March 14 - 17, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, OK
By Brian Gilbar (some additions by Chris)
Saturday we headed to Tulsa, OK. It was a long drive in from the panhandle but we each drove half and the day went by quickly. We stopped for lunch at Pub on the Bricks in Guymon, OK. The food was good and it seemed like a nice, friendly town. Once in Tulsa we decided to head right out to dinner to an Italian restaurant Chris had eaten at before, Dalesandros. The food was amazing, but the portions were way too big. We could have easily shared. Chris has chicken cacciatore and I had a carbonara with two kinds of bacon...so delicious! We then went out for a couple drinks at the Tulsa Eagle. Not many people there but we had a lot of fun and it was relaxing.
Sunday morning we headed to Oklahoma City. On the way we headed to Carl Blackwell Lake for a 7.7 mile hike. It was a strange hike to start as it was a bunch of horse trails and it appeared initially that we would just be walking around a field. However, over time it wandered into the woods and ended up being a fairly beautiful hike. The best part for me was seeing wildlife. I saw armadillos for the first time ever (Chris had seen them before). We also saw two deer, a buck and doe. It was fairly warm and the trail ended up being quite challenging so we were happy to be done and head back to the hotel.
For our first OKC meal we ate at Saltgrass. We ordered some drinks and they were HUGE as you can see in the picture. They were also quite tasty. Chris had a steak that he said was ok. I had the most mouthwatering, tender filet mignon. We also had an amazing dessert. It was a soft brownie on top of a thin crispy oatmeal cookie with ice cream on the top. I didn't think the cookie and brownie would go well together, but they did. It was so rich that together we couldn't even finish it. We then went out to a couple bars in the NW 39th Street Enclave, an LGBT district in OKC. We spent a little time at one bar watching a very professional drag show, very talented performers. We then went to a more country type bar. Both were fun, especially the people watching. At the country bar there were some guys singing along with songs playing and having a great time...it was fun to see.
Monday morning was a work/laundry day. Chris worked for a few hours while I did many loads of laundry. We then decided to go for another hike so we went to Lake Thunderbird State Park. While it was beautiful, it was almost impossible to read the maps and we ended up on some smaller trails that mostly were not marked, versus the main trails marked with different colors. It was frustrating, but we managed to get in 3 miles and the lake was beautiful. We then went to Chili's for dinner, and had a low key evening watching a movie. We were both exhausted.
Tuesday morning we visited the OKC Capital Building. We had what turned out to be a private tour from a very friendly and knowledgeable tour guide and then viewed some of the artwork in the building. We then headed off to Big Spring, Texas for an overnight on our way to three nights camping and hiking in and near Carlsbad, NM! Hotel rooms were hard to find and Big Spring wasn't our first or 2nd choice place to stay and is not a place we'd recommend visiting.
Saturday we headed to Tulsa, OK. It was a long drive in from the panhandle but we each drove half and the day went by quickly. We stopped for lunch at Pub on the Bricks in Guymon, OK. The food was good and it seemed like a nice, friendly town. Once in Tulsa we decided to head right out to dinner to an Italian restaurant Chris had eaten at before, Dalesandros. The food was amazing, but the portions were way too big. We could have easily shared. Chris has chicken cacciatore and I had a carbonara with two kinds of bacon...so delicious! We then went out for a couple drinks at the Tulsa Eagle. Not many people there but we had a lot of fun and it was relaxing.
Sunday morning we headed to Oklahoma City. On the way we headed to Carl Blackwell Lake for a 7.7 mile hike. It was a strange hike to start as it was a bunch of horse trails and it appeared initially that we would just be walking around a field. However, over time it wandered into the woods and ended up being a fairly beautiful hike. The best part for me was seeing wildlife. I saw armadillos for the first time ever (Chris had seen them before). We also saw two deer, a buck and doe. It was fairly warm and the trail ended up being quite challenging so we were happy to be done and head back to the hotel.
For our first OKC meal we ate at Saltgrass. We ordered some drinks and they were HUGE as you can see in the picture. They were also quite tasty. Chris had a steak that he said was ok. I had the most mouthwatering, tender filet mignon. We also had an amazing dessert. It was a soft brownie on top of a thin crispy oatmeal cookie with ice cream on the top. I didn't think the cookie and brownie would go well together, but they did. It was so rich that together we couldn't even finish it. We then went out to a couple bars in the NW 39th Street Enclave, an LGBT district in OKC. We spent a little time at one bar watching a very professional drag show, very talented performers. We then went to a more country type bar. Both were fun, especially the people watching. At the country bar there were some guys singing along with songs playing and having a great time...it was fun to see.
Monday morning was a work/laundry day. Chris worked for a few hours while I did many loads of laundry. We then decided to go for another hike so we went to Lake Thunderbird State Park. While it was beautiful, it was almost impossible to read the maps and we ended up on some smaller trails that mostly were not marked, versus the main trails marked with different colors. It was frustrating, but we managed to get in 3 miles and the lake was beautiful. We then went to Chili's for dinner, and had a low key evening watching a movie. We were both exhausted.
Tuesday morning we visited the OKC Capital Building. We had what turned out to be a private tour from a very friendly and knowledgeable tour guide and then viewed some of the artwork in the building. We then headed off to Big Spring, Texas for an overnight on our way to three nights camping and hiking in and near Carlsbad, NM! Hotel rooms were hard to find and Big Spring wasn't our first or 2nd choice place to stay and is not a place we'd recommend visiting.
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