Oklahoma City Group Tour

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O K L A H O

Myriad Botanical Gardens

Bricktown’s Canal

NEW CE NT U RY ME E T S OLD W E S T arreling into the 21st century, Oklahoma City has undergone a renaissance in the past decade or so.

The state capital offers plenty of fresh options for group travelers, but Oklahoma’s largest metropolis won’t disappoint anyone looking for heady doses of old-time Western flavor.

Not far from downtown is a historic commercial district called Stockyards City, once bustling with meat-packing houses and still home of the largest feeder-stock auction in the world. Celebrating its centennial in 2010, the district offers several Western wear shops within walking distance of each other.

Up-and-coming country music stars perform at the Rodeo Opry.

At the landmark Cattleman’s Steakhouse, rib-stickin’ breakfast grub in the original coffee shop section includes giant pancakes, great ham, biscuits and gravy, even calf brains and eggs. Dating from 1910, Cattleman’s also is a classic steak restaurant, with a wood-paneled

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Slices of our frontier past enchant groups in this city on the move room away from the stools and booths.

A back room and an upstairs banquet room can accommodate groups.

The barnyard odor can be strong, but a tour of the Oklahoma National Stockyards is an OKC highlight. Auctions take place Mondays and Tuesdays, the best days to arrange a tour ($25 per bus) through Stockyards City Main Street, Inc., an economic development organization. After crossing the catwalk above endless pens of cattle, tour members reach the auction house, where

they see ranchers bidding on animals bound for feed lots and ranches.

The Oklahoma History Center brings alive the rough-and-tumble heritage of this young state, which joined the Union in 1907. In one theater, a collection of movie clips romanticizes the state’s rugged individualism and wide-open spaces. Besides Westerns starring the likes of Gene Autry, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, viewers can catch scenes from Twister, the 1996 movie that dramatized the plight of Oklahomans coping with a tornado.

Weather-related exhibits examine the state’s location in Tornado Alley and how it coped with the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. One gallery spotlights all 39 Indian tribes of Oklahoma.

Anyone with a passion for America’s cowboys-and-Indians past can spend hours roaming the galleries of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. In the nostalgialoaded Western Performers Gallery, LeisureGroupTravel.com

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National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

Oklahoma History Center

baby boomers delight in reconnecting with their favorite movie and TV heroes. Artifacts include John Wayne’s eye patch from True Grit, guitars played by singing cowboys Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, and props and costumes from the Gunsmoke TV series. Movie posters, comic books, toy gun-and-holster sets, trading cards and lunch boxes recall the good old days. Touch screen quizzes let guests match heroes with their horses, their sidekicks or theme songs. Actor Sam Elliott narrates Silver Screen Cowboys, a 13-minute film.

The museum also abounds with world-class Western art and sculpture.

Don’t miss Prosperity Junction, a replica frontier town with storefronts and walk-in buildings. Groups like the lunch buffet at the museum’s restaurant, Dining on Persimmon Hill.

A painful episode from more recent history confronts visitors at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, which honors the people killed and others involved in the horrific April 19, 1995 terror bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal BuildLeisureGroupTravel.com

Tours Spotlight Cherokee Heritage

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peek into one of America’s most fascinating and little understood cultures awaits

tour groups in Northeastern Oklahoma.

Thanks to an ambitious program launched last year by the Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism Department, word is spreading on what

An equestrian statue looms over Will Rogers’ tomb in Claremore, Oklahoma.

this 14-county enclave offers the group traveler. Catherine Foreman Gray, the department’s interpretive supervisor, sheds light on her people on four different, day-long itineraries that can be tailored to any group.

The Cherokees, who initially lived in the Southeastern U.S. before being forcibly removed by the federal government to make room for white settlers, had developed an advanced civilization. Unlike the Plains Indians, who moved from place to place, the Cherokees were farmers and merchants, Gray said.

“No, we did not hunt buffalo. No, we didn’t live in tepees. No, we didn’t live on reservations.”

The Cherokee Heritage Center in Park Hill, six miles from the Cherokee Nation capital of Tahlequah, tells the Cherokee story in a nutshell. It’s composed of three distinct elements—the recently renovated Cherokee National Museum, Ancient Village and Adams Corner Rural Village.

The museum’s centerpiece is the Trail of Tears exhibit, which explores the tragic exodus of some 16,000 Cherokees forced from their homes in Tennessee, North Carolina and other states in 1838-39. They were rounded up and put on wagons for the long journey to Oklahoma,

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Cherokee tour guides tell their people’s story.

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then known as Indian Territory. Thousands died on the way.

The Ancient Village, one of the Heritage Center’s outdoor museums, depicts Cherokee life before European settlement, featuring demonstrations of cooking, gardening, arrowhead making and other crafts. A rebuilt Ancient Village will open this summer.

Adams Corner is a circa-1890 pioneer town simulating a rural Cherokee community prior to Oklahoma statehood.

Buildings include a church, school and general store.

Day tours also visit Seminary Hall at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. The 1889 edifice, the campus’s crown jewel, was built as the Cherokee Female Seminary after the first one burned. Sights in downtown Tahlequah include the Cherokee National Capitol and Cherokee National Supreme Court Building.

Cherokee Tourism does a “Will Rogers History Tour” that celebrates the life of Will Rogers, who was part Cherokee and proud of it.

Galleries at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore showcase the wit, wisdom and show business career of Will Rogers, the leading celebrity of his day until he was killed in a 1935 plane crash in Alaska. He was best known as a spokesman for the common man, an “old friend” appreciated for his honesty during the dark days of the Depression.

ing. Spanning one downtown block, it includes a grassy area with a Field of Chairs overlooking a reflecting pool.

Each of the 168 bronze-and-stone chairs represents one who died. Visitors to the museum can watch TV newscasts, witness heroic rescue efforts, and listen to survivor accounts.

After the Murrah Building bombing, residents of Oklahoma City banded together and picked themselves up. With a can-do spirit born of frontier days, they started a central-core rebirth.

Fueling the city’s new image was the 1990s revival of Bricktown, an old warehouse area adjacent to downtown.

Now a dining-entertainment showcase, it has changed how people feel about their city. Jim Cowan, director of the Bricktown Association, said, “It has lifted the whole town, made us a destination and given us a special place to show people from out of town.”

Tourists flock to Bricktown’s brick streets and sidewalks to frequent music clubs, high-ceilinged sports bars and cafe patios facing the mile-long canal. Boat, pedicab and horse carriage rides add to the ambience. Summer visitors can catch a game at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark, home of the Oklahoma City Redhawks, an affiliate of the Texas Rangers.

The American Banjo Museum opened its doors last fall, giving Bricktown a major cultural attraction. It features the world’s largest collection of banjos on public display, video theaters and a recreation of a Shakey’s Pizza Parlor restaurant. Groups can book the Shakey’s room for a meal and sing-along fun.

From music and sports to vestiges of America’s rugged frontier, Oklahoma City brims with crowd-pleasing options for group tours. LGT

His homespun humor and timeless quotes (many of them jabs at politicians) still are relevant today. In a sunken garden at the hilltop museum is Rogers’ tomb, inscribed with his most famous quote: “I never met a man I didn’t like.”

In Catoosa, the new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, operated by Cherokee Nation Entertainment, abounds with rock music memorabilia, from Gold Records and auto-

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE Check out highlights from the recent Heritage Clubs International convention in Oklahoma City. Video interviews, photo galleries and more! Visit: http://leisuregrouptravel.com/education/heritage-clubs-international20 10-convention/

graphed guitars to stage costumes worn by Brittney Spears, Madonna and the Jonas Brothers. Restaurants include Wild

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Potato Buffet, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill and McGill’s on 19, a fine dining penthouse perch. An events center for concerts and sports will open this summer.

Contact: Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism Department, 877-779-6977, cherokeetourismok.com; and Claremore

• Oklahoma City CVB: 800-225-56521, visitokc.com • Bricktown Association: bricktownokc.org • Stockyards City Main Street: 405-235-7267, stockyardscity.org

CVB, 877-341-8688, visitclaremore.org.

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