Take me back to Tulsa — 11 places to see in Oklahoma’s second largest city

TULSA — Households are preparing for a brand new faculty yr, soccer groups are getting ready to kick off a brand new season, and summer season is coming to an finish.

For Oklahoma Metropolis space 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 an iconic scenic route — and boasts an array of points of interest for arts, animal and out of doors lovers.

Whether or not you are planning one final summer season getaway or looking forward to fall break, listed below are 11 landmarks to search for in Oklahoma’s second largest metropolis:

1. Bob Dylan Heart

The most recent landmark within the Tulsa Arts District, the Bob Dylan Heart earned worldwide consideration when it opened in Could. The first public venue for the expansive Bob Dylan Archive assortment, it consists of uncommon pictures, memorabilia, private results and different objects spanning the Nobel Laureate’s influential 60-year profession.

The 29,000-square-foot attraction options 16 displays, a 55-seat screening room and a greater than 5,000-square-foot archive, which is open by appointment solely and supposed for scholarly research. The exhibitions vary from a high-tech digital jukebox curated by Elvis Costello to a studying alcove that includes books chosen by former U.S. Poet Laureate and native Tulsan Pleasure Harjo, the middle’s first artist in residence. Info: https://bobdylancenter.com.

2. The Gathering Place

Named Finest New Attraction by USA Right this moment in 2019, the free Gathering Place spans almost 100 acres of Tulsa’s waterfront alongside the Arkansas River. It boasts a plethora of points of interest, together with the enchanting five-acre Chapman Journey Playground, the 4 slopes of Slide Vale and the 4 Seasons Backyard with its towering rock formations.

Climate allowing, paddle boats, kayaks and canoes can be found without cost rental at a first-come, first-serve foundation on the ONEOK Boathouse.

Open for summer season, Charlie’s Water Mountain is the right place to chill off, because it features a spray space, tunnels, dams and streams, a water lab, mist space and water plaza.  Info: https://www.gatheringplace.org.

Story continues

3. Greenwood District

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

Named one in every of USA Right this moment’s Finest New Points of interest of 2021, the Greenwood Rising Black Wall St. Historical past Heart, which simply celebrated its first anniversary, makes use of immersive storytelling mixing canny recreations with the most recent audio-visual expertise to share Oklahoma’s Black historical past. Info: https://www.greenwoodrising.org.

4. The Outsider’s Home Museum

How a lot does Danny Boy O’Connor love the 1983 film “The Outsiders?” In 2016, the co-founder of the hip-hop group Home of Ache purchased the modest white home that performed the a part of the Curtis Brothers’ residence when Francis Ford Coppola filmed the film in Tulsa in 1982.

“This begins for me as a 13- or 14-year-old boy going right into a film referred to as ‘The Outsiders’ in Woodland Hills, California. By no means learn the e book previous to it, so I did not know what to anticipate. Go in and see mainly the best way I felt inside and the life I used to be dwelling in actual life on the silver display screen set in a special period. And I simply associated to that and I used to be hooked,” O’Connor instructed The Oklahoman.

With a whole lot of assist from the group he now calls residence, O’Connor restored and reworked the one-story bungalow into The Outsiders Home Museum, which homes costumes, posters, furnishings and different memorabilia in addition to quite a few copies of Oklahoma author S.E. Hinton’s 1967 novel, which was the premise for the film. Info: https://www.theoutsidershouse.com.

5. Oklahoma Aquarium

Within the Tulsa suburb of Jenks, the Oklahoma Aquarium is residence to an array of aquatic life, from otters and beavers to a loggerhead sea turtle and electrical eels. Guests can feed the stingrays and red-eared sliders, work together with the horseshoe crabs, chocolate chip sea stars and pencil urchins and climb within the tunnels below the Excessive Amazon gallery.

Shark Adventures, a 380,000-gallon saltwater tank and tunnel that’s residence to what’s billed because the world’s largest assortment of bull sharks, stays the aquarium’s mesmerizing spotlight. Info: https://www.okaquarium.org.

6. Philbrook Museum of Artwork

Combining a historic residence, world-class museum and 25 acres of gardens, the Philbrook Museum of Artwork boasts a group with greater than 16,000 objects and a give attention to American, Native American and European artwork. The everlasting assortment consists of works by Pablo Picasso, Kehinde Wiley, Marisol, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Auguste Rodin, Thomas Moran and lots of extra.

By way of Sept. 11, the Philbrook is internet hosting “Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism,” a sprawling particular exhibition that celebrates one of many artwork world’s most well-known energy {couples} although work, drawings, prints, clothes and 100-plus pictures. Info: https://philbrook.org.

7. Turkey Mountain and Tulsa River Parks

A pure oasis in the course of one in every of Oklahoma’s greatest cities, Turkey Mountain City Wilderness encompasses greater than 300 acres of rugged terrain just some miles from downtown Tulsa. As you ascend the winding filth trails, the sight of lush woods contrasts with the faint sounds of close by visitors.

Youngsters’s climbing boulders, three coated pavilions and two bronze sculptures, together with the becoming “Rio Grande Turkeys,” are positioned close to the trailhead at W 67 Road and S Elwood Avenue.

Turkey Mountain is a part of Tulsa’s River Parks, which options 26 miles of asphalt-surfaced trails alongside the banks of the Arkansas River in addition to seasonal attracts likes fishing, rowing, kayaking, disc {golfing} and out of doors eating. Info: https://www.riverparks.org.

8. Tulsa Zoo

The Oklahoma Metropolis Zoo is larger, however the 84-acre Tulsa Zoo is residence to an enthralling colony of African penguins. Plus, the Tulsa Zoo options Australian kangaroos, South American jaguars, Malayan tigers and lots of extra exceptional species. Info: https://tulsazoo.org.

9. Woody Guthrie Heart

Since 2013, the Woody Guthrie Heart has been paying homage to the legendary people singer-songwriter, who was born in Oklahoma and would have turned 110 this summer season.

From the fastidiously preserved authentic handwritten lyric sheet to his most beloved tune, “This Land is Your Land,” and Woody’s Music Bar, the place of us can hear the prolific songwriter crooning a number of of his tunes, to an immersive digital actuality Mud Bowl expertise and recordings by Guthrie disciples, the middle is conserving the famed Twentieth-century troubadour’s legacy alive, proper in his residence state. Info: https://woodyguthriecenter.org.  

10. The Church Studio

After spending 5 and a half years reviving it, Tulsa native Teresa Knox just lately reopened The Church Studio, the historic church the late Rock and Roll Corridor of Famer Leon Russell became a recording studio and residential workplace for Shelter Information in 1972.

“Firstly, The Church is a recording studio. That was actually vital to me. However I believed on the similar time, I’ve this assortment that has been rising over time — a Leon Russell assortment, Shelter Information and Tulsa Sound artifacts and objects. My purpose was, ‘How can I’ve a recording studio, however nonetheless be open to the general public?’” Knox instructed The Oklahoman.

“At present, we’re opened up as a recording studio. … And I am calling it an analog museum: I do know so most of the museums are very digital and interactive, however that is old-fashioned. Now we have stuff hung up and (are) sharing a number of the issues that I like — and Leon Russell followers take pleasure in taking a look at and sharing that with others.”

Together with Russell, Tom Petty, JJ Cale, Jimmy Buffett, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Stevie Marvel, Asleep on the Wheel, Michael Bolton, The GAP Band, Kansas and lots of extra frolicked or recorded within the studio. Info: https://thechurchstudio.com.

11. Oxley Nature Heart

Nestled right into a nook of Mohawk Park, Oxley Nature Heart options greater than 800 out-of-the-way, wooded acres, plus 9 miles of trails and an interpretive middle.

Though the Redbud Valley Nature Protect is closed to the general public till fall, hikers can hit the paths year-round seven days every week, venturing into the forests, fields and wetlands. The flood-plain forest of cottonwood, oak, sycamore, hackberry and pecan timber is residence to quite a few wildlife and wildflowers.

Whereas many are wheelchair- and stroller-accessible, the paths in Oxley Nature Heart will not be arrange for horses, bicycles or automobiles, which implies hikers have all of them to themselves. Info: https://www.oxleynaturecenter.org.

This text initially appeared on Oklahoman: 11 locations to see in Tulsa, from Bob Dylan Heart to Outsiders Home