Today was a day filled with contrast. We got in touch with our inner cowboy, cried for the tragic loss of so many, and enjoyed the beauty of one of our countries National Recreation Areas. It all started with our first Suite Stop clue of the day (watch it here) which directed us to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. The museum is filled with western art, cowboy memorobilia, and rodeo regalia. I literally could have spent all day wandering it’s massive halls. While some of the art exhibits weren’t exactly toddler friendly, there was definitely plenty of great exhibits to keep children entertained for a couple of hours. Prosperity Junction is a replica of a turn-of-the-century cattle town which was built inside the museum. Walking around the town made us all really feel like we were in the Old West. Prosperity Junction had everything any respectable western town could need including a livery stable, saloon, church, mercantile, bank, jail, and railroad depot. We all absolutely loved it.
There is also a separate building housing a Children’s Cowboy Corral. Here, kids can pretend to build a fire near the chuck wagon, try out different saddles, and even put on chaps and boots in the dress up area. Mari especially enjoyed the pink cowboy boots. I personally loved the sections of the museum dedicated to the rodeo and paying tribute to famous movie and tv stars who played western roles. I am still in disbelief that there was entire exhibit dedicated to displaying 1300 different kinds of barbed wire! The National Cowboy Museum really is a great place and definitely worth visiting.
After a couple hours of exploring, we knew that we had to say happy trails to the museum and watch our second clue (here) which led us to Bricktown near downtown OKC. Our mission was to ride the water taxi. It sounded like alot of fun and we were eager to come aboard. Unfortunately, things went downhill quickly. Ben is on the autism spectrum and from time to time he has episodes where he can’t stop fixating on something. Today’s episode involved a toy rocket that he saw at the Kansas Aviation Museum. While we were at the museum, he didn’t even want the stupid rocket but today, it was all he could think about. We were stuck on a water taxi (which, by the way, was more of an advertisement for all the businesses in Bricktown than anything else) in a canal with a child who was freaking out about a toy rocket. I am sure everyone on that water taxi wanted to kill us. Luckily, the taxi makes a stop in front of Toby Keith’s restaurant so we quickly hopped off and opted to walk back to the car with a kid who was hysterical over a toy in Kansas. I guess that’s the way it goes sometimes when you travel with children. It can’t all be sunshine and rainbows.
Even though it wasn’t part of our mission for the day, we just couldn’t leave OKC without visiting the Oklahoma City National Memorial which is located where the tragic Oklahoma City bombing occurred, killing 168 on April, 19, 1995. Words can’t describe the emotions that I felt when I stood on those grounds. The memorial itself is poignant and beautiful, with a reflecting pool, survivor wall, and field of empty chairs to represent the lives lost. We didn’t have time to visit the museum (and it probably would have been too much for a three year old to understand). My children don’t understand the concept of death yet so we didn’t explain to them why we were visiting the memorial, only that we needed to be quiet because some special people were being honored there.
The memorial also includes a children’s area with chalk and places for kids to draw to share their emotions about the tragedy and leave images of hope and comfort in honor of those lost. I asked my kids what they wanted to draw. Mari drew a whale (its her favorite thing to draw) and Ben told me he wanted to draw a cross. I couldn’t help but be emotional over his choice. The memories of the emotions we felt while standing on the former ground of the Murray Building will definitely stay with us forever.
We got back in our car (not without being reminded that Ben wanted a rocket no less than 150 times) and then listened to our next clue (here). The news that we were going to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area got this National Park junkie very excited! I will be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Chicasaw is located in southern Oklahoma so in my mind, I imagined a prairie. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Chicasaw was filled with lush green forest and beautiful creeks pouring over travertine terraces which served as perfect swimming holes. We knew we only had a short time to explore this beautiful oasis but we couldn’t leave without taking a hike. The rangers at the Travertine Nature Center suggested we take the 1.2 mile roundtrip out to Antelope Springs. We were surrounded by thick forest during the entire walk which helped keep us a bit cooler in the sticky heat. We followed the trail to the outcrop of rocks from which the spring flowed. Butterflies seemed to flock to the water and put on quite a colorful show for the family. Ben even forgot about his rocket for a few minutes! We lingered a bit longer than we probably should have, but we are an outdoorsy family and at Chickasaw NRA, we were in our element.
Finally, we dragged ourselves back to the car and listened to the fourth clue of the day (here). Just as we had suspected, we were headed to Texas. When we reached the border, we sent a tweet out announcing our arrival per the Suite Stop’s instructions, then received our fifth clue (here). We were to head to Denton, TX and take a picture out in front of its 114 year old courthouse. The courthouse itself is gorgeous and seems to be a popular gathering place for the local college crowd. We ate dinner at a pizza place across the street and then listened to our last clue of the day instructing us to go to the Lewisville Country Inn and Suites which is just outside of Dallas.
Now as I sit here writing this post in the bathroom of our hotel room (its late and the rest of the family is sleeping), I can’t help but feel a little bitter sweet about tomorrow being the last day. Yes, we have spent many hours on the road and every day has been very full, but it has also been incredibly fun. I have really enjoyed spending time with Ross, Kara, and their families and will be sad to have to say goodbye. I am extremely excited to see what the final day has in store for us and where exactly we will end up. I am imagining it must be somewhere in Texas, but Texas is a big state so who knows exactly where our weary heads will rest tomorrow. Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion of the Country Inns and Suites 1K Adventure!
I hope this post has inspired you to take your own Road Trip Adventure. For more information on how to create your own trip to remember check out http://www.countryinns.com/1kcountry.
Want to follow us on the adventure as it happens? Be sure to follow @doubleadventure on Twitter and the hastag #CIS1K to see what all the families are up to every day of the Country Inns and Suites 1K!
Disclosure: A significant portion of the costs and resources for our family’s participation in the 1K Country Adventure was provided by Country Inns & Suites By Carlson.
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Sharlene Earnshaw (aka doubleadventure) is Blogger-in-chief for Trekaroo and the blogger behind Double the Adventure.
Travel with kids to: CA | CO | DC | FL | HI | IL | MA | NC | NY | PA | TN | TX | VA | WA
Last night we spent our very first night in the Sunflower State. I watched the sun set over the Kansas Speedway from the parking lot of the Country Inns and Suites in Kansas City and then slept like a log until my alarm clock shouted at me to rise and shine. We knew we had alot of driving to do so we wasted no time getting in our Avis rental car and heading on down the road. Our first clue of the day (watch it here) informed us that Kansas City, MO was the city with the most water fountains in the US. As a matter of fact, the only city in the world with more fountains than Kansas City is Rome, Italy (don’t you just love fun facts like that?). We headed to the fountain dedicated to the man behind the City of Fountains, J.C. Nichols, which was located in Mill Creek Park. As we entered the Plaza District, we couldn’t help but notice a park with statues of giant shuttlecocks randomly placed in a field of green. We decided we had to stop and get a picture of such a quirky yet beautiful work of art. We drove a block further and spotted the fountain we were looking for. Mari pointed out that the “horse and bear were fighting but the horse was winning”. I am not exactly sure what the symbolism is behind this battle of the beasts, but I do know it makes for a very pretty place to take a picture.
Clue number two (here) was a very exciting one for our kids. It indicated that we were heading to Sylas & Maddy’s in Lawrence, KS for some ice cream! Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas and the downtown area was filled with plenty of Jayhawk pride. In my part of the country, Orange County, CA, all the architecture is contemporary, so it is always nice to walk through downtown areas filled with old storefronts and small town movie theaters. Once we got to the ice cream shop, we let the kids scan all the ice cream options and make their own flavor decisions. Mari chose mint chip and Ben picked cotton candy. They enjoyed every last lick of that fresh homemade ice cream and it seemed to give them the boost they needed for a long stint in the car.
Clue number three (here) told us that we were headed to Wichita for a visit to the Kansas Aviation Museum. I’ll be honest, at first I wasn’t too excited about an aviation museum because I have never really been into that sort of thing but it was actually very cool. That is part of what makes our Country Inns and Suites 1K Adventure so fun. Kansas was never really on my vacation radar but thanks to this experience, we will forever have fond memories of ice cream in Lawrence and sitting in plane cockpits in Wichita. The museum was filled with cases of model airplanes, antique engines, and cockpits from various airplane models. There was also an area outside where we could walk around all different sorts of airplanes from tiny gliders to massive 727s. Out of the all the planes we saw, our favorite was the 1927 Laird Swallow with its stretch canvas covered wings and wooden propeller.
1927 Laird Swallow, Photo Courtesy of Kansas Aviation Museum
After we closed down the Kansas Avaiation Museum we hopped back in the car and headed down the highway to Oklahoma City. We enjoyed the view of the green rolling hills of eastern Kansas and the checkerboard farmland of northern Oklahoma. Our day had been short in Suite Stops but very long in driving. We had completed our longest day on the road (or so they tell us) and happily settled in to the Country Inns and Suites in Oklahoma City. I am looking forward to getting to know OKC a little bit better in the morning and seeing what direction Country Inns and Suites will send us next. Only two more days to go!
I hope this post has inspired you to take your own Road Trip Adventure. For more information on how to create your own trip to remember check out http://www.countryinns.com/1kcountry.
Want to follow us on the adventure as it happens? Be sure to follow @doubleadventure on Twitter and the hastag #CIS1K to see what all the families are up to every day of the Country Inns and Suites 1K!
Disclosure: A significant portion of the costs and resources for our family’s participation in the 1K Country Adventure was provided by Country Inns & Suites By Carlson.
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Sharlene Earnshaw (aka doubleadventure) is Blogger-in-chief for Trekaroo and the blogger behind Double the Adventure.
Travel with kids to: CA | CO | DC | FL | HI | IL | MA | NC | NY | PA | TN | TX | VA | WA
