Rich with Old West Charm – Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

October 2, 2016 – Monday, October 3, 2016

Written September 19, 2024

Traveling from Kansas City Missouri south through Kansas to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Approximately a 5-hour drive (I thought it was closer to 4).

Planning this trip

I was happy that I was able to work a visit to Oklahoma City into one of my trips. It is by far one of the top 5 places I feel I didn’t see enough of. Although my visit was brief, a mere 17 hours or so, there seemed to be much more to see and experience. For this stop, we did have ideas on what to do: a tour, shop for souvenirs and eat at Cattlemen’s steakhouse. Going to this steakhouse fulfilled my goal of seeing or experiencing something historic.

Arrival

Our time in Oklahoma City started at Hyatt Place Oklahoma City Airport (as of this writing the hotel appears to be permanently closed although I see reviews as recent as July 2024 on Google, so that’s not confusing at all). We arrived at our hotel after 10:00PM on Sunday, October 2, 2016, after driving from Kansas City, Missouri. The hotel was clean, and our room had a nice set up with an L-shaped couch, a desk, two full beds and plenty of space to move around even after dragging our luggage in. Unfortunately, we were a bit too tired to investigate the city, plus I wasn’t sure what might even be open at 10:00PM on a Sunday, so we agreed to head out early in the morning to get a jump on our sightseeing.

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Photo 1: seating area in Hyatt Place hotel room

Photo 2: inside the Hyatt Place hotel room

Photo 3: sunrise view from the hotel room window

Bricktown

Well, early came and went. All the fresh air must’ve made us tired! We were finally checked out of the hotel and on the move by 11:30AM. This is much later than I would have liked, but we at least knew where we were going so, we headed over to take the Bricktown Water Taxi tour in Bricktown – Downtown Oklahoma City. While I was surprised that a tour in Oklahoma City was by water, I think it made it more memorable. The water taxi seems to hold approximately 20 people and is propelled around the canal within the historic Bricktown area of Oklahoma City. The tour itself is approximately 40 minutes long and narrated by a tour guide that is onboard. We learned about how the city was settled by people entered a race to stake their claim for a plot of land (if you ever saw the movie, Far and Away (1992) they show a land run at the end of it).  There were statues along the tour that depicted the types of people and transportation used and to claim their land. The tour provided more than a historical perspective; there were lots of little stores to see and restaurants to try. We talked it over and we both wished that we weren’t leaving the area so quickly.

After we exited the tour, we discussed that Bricktown might be a good location to shop for souvenirs. We walked around and found a shop nearby that sold t-shirts and magnets. Sadly, our time in Bricktown was over.

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Photo 1: long view of the land run statues along the tour in Bricktown

Photo 2: close up of one of the land run statues along the tour in Bricktown

Photo 3: one of the murals on the tour in Bricktown that says, "Oklahoma City, OK"

Stockyards City

Next stop, Stockyards City. I had read about Stockyards City before our trip, which is how I came across Cattlemen’s, and I was very excited to see the area. It’s a part of the city that dedicates itself to the Old West. There is even a live auction of livestock! I really, really wanted to see that but it was much earlier in the morning. By the time we got into the area (around 1:00PM) there wasn’t even an inkling that anything happened earlier that day. Well, that’s not true. There were horseflies. It was noticeable.

The steakhouse had a dining room area and a diner area. Not knowing any better we asked to sit in the dining room area. While this provided a nice ambiance, we were pretty much the only patrons there. The menu had a lot of different cuts of steak, each came with sides, rolls, and salad. It was a big lunch, and reasonably priced for both meals.  After we ordered, other parties began to trickle into the dining room. This made the room a bit more active. As I looked around the dining area while waiting for our server, I noticed there were few horseflies in the restaurant and wondered how they limited the horseflies with the paddock down the street.

The server brought our meals, and I was right, it was a big lunch! The presentation was what you’d picture as a “homecooked meal”. It really was too much for one sitting, so we wrapped our leftovers up to take with us. As we exited the restaurant, we left through the diner area, I don’t remember what it looked like when we arrived, but when passed the diner counter and tables were packed! I think in total we spent about 90 minutes at the restaurant.

Dining room area of Cattlemen's Steakhouse in Stockyards City - Oklahoma City

Before we left the area, we wanted to grab some drinks for the car. Luckily, there was a place right next door called, Stockyards Sarsaparilla. A candy and soda shop. My type of place! Maybe seeing the sign is what convinced me that we needed some drinks. Ha-Ha! Twenty minutes later I walked out with a couple of sodas and a little bit of old timey candy that I thought would stay ok for a four-hour car ride.

Things I learned from planning this trip: Check expiration dates. This is a good rule anywhere, but I consciously check dates more regularly now because something I picked up on this trip was very expired.

Things I keep in mind when organizing a trip for myself: Come back for more. I want to see the cattle auction. I want to try OKC barbecue. I want to spend more time in Oklahoma City and drive around to see what I missed.

Some information, such as baseball game information and directions were sought by using ChatGPT.

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