12 Oklahoma autumn road trips, from fall foliage to Route 66 landmarks you should take

It is fall, y’all, and whether or not you are planning for fall break or trying ahead to fall foliage, there’s a lot to see and do throughout Oklahoma.  

Mile for mile, Oklahoma gives the nation’s most numerous terrain, with a plethora of state parks, museums and sights.  

So, pack up some snacks, fuel up your automobile and plot a course for one in every of these 12 Oklahoma autumn highway journeys. 

1. Fall is for foliage

Nothing says autumn like leaves altering colours. Though the height time for fall foliage in Oklahoma sometimes runs from the final week of October by way of the primary week of November, the 54-mile Talimena Nationwide Scenic Byway gives gorgeous views just about any time of yr. The drive from Talihina to Mena, Arkansas, meanders alongside the crest of Wealthy Mountain and Winding Stair Mountain within the Ouachita Nationwide Forest, providing quite a few stupendous vistas and turnoffs. If you wish to add some train to your leisurely drive, mountaineering and backpacking trails all through the Ouachita Nationwide Forest begin in Talimena State Park. 

Different fairly spots the place you may benefit from the fall foliage embrace Woodward’s Boiling Spring State Park, the place the towering cottonwoods flip to gold in fall; Damaged Bow’s Beavers Bend State Park, the place Damaged Bow Lake and the Mountain Fork River present scenic backdrops for the pine and hardwood timber; and Wilburton’s Robbers Cave State Park, which is tucked into the wild woods of the San Bois Mountains.   

2. Get your kicks on Route 66 

Oklahoma is dwelling to the nation’s longest driveable stretch of Route 66: Greater than 400 miles of America’s most iconic freeway cuts by way of the Sooner State, with 60-plus sights lining the Mom Highway, from acquainted favorites just like the Catoosa Blue Whale and the Arcadia Spherical Barn to oddities just like the Ed Galloway Totem Pole Park in Foyil and the One Room Jail in Texola. 

Route 66 will mark its a centesimal anniversary in 2026, and you may prep with a go to to one in every of a number of museums and historic websites alongside the best way. 

3. Hit the excessive level within the Panhandle 

The one city in Oklahoma on Mountain Time, the Panhandle hamlet of Kenton is tucked amongst mesas fashioned by historic lava flows. Essentially the most well-known of those is Black Mesa, Oklahoma’s highest level at 4,973 ft above sea stage. 

Whereas within the Black Mesa Nature Protect, guests can hike to the highest of the towering plateau, hen look ahead to golden eagles, scaled quail and pinyon jays and hold an eye fixed out for different wildlife like black bears, bighorn sheep and antelope. On the east of finish of Black Mesa, try preserved dinosaur tracks by Carrizo Creek. 

The close by Black Mesa State Park is the place to be for stargazing, with among the darkest nighttime skies on publicly accessible land in the complete USA. 

4. As seen on display screen in Osage County 

Filmed final yr in Osage County, Martin Scorsese’s fact-based epic “Killers of the Flower Moon” is about to be launched in 2023. Points of interest on location within the northern Oklahoma county embrace The Ben Johnson Cowboy Museum in Pawhuska, Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Refuge close to Bartlesville and the New Territory Sculptures in Hominy. The picturesque Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Protect is the place Bartlesville-bred Oscar-nominated filmmaker Terrence Malick lensed a part of his 2012 movie “To the Marvel.” 

In fact, one of many space’s largest attracts is Meals Community star Ree Drummond’s in style restaurant, bakery and retailer The Pioneer Lady Mercantile, the place you’ll find out if The Pioneer Lady Lodge on Drummond Ranch is open for excursions on the day of your go to. 

5. A capital journey to Guthrie 

A brief journey from the Oklahoma Metropolis metropolitan space, Guthrie gives loads of classic appeal because the state’s authentic capital, together with the Oklahoma Territorial Museum, Territorial Capital Sports activities Museum, Oklahoma Frontier Drugstore Museum and lots of vintage outlets.  

Though legendary fiddler Byron Berline died final yr, his Double Cease Fiddle Store & Music Corridor lives on, promoting and repairing devices and internet hosting bi-monthly reveals.   

For household enjoyable, try the all-ages Degree Up Arcade, the First Capital Video games collectible store and the Avid Excessive Paintball Subject and Sports activities Park. 

6. Due east to Shawnee  

A fast jaunt east on I-40 simply exterior OKC, the Shawnee space gives loads of intriguing sights. Oklahoma’s oldest artwork museum, the greater than 100-year-old Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Artwork is a veritable treasure trove that features shrunken heads, a full go well with of armor and the state’s solely mummies. For action-packed leisure, prepared for foam warfare on the Nerfed Indoor Battle Area or take goal at Lumberjack Johnson’s Axe Throwing 

In Seminole, Jasmine Moran Youngsters’s Museum gives an array of hands-on enjoyable, together with a 13,500-gallon aquarium crammed with Oklahoma aquatic life, a 12,000-square-foot Fort Maze and a sprawling out of doors play space with miniature homes and a driving practice. 

The Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Heart and Seminole Nation Museum in close by Wewoka supply insights into Native cultures. Historical past buffs can also try Oklahoma Veterans Memorial and the grave of Brewster Higley VI, who wrote the poem that grew to become “House on the Vary.”   

7. Go West to Nice Plains Nation

Often known as Nice Plains Nation, the southwest nook of the Sooner State has ample small-town appeal, attention-grabbing sights and pure wonders. Cheyenne boasts the Washita Battlefield Nationwide Historic Web site, Black Kettle Nationwide Grassland and Pink Hills Nation, whereas Lawton is dwelling to the Fort Sill Nationwide Historic Landmark & Museum, Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge and Museum of the Nice Plains. 

Take a look at the reveals on the Stafford Air & Area Museum in Weatherford, Chisholm Path Heritage Heart in Duncan, Common Tommy Franks Management Institute & Museum in Hobart and Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko. Splash into household enjoyable on the Water-Zoo Indoor Water Park in Clinton, discover Pink Rock Canyon Journey Park in Hinton and stroll by way of picturesque Drugs Park. 

8. Check out Tulsa time  

For OKC residents on the lookout for a fast getaway, Tulsa is simply 100 miles up Interstate 44 — or U.S. Freeway 66 if you wish to take the long-lasting scenic route – and boasts an array of sights for arts, animal and out of doors lovers.  

Cultural sights embrace the brand new Bob Dylan Heart and its neighbor the Woody Guthrie Heart, the huge Philbrook Museum of Artwork and the cinematically impressed Outsiders Home Museum. The lately reopened The Church Studio, the historic church the late Rock and Roll Corridor of Famer Leon Russell changed into a recording studio and residential workplace for Shelter Data in 1972, is once more functioning as a music studio in addition to a shelter for rock ‘n’ roll historical past. 

A outstanding vacation spot for Black historical past and tradition, the Greenwood District options many must-see landmarks, together with the Greenwood Rising Black Wall St. Historical past Heart, John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, the Vernon AME Church and extra.

Plus, try the wildlife at Jenks’ Oklahoma Aquarium and the Tulsa Zoo, hike by way of Turkey Mountain City Wilderness and Oxley Nature Heart and take a look at the practically 100-acre park The Gathering Place.  

9. North by Northwest to Enid 

In Enid, Oklahoma historical past meets a full of life rising arts scene, together with an array of recent murals and native artist Romy Owens’ epic public artwork mission “Below Her Wing Was the Universe.” Get immersed in historical past on the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Heart, Railroad Museum of Oklahoma and Simpson’s Previous Time Museum & Film Studio and get interactive at Leonardo’s Youngsters’s Museum & Journey Quest, a three-story play citadel and hands-on museum. 

Even higher, Enid is barely about 45 minutes away from two of the state’s pure wonders: Fairview’s Gloss Mountain State Park, the place the excessive selenite content material makes the peaks sparkle within the solar, and Jet’s Nice Salt Plains State Park and Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, the place folks can dig for selenite crystals by way of Oct. 15 and look ahead to the greater than 300 species of protected birds. 

10. Double park at Alabaster Caverns and Little Sahara  

Northwest Oklahoma is dwelling to 2 extra divergent and pleasant state parks: Alabaster Caverns State Park in Freedom and Little Sahara State Park close to Waynoka. They might be solely about 40 miles aside, however the two are like totally totally different worlds. 

Alabaster Caverns State Park boasts one of many largest pure gypsum caves on the earth, which guests can enter on guided excursions. 

Because the identify implies, Little Sahara State Park is a miniature desert with greater than 1,600 acres of sand dunes. Ranging in peak from 25 to 75 ft, the dunes are perfect for traversing on dune buggies or ATVs. 

11. Head south alongside I-35  

Comply with I-35 towards Texas and you will find a mixture of out of doors magnificence, upscale luxurious and good-time grandeur in Chickasaw Nation. Davis alone options the towering Turner Falls Park and Collings Fort, Arbuckle Wilderness drive-thru unique animal park, the Forgotten Wheels Museum, Arbuckle Historic Society Museum and Bedré Effective Chocolate. 

The Tishomingo Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, Lake Murray State Park and Lake Texoma all are clustered within the south-central a part of the state. Sulphur is the gateway to the “Oklahoma oasis” that’s the Chickasaw Nationwide Recreation Space in addition to the house of the attractive Chickasaw Cultural Heart, stylish Artesian Lodge, On line casino & Sole’renity Spa and plush Echo Canyon Manor Spa Resort.

In Thackerville, the greater than 600,000-square-foot WinStar World On line casino & Resort is the biggest on line casino in america, whereas nation music star Blake Shelton’s authentic Ole Pink restaurant, bar and stay music venue makes one of many nation’s largest and baddest bloody Marys, topped with olives, peppers, pickled okra, fried hen strips and no matter else catches the kitchen workers’s fancy. 

12. Discover sprawling OKC 

Oklahoma Metropolis is among the largest cities within the nation by sq. miles, measuring a whopping 621 sq. miles. Meaning you may take fairly a highway journey whereas staying proper in OKC, which boasts an array of sights from the Oklahoma Metropolis Zoo to the Paycom Heart, dwelling of the OKC Thunder. From Bricktown and the Paseo District to Car Alley and the Plaza District, there’s loads of historical past, artwork, leisure, eating and buying to be discovered all throughout town. 

The OKC metro is also dwelling to an astonishing array of museums, together with the Oklahoma Metropolis Nationwide Memorial & Museum, Nationwide Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma Metropolis Museum of Artwork, Science Museum Oklahoma, Museum of Osteology and Oklahoma Historical past Heart.  

Out of doors sights vary from the newly expanded Scissortail Park, Myriad Botanical Gardens and RIVERSPORT Rapids & Adventures within the downtown space to the Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge on the west facet of the metro to Lake Hefner and Martin Park Nature Heart to the north.  

Options Author Brandy “BAM” McDonnell has coated Oklahoma’s arts, leisure and cultural sectors for The Oklahoman for 20 years. Attain her atbmcdonnell@oklahoman.com,www.fb.com/brandybammcdonnell andtwitter.com/BAMOK. Help her work by signing up for herSee & Do Oklahoma e-newsletter and subscribing to The Oklahoman.