Planes Lift Off Right Beside The Runway While You Eat Chicken Fried Steak At This Oklahoma Diner
I pulled in expecting a quick plate of eggs and left talking about a little white plane I watched climb into the sky between bites. Some Oklahoma diners win you over with gravy,...
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Inside A Plain Building In Anadarko, Southern Plains Tribes Show Their Own Beadwork And History
I almost drove right past it, a low and quiet building that looked more like a government office than a place full of color and craft. Then I stepped inside and found beadwork...
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Nearly Every Booth Sells Something Different Along Guthrie’s Antique Row, So Plan A Full Saturday
I only meant to stretch my legs and grab a snack, but one plain brick doorway in Oklahoma swallowed my whole afternoon. Inside, a tin toy sat next to a teacup, which sat next to...
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Holiday Pie Season Means Ordering Ahead At Pie Junkie In Oklahoma City
I walked into a tiny, brightly painted shop in Oklahoma expecting a quick slice and walked out holding a whole pie, a frozen pot pie, and a plan to come back. The case was crowded...
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Pick Your Own Christmas Tree And Sip Cocoa At These 5 Family Farms In Oklahoma
The first time I followed a hand-painted sign down a gravel road looking for a Christmas tree, I figured I'd be home in twenty minutes. Instead, I ended up with cold cheeks, a...
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This Oklahoma Sanctuary Lets You Feed Former Circus Elephants And Hear Their Stories
I figured it would be a quick stop on a long country drive, maybe a fence, a field, and a gray shape far off in the distance. Instead, a trunk the size of a fire hose curled around...
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This Oklahoma Steakhouse Hides Western Heritage Museum Art On Its Walls And Serves A Steak Worth Remembering
I walked in expecting a good steak and maybe a basket of warm rolls. I did not expect to find myself staring at fine Western paintings between bites, like I had wandered into a...
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Ride Horseback Then Eat Campfire Steak At A Working Cattle Ranch In Oklahoma
I almost drove right past the gravel turnoff, figuring it led to nothing more than another quiet pasture in western Oklahoma. Then I caught the smell of a campfire and saw horses...
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This Oklahoma Highway Pie Shop Fills Its Shelves With Fried Pies, Cheeses And Locally Canned Goods
I only pulled off the interstate to stretch my legs, and I left holding a warm paper sack and a jar of pickled beets. Somewhere in northern Oklahoma, a plain little roadside building...
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This Oklahoma Western Store Has Enough Boots And Saddles To Make Your Barn Budget Nervous
I only stopped because I needed one pair of work boots, and I figured I would be in and out in ten minutes. An hour later I was still wandering past rows of leather, bright stitching,...
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An Old Downtown Hotel In Guthrie Holds Territorial Oklahoma’s Forgotten Capitol Story
I pulled off the highway expecting a quick stretch break and maybe a snack, and instead found a red brick doorway that swallowed up my whole afternoon. Most Oklahomans can name...
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A Family-Run Horse Boarding Ranch Near Broken Arrow Where Rescue Comes First
Some of the best places in Oklahoma don't come with a gift shop or a giant sign by the highway. I went looking for animals and found a quiet ranch where horses graze, hay bales...
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The Quiet Oklahoma City Where Retirees Say Their Social Security Stretches Further Than Expected
Some places do not shout for attention, and that is exactly why they surprise you. Picture pulling off the highway in Oklahoma for a slice of pie and a refill of coffee, then realizing...
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Rusty Steel From An Old Oil Boom Stands Again At This Restored Oklahoma Refinery Town
I pulled off the highway expecting a quick stretch and a glance at some old photos. Instead, I found a weathered depot surrounded by oil rigs, train cars, and stories that would...
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Spinning Clay On A Real Pottery Wheel Takes One Afternoon At These 5 Oklahoma Studios
I walked into a plain little studio expecting to make a lopsided mess, and I walked out a few hours later grinning with clay under my fingernails. Across Oklahoma, small pottery...
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The Choctaw Nation Tells Its Own Story Inside A Restored 1884 Capitol In Oklahoma
Out past the pine-covered hills of southeastern Oklahoma, I expected a quick roadside stop and maybe a plaque or two. Instead I found a red brick building with a fancy roof standing...
Read More 6 min read
Oklahoma Families Stock Their Freezers For Less At These 9 Old-School Meat Markets
The first time I walked into a small-town butcher shop in Oklahoma, I only wanted a pound of sausage. I left with a cooler full of steaks, a bundle deal I could not pass up, and...
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A Whole Pioneer Town Was Rebuilt Board By Board Inside This Small Oklahoma Museum
I pulled off the road expecting a quick look at a few old photos and maybe a dusty wagon wheel. Two hours later, I was still wandering, peeking into a one-room schoolhouse and...
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A Short, Shaded Trail Leads Hikers To A Waterfall With Observation Platforms At This Oklahoma Park
I pulled off the highway expecting a quick leg stretch and maybe a vending machine snack. Instead, I found a cool, green forest in northeastern Oklahoma that smelled like wet stone...
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You Press A Buzzer By An Unmarked Alley Door To Reach Sizzling Ribeyes At This Oklahoma Supper Club
I almost walked right past it, a plain alley between two buildings with nothing to suggest dinner was waiting inside. Then I spotted a bright orange door, pressed a small buzzer,...
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7 Oklahoma Spots Worth A Chilly Drive For Homemade Chili
The first cold snap of the year always sends me hunting for a bowl of something hot, red, and simmered all morning. In Oklahoma, the best chili rarely comes from a fancy dining...
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Step Inside This Route 66 Building In Oklahoma And Dig Through Hundreds Of Vintage Motorcycles
From the road, it looks like one more tired old gas station you would cruise right past on a long Oklahoma drive. Pull over anyway, because the doors open onto row after row of...
Read More 8 min read
Every Single Treat On The Menu Is Gluten-Free At This Oklahoma Cottage Bakery
I went looking for a cinnamon roll I could actually eat and ended up finding a whole kitchen full of them. Out on a quiet country road in Oklahoma, a small home bakery is turning...
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This Enormous Oklahoma Flea Market Fills A Whole Saturday With Treasure Hunting
I only meant to grab a coffee and poke around for twenty minutes, maybe find an old sign for the garage. Three hours later I was still wandering aisle after aisle, holding a bag...
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Route 66 Runs Right Through The Exhibits At This Oklahoma Museum Families Stop For
We only pulled off the interstate to stretch our legs and maybe grab a cold soda, but somewhere between a vintage diner booth and a painted VW bus, the whole afternoon slipped...
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Buffalo Soldiers Once Served On This Oklahoma Ground, And Its 1869 Frontier Fort Still Stands
Some places look like nothing special from the road, just a few old stone buildings around a patch of green grass. Then you step inside one, and suddenly you are standing where...
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Cajun Gumbo And Crawfish Étouffée Taste Like Louisiana At These 5 Oklahoma Kitchens
I never expected a strip-mall doorway in Oklahoma to smell exactly like a Lafayette kitchen, but the dark roux hit me before the door even closed. One spoonful of gumbo later,...
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Homemade Fried Pies Come Hot Out Of The Fryer At These 5 Oklahoma Roadside Stops
Some of the best bites in Oklahoma come wrapped in wax paper and handed across a counter by someone with flour on their sleeves. You pull off the highway expecting a quick snack,...
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Boats Tie Up Beside Your Table At This Floating Restaurant On Oklahoma’s Fort Gibson Lake
I only stopped because my stomach was growling louder than the boat motors out on the water. A gravel road, a quiet cove, and a wooden dock that wobbled under my feet did not exactly...
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When Cold Weather Hits, Oklahoma Families Head For Pie At These 7 Diners
The first real cold snap in Oklahoma does something funny to a family car. Somebody mentions pie, and suddenly a plain Saturday turns into a road trip toward a diner with a gravel...
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Fans Still Climb The Steps Of This Tulsa Drive-In Theater Where The Outsiders Was Filmed
Some places look ordinary from the road until you realize you have seen them before, maybe on a living room TV years ago. That was the jolt waiting for me on a warm evening in...
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Quilters Can Spend A Whole Fall Weekend Hopping Between These 6 Oklahoma Fabric Shops
Some of the best bolts of fabric in Oklahoma are tucked behind plain storefronts you could drive past a hundred times. Step inside one, though, and you might lose an entire afternoon...
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Here’s The Oklahoma High Point Where A 4.2-Mile Hike Ends Just 0.2 Miles From New Mexico
Some places do not look like much on a map, just a speck of land at the far edge of Oklahoma where the roads thin out and the towns disappear. Then you lace up your boots, start...
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A Mysterious Runestone Draws Families In Viking Gear To This Oklahoma Hillside Festival Every Fall
Picture a quiet hillside road in Oklahoma, a gravel lot, and a short walk through the woods to a giant slab of sandstone with strange letters carved into it. Nobody can say for...
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Most I-35 Drivers Miss The 77-Foot Waterfall And Stone Castle Ruins Hiding In Oklahoma
I only planned to stop for gas and a snack somewhere in southern Oklahoma, nothing fancy. Then a curve in the road showed me rugged hills, a roaring sheet of water, and an old...
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Oklahoma’s World’s Tallest Hill Near Poteau Has A Summit Drive Families Make Every Fall
Some of the best family memories start with a sign by the road and a quick change of plans. In eastern Oklahoma, there is a free, winding drive that climbs to a view most people...
Read More 9 min read
Families Dig Real Selenite Crystals Out Of The Ground And Take Them Home At This Oklahoma Park
Somewhere on a quiet stretch of northwest Oklahoma, the ground turns white and starts glittering under your boots. You pull over expecting a quick photo, and an hour later your...
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Hot Kolaches And Onion Burgers Make These 5 Oklahoma Small-Town Spots Worth A Saturday Drive
The building looked like nothing special, just a small storefront with a few cars parked out front and a smell drifting out the door that made me pull over anyway. Twenty minutes...
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Fall Color Rolls For Miles Along Oklahoma’s Talimena Drive, And The Overlooks Are Free
Some of the best things in Oklahoma never ask for a dime, and they rarely make a fuss about themselves. Picture a mountain road in the far southeast corner of the state where the...
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Kids Get Their Hands On Real Tornado Science And A Planetarium Dome At Science Museum Oklahoma
I figured we would spend an hour poking at a few buttons and then head out for burgers. Instead, my kids were spinning up tornadoes, staring at millions of stars overhead, and...
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Lanterns, Creaking Floors And Old Stories Fill This Grand Oklahoma Mansion Tour After Dark
I went looking for a quiet back-road detour in Oklahoma and ended up staring at a house that seemed far too grand for the street it stood on. Folks around here talk about it in...
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Thousands Of Old Brick Buildings Make This Oklahoma Town Feel Frozen In The Early 1900s
I pulled off the interstate in Oklahoma expecting a quick gas stop and maybe a sandwich. Instead, I found street after street of red brick and sandstone that looked like nobody...
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Most Oklahomans Have Never Driven Through This Gorgeous Little Town That Likes It That Way
Some of the best places in Oklahoma never show up on a billboard. You find them by taking the slow road, getting a little hungry, and pulling over somewhere you only meant to pass...
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This Old Oklahoma Fire Tower Still Stands Watch Over Fall Forest At The End Of A Rugged 4×4 Trail
Some of the best places in Oklahoma never show up on a billboard, and you only find them after the pavement gives up. Picture a steel lookout poking above a sea of red and gold...
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This Oklahoma Pottery Studio Puts You At The Wheel To Throw Your Own Clay Mug
I walked in expecting a quick craft class and walked out with wet clay under my nails and a grin I could not shake. Somewhere in Oklahoma, a small studio is handing beginners a...
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Fall Turns This Clear Northeast Oklahoma Lake Quiet, Wild And Almost Empty
I went looking for a quick autumn drive and a snack stop, and I ended up staring at water so clear I could count the rocks below the surface. Most folks in Oklahoma think of lakes...
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Why Hikers Keep Climbing To The Old Stone Castle Ruins Tucked Into Oklahoma’s Hills
You turn off a quiet road in eastern Oklahoma, trees close in overhead, and then a stone castle suddenly fills the windshield. It feels like a wrong turn at first, the kind of...
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What One Boy Started Collecting At Seven Now Fills This Free Claremore Museum With Outlaw Relics
I only pulled over because I needed to stretch my legs and the sign said the door was free to walk through. Two hours later, I was still wandering rows of glass cases, staring...
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This Quirky Tulsa House Looks Like It Melted Out Of A Storybook And Hides A Hand-Built Speakeasy
You have probably driven past a building so strange that you slowed down, stared, and promised yourself you would stop someday. In Oklahoma, one of those odd little places turns...
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Shut Off Your Engine At This Oklahoma Ghost Town And All You’ll Hear Is The Wind
I only meant to take a short detour, the kind you forget by suppertime. Instead, I ended up parked on a quiet country road in western Oklahoma with the engine off, the windows...
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This Veteran-Owned Oklahoma Family Farm Delivers Grass-Fed Beef And Pastured Pork Right To Your Door
I figured the best pork chop I would eat this year would come from a diner counter, not a cooler on my own front porch in Oklahoma. Then a small family farm with no storefront,...
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A Tiny Oklahoma Town Museum Holds Thousands Of Fossils, Arrowheads And Oddities And Charges Nothing To Enter
You pull off a quiet two-lane road in southeastern Oklahoma expecting maybe a dusty room and a few old photos. Instead, a towering dinosaur stares back at you, and drawers of arrowheads...
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This Oklahoma Garden Lets You Feed Koi For Quarters And Wander Eight Acres Of Blooms
I pulled off the road expecting a quick stretch of the legs and maybe a few flowers. Instead, I found winding paths, bridges over koi-filled water, and a quiet so deep I forgot...
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This Small Oklahoma Restaurant Smothers A Green Chili Burrito Worth The Drive Across The State
You pull off a quiet main street expecting a quick lunch, and a plate of green chile somehow rearranges your whole afternoon. That is the kind of surprise Oklahoma still hands...
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The Cherokee Nation Tells Its Own History Inside The 1869 Capitol Building In Oklahoma
I almost drove right past it, a stately old brick building sitting under shade trees like it had nothing to prove. Then I stepped inside and spent the next two hours completely...
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Over 150 Shops Fill This Oklahoma City Antique Mall Where A Whole Saturday Disappears
The building did not look like much from the parking lot, and I almost kept driving to find lunch instead. One step inside changed my whole afternoon, because the rooms just kept...
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This Oklahoma Café Ladles Gravy Over Biscuits At Any Hour And The Pancakes Overhang The Plate
I almost drove right past it. A small building in the lake country of eastern Oklahoma, a name that made me laugh out loud, and a parking lot already busy at seven in the morning.
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This Oklahoma Route 66 Diner Serves Hundreds Of Sodas Under A 66-Foot Bottle
I only pulled over because the gas light blinked on somewhere in central Oklahoma, and I figured I would grab a snack and keep rolling. An hour later I was still inside, holding...
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An Entire Oklahoma Town Lies Under Lake Altus And Surfaces Whenever The Water Drops
I pulled over in southwestern Oklahoma expecting nothing more than a quick stretch and a look at some water. Instead, I found myself squinting at a row of old bricks poking out...
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