurant until KD left OK and that wasn’t OK with the locals so it’s now Toby Keith’s. Sonic headquarter’s is along the canal. And the minor league baseball team has one very impressive stadium!

Near the end of the tour, we passed the Land Run Memorial. The story of the 1889 Land Rush was fascinating as our guide explained the mad dash to claim free land. The memorial is jaw dropping. These larger-than-life statues are a caravan of wagons, horses, and people racing over a city block and across the canal. They represent the chaos that ensued when the land grab commenced. 

And a bit of trivia. The statue in the lower right picture of the single horse and rider depicts the scoundrels who camped out in the woods overnight to get an unfair advantage to claim a plot of land. They were first called midnighters. Later the nickname was changed to Sooners. Yup. Oklahoma Sooners. 

Kudos to Oklahoma City. Per our guide, four times the city has raised millions of dollars in “bake sale”/“pancake breakfast” fashion to do major improvements to the city. Brick town was just one of them. All projects are focused on the benefit of the city’s citizens to make it safer and a more enjoyable place to be. The city never went into debt to accomplish this phenomenal restoration. Well done.