Oklahoma City

Lived here when I was 11 years old. Oh what a year.

Downtown area is a mix of old and new. The Oklahoma City memorial is very sobering. The new area is cross by canals and you can get a ride around in canal boats.

Standing on a street, looking at two restaurants, about an equal distance away, which one would I choose?

There’s Rib Crib, where Tuesday nights it’s all you can eat ribs and sides for $10.99. (It’s Tuesday, btw.)

OR

This place

HMMMM I wonder

After an absence of nearly five years, R8 is scheduled to make a return to this place.

This isn’t one of the favorite stops on my world tour, but people here have been generally pretty nice to me here.

OKC is worth visting if you want to see real cowboys, eat real barbeque and travel route 66. It also has some amazingly preserved Art Deco and Art Nouveau architecture, as well as a surprizing local arts scene.

There is actually quite a bit to do here. From Bricktown to the Federal Building Memorial, from the Firefighters Museum to the Gardens, from the riverwalk to clubs… It was pretty fun. When my friend said, “Let’s take a roadtrip to OK City,” I agreed but was skeptical. I had a blast all weekend long!

Oklahoma City is not an outstanding city by any means, but it is also by no means a bad place to visit. There are certainly enough things to do in OKC if you’re willing to make an effort and find them. Bricktown is a great place to visit if you’re only going to be here a day or two. If you’re looking for an indie music venue, the Conservatory on Western Avenue is an all-ages venue that showcases local and national acts and also has a well-stocked bar for the over-21 crowd … and Size Records next door is a great independent record shop. I’ve just recently discovered that the Oklahoma Museum of Art has a theatre that shows independent, foreign, and classic films. There’s definitely some culture here, as well as a thriving Asian district with many authentic cuisines available. (My favorite is “pho” – Vietnamese noodle soup – and there are plenty of pho houses here.)

Yes, there are some quirky things about this city – like how beer sold in convenience markets and grocery stores cannot contain more than 3.4% alcohol by weight (4% abv), but you can get just about any beer you want at its full strength at any liquor store. Also, yes, tattooing just became legal here. Believe it or not, there is even a law that makes displaying a red flag or the anarchist “A” symbol a felony – but its an archaic law and there’s never been a case taken to the courts.

Radio here sucks, but so does radio everywhere these days.

We went to OKC again last weekend for the Thunderkatz cat show. We met my parents there and took one cat for pictures and an HCM screening. It was a fun weekend!

Lots and lots of things to do in OKC! There’s always something going on down in Bricktown. Good restaurants, and they’re adding more constantly. There’s lots of events, too. The canal is fun in the summer.
The OKC National Memorial is great and the National Cowboy Heritage Museum is absolutely wonderful, and shouldn’t be missed if you’re passing through the area.
OKC has a great arts community, too. The Paseo District is so cool. They have a wonderful annual arts festival there.
The kids will love the zoo or the Omniplex, and there’s traditional fun, too, like the Harn Homestead down by the State Capitol.
There’s a lot more going on in OKC than you think!

A southwestern version of Indianapolis.