September has arrived and it’s time for my birthday get away. We enjoyed our amazing adventure in France this year, but now we’re looking forward to a relaxing and stress free roadtrip closer to home. So, we decided to drive up to Oklahoma and visit friends we haven’t seen in a few years.
I am not a fan of long roadtrips as they stress me out. My max time in a car is about 6 hours before I go stir crazy. Of course Danny says when I get stressed, it stresses him out too, so we both suffer. Therefore, I selected a driving radius that was within my daily limits and we set out for our trip.
Edmond, OK
We stayed with friends, Don and Mack, who live in Edmond, Oklahoma about 13 miles north of Oklahoma City. Edmond is in the Top 100 best places to live in the U.S. in 2023. It’s the 5th largest city in OK with a population of 96,000. Edmond has a quaint downtown with shops, cafes and street art sculptures. The city also has an abundance of great restaurants where we enjoyed drinks and dinner. Yes, those margaritas were quite large!
Don drove us out to his brother’s property in the countryside to see his horses. When we returned to Don & Mack’s beautiful home, Danny couldn’t resist checking out their tornado shelter in the garage. Evidently when you live in tornado alley, it’s a necessity to have.
Oklahoma City Sites
There were many things to see and do in Oklahoma City. OKC is the state’s capital and largest city with a population of 700,000. It was once a major stop on Route 66. We only scratched the surface of things to do during our short stay. We began our site-seeing at the Wheeler Ferris Wheel located on the riverfront overlooking downtown. It has a very interesting history. This ferris wheel, featured in over 200 films and commercials, operated for years at the Santa Monica Pier in California. After its replacement, it sold on eBay. Now, fully restored, it’s in its new home in OKC.
Next, we visited the Oklahoma Land Run Monument. This artwork commemorates the beginning of the 1889 Land Run for unassigned land in the Oklahoma territory.
Myriad Botanical Gardens
The Myriad Botanical Gardens is 15 acres of green space located in the heart of downtown. The public gardens are free to enjoy.
Skydance Bridge
The design of the Skydance Bridge is inspired by Oklahoma’s state bird, the scissor-tailed flycatcher. Soaring over I-40, it connects the lower and upper parts of Scissortail Park and is a 380-foot-long pedestrian bridge with a 197-foot-tall sculpture. Like many “love lock” bridges around the world, we noticed people have attached padlocks here too.
Oklahoma City National Memorial
The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum honors the victims, survivors and rescuers of the OKC bombing in April 1995. The bombing killed 168 people and injured 680. Those who died are represented by the 168 chairs on the lawn and the names of the injured are engraved in the wall.
Lake Hefner Lighthouse
You wouldn’t expect landlocked Oklahoma to have a lighthouse. But, it does— the only lighthouse in the state is in OKC. It sits along Lake Hefner and there are great restaurants along the water for a wonderful view. After a day of touring and antiquing, we stopped for dinner and cocktails so we could enjoy the sunset.
Guthrie, OK
One afternoon we visited Guthrie, about 19 miles from Edmond. Over 50,000 settlers gathered for the 1889 Land Run to stake a claim to a plot of the Unassigned Lands. On April 22, 1889 10,000 people settled here overnight. This historic town served as the state’s first capital before OKC. We enjoyed walking around the historical buildings and visiting the antique shops.
Sadly, it was time to leave the amazing company and hospitality of our friends and start heading home. Even though we hadn’t seen them for several years, it’s great to pick up right where we left off and enjoy spending time together. Next stop on our stress free roadtrip is Wichita Falls, Texas.
Wichita Falls, TX
We planned a short weekend here as neither of us had ever been before. Wichita Falls is about 2 1/2 hours from OKC. The waterfall in Lucy Park is our first stop. This is a restored 54 foot waterfall because the original falls were destroyed in a flood in the 1800’s.
World’s Littlest Skyscraper
Wandering downtown, we discovered the world’s littlest skyscraper. Built in 1919, a contractor scammed many investors for a much needed high rise. When completed, it stood 4 stories tall, not 40. Investors believed the new skyscraper to be 480 feet tall. The contractor was sued but he won the lawsuit. No one noticed that in the blueprints he listed all the dimensions in inches, rather than feet. So, the building is 480 inches tall. Today, the downstairs is an antique shop.
Historic Downtown Wichita Falls
There wasn’t much to see or do downtown when we visited as many things are closed on Sunday and Monday. The plus side is that there is no traffic and plenty of free parking!
Wee-Chi-Tah Sculpture
This is a life-sized sculpture of a Comanche family crossing the Wichita River. The legend defines where Wichita got its name. The woman is testing the river’s depth and describes it is “waist-deep”, which is how “Wee-chi-tah” is translated.
Lunch in Waco
It’s now time to return to Houston and end our stress free roadtrip. On our way home, we stopped for a quick lunch in Waco and spent a few minutes exploring Magnolia Market at the Silos made famous by Chip and Joanna Gaines.
We had a very relaxing time on our trip and the time in the car wasn’t nearly as stressful as I expected. Maybe there are many more road-trips ahead for us after all. Thanks for traveling along with us and see you on our next adventure.
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