A Personal Journey to Explore All 50 States (and DC) Within 5 (or more) Years.
Original deadline was August 2016... that's not gonna happen anymore, but I'm still onmy mission!
That's me and my friend/ soror Melanie...you all first met her on my Illinois entries
I won't make this a post about the great feats and accomplishments of my organization, but I will say that sorority membership has allowed me to travel to many states and cities over the years. This time, my musical family brought me to the state of Oklahoma- where our National Headquarters is located. We gathered to dedicate a memorial garden in honor of our recently deceased founder Wava Banes Turner Henry.
That's Wava!
So, enough mushy mushy. Back to the reason you come to my blog! Stillwater is a city about an hour away from Oklahoma City. It's the home of Oklahoma State University, and again, the National Headquarters for our two organizations. I'll be honest, there wasn't a whole lot of ritzy glitzy stuff to do there- in fact it appeared most of the city was simply the campus of OSU, which is also THE largest campus of any school I've ever seen. Outside of the actual dedication ceremonies, most of my time spent in Stillwater was spent socializing with friends and fraternal family.
Headquarters!
One place I did get to visit though was a spot called Eskimo Joe's. It was STUPID packed, and obviously owned by a super proud Republican- the owners have signed PERSONALIZED letters from both President Bushes and their wives hung in the gift shop. The letters mentioned their famous cheese fries- something that everyone said we should try. However, we weren't actually that hungry so my sorority sister and I ate very light meals.
Eskimo Joe's
I ordered an Oklahoma traditional food- an onion burger- although it wasn't called that on the menu. Onion burgers started decades ago as a way for restaurant owners to stretch their beef longer. Once beef prices dropped, many just kept it up because the burgers just tasted great that way.
My onion burger
EJ's wasn't a disappointment. The food was good, and once we were seated we were served promptly by a super friendly waitress. We even got cute souvenir cups with our drink orders. In fact, minus the stupid long wait (which is not their fault) I have no complaints. I DO, however, have an observation. The logo for Eskimo Joe's (as a black woman who is very aware of race issues in my country) sorta bothered me. I mean- it's an Inuit person with huge teeth and squinty eyes. Granted, I am apparently the only person who noticed this. I mean, it would be the equivalent of having a Native American mascot with cherry red skin or an African American mascot with big pink lips and a watermelon slice in their hand. But. They've been around for 20+ years, and seemingly haven't needed to address this. More power to them. I don't think they are intending the image to be harmful or anything...just...you know. Kinda noticeable.
Also ironic they chose a cold weather mascot in a city that was 105 degrees the entire time I was there lol
Well readers, I still have quite a few entries for Oklahoma, and God-and-finances willing I will be in Atlanta, Georgia in a few weeks. You KNOW I've already got my touristy plans brewing. Until then, thank you all so much for reading along for my journey, and as always, I'll see you on the next adventure!
My first day in OKC ended with a visit to the American Banjo Museum. Let me add that I was not alone. I was with a fraternity brother and sorority sister who were less than enthused about visiting this museum, but they were humoring me I suppose. We had coupons and a Groupon that made it even more affordable to visit and made it even more difficult to argue against visiting.
The escape from the oppressive 105 degree heat into the museum's generous air conditioning alone was reason enough to pay a few bucks to enter, but (as I, the museum lover, tend to do) really enjoyed my visit here. Amazingly, my friends did too- even if they weren't convinced it was really worth their time.
When you first walk into the museum, you are introduced to the history of the banjo via an 8 minute presentation. It starts with the above grandfather and child having a conversation about the boy learning how to play the banjo. (Interesting fact, they were fashioned after the Henry O. Tanner painting "The Banjo Lesson".) From there you listen about the African roots the physical instrument has, and then move forward through it's place in American culture from slavery to minstrel shows to jazz to bluegrass.
From there you enter into a large, L shaped gallery that has some pictures and neat posters and information posted about the development and advancements in banjo manufacturing and musical influence, but what will stand out most are the dozens and dozens of beautifully ornate banjos. Seriously. When I thought of banjos previously, I thought about hillbillies and instruments made out of scrap metal. These were NOT that. See for yourself:
From there you walk past biographies of some of the more famous banjo players, and then head upstairs to find even more banjos including a very rare 1929 Gibson bass banjo.
There was a very catchy song playing on the second floor (it was actually The Gang That Sang "Heart of My Heart"). It came out of an exhibit that looked like an old school pizza parlor that talked about the band/restaurant named "Your Father's Mustache". It was an interesting surprise, but hilarious thanks to this sign here:
C'mon. THAT is FUNNY! And clever!
At the end, as we prepared our journeys off to Stillwater and Langston, we talked with the lovely woman at the front desk, who invited us to try our hand at playing one of the hands-on banjos at the front. It was a lot of musical fun that I was glad to share with my friends (especially as I gave them a semi-lecture of "See! You thought I was crazy but we enjoyed ourselves!).
More Oklahoma blog entries to come over the coming days. In the meantime, feel free to look at the rest of my Facebook photos from Oklahoma and all the states I've visited for the blog thus far. You can also check out a video I shot of a video in the museum (please don't hate me oh copyright lords and ladies!) and a photo of me awkwardly holding a banjo while my friend takes my picture.
Thank you so much for reading my blog, and as always, see you on the next adventure!
Greetings readers! I've been back a little over a week from my 3 day weekend in the state of Oklahoma where I got to visit the cities of Oklahoma City and Stillwater. I had a really great time in this state and have truly fallen in love with Oklahoma City. I sincerely hope everyone gets a chance to visit someday, but just as I did for Las Vegas, I want to give you guys some tips on surviving a touristy visit to OKC.
YOU NEED A CAR TO GET AROUND
You all know I am the Queen of Public Transportation. In nearly every state I've been to I've used a bus or train or subway or SOMETHING to get around at some point. Now, I was in Oklahoma for another sorority event (more on that later) and I met up with a soror in OKC who rented a car. That was how I got around Friday and Saturday (even though that had its own problems-- our car stopped AS IN TOTALLY CUT OFF on the highway headed to Stillwater! Apparently Chevy Malibus are not safe vehicles) but Sunday I was on my own. Sundays in general suck for public transportation, but it was even worse because NO buses run in OKC on Sundays- at least not near the airport or among the museums I visited- and Sunday was my super tourist day seeing as my flight didn't leave until 6:16pm to come home.
So how did I get around? Thankfully I hadn't spent all my money and gone tchotchke crazy while I was there, I took a cab everywhere (to the tune of about $100 when all was said and done). Perhaps it was fate though because my cutie cab driver Dan was super nice, NOT CREEPY (a big plus!), and stuck with me the entire rest of my stay in OKC. He picked me up and took me everywhere I asked. The coolest thing was he of course accepts cash, but also has a WORKING card machine in his Lincoln sedan, and he accepts BITCOIN! How awesome is that? He is officially the first cab driver I've ever seen in life that takes Bitcoin. If you need a cab while you are in Oklahoma City please give him a call or text at 405-838-5242 or follow him on Twitter. He was absolutely divine.
DRINK PLENTY OF WATER
The entire weekend I was there the weather was over 100 degrees. I'm talking 103 and 105 friends. This Yankee chick was not pleased to say the least. With a very bold sun and little to no shade to be found anywhere, you are going to sweat, and when you sweat as much as we did, you are gonna need water (or Gatorade, or anything cool and liquid that isn't alcohol) to stay hydrated.
The Oklahoma state meal
photo from http://www.mysanantonio.com/food/slideshow/State-foods-and-drinks-85355/photo-6270094.php
COME HUNGRY
I didn't get to eat nearly as much food as I would have liked, but what I did get to eat I'll highlight on a later post. I was a bit disappointed by not being able to see all the restaurants I wanted to because everything I read about Oklahoma mentioned great barbecue, onion burgers (I did have one of those), and the super full plate that the official Oklahoma state meal consists of. Do me a favor, go, get some chicken fried steak, and tell me about it!
RIDE THE BRICKTOWN WATER TAXI
$9.50 gets you all day access to this fun and potentially romantic attraction in the heart of the city's Bricktown neighborhood (where you'll find lots of shops, restaurants, and a few sports stadiums). Unfortunately because we had to get to Stillwater we weren't able to ride at night (and it was super duper hot out) but I still really enjoyed myself. Our tour guide was super knowledgeable about Oklahoma and OKC and gave us all sorts of fun historic tidbits (like the difference between a Boomer and a Sooner... and why there was a slight beef between them for decades). This is told around the part of the tour where you pass the famous Land Run Monument.
Detail of the Land Run Monument
I won't bore you to death with details, but I WILL let you look at my YouTube videos so you can get a sense of it for yourself.
Many blog entries to come about my time in Oklahoma, just have to get the time to type them out. In the meantime please feel free to visit my Facebook page and browse my photos and give me a "like" while you're at it. Thank you so much for following me on my travels, and as always, I will see you on the next adventure!
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