“Will you come to The United States with me, Dad?” I ask my
father. I’ve longed for a road trip with him since reading ‘Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance’ and neither of us are getting any younger. “I won’t go
to a big city mind!” he says adamantly. I have Oklahoma in mind. “There’s Route
66, Will Rogers, Indian Festivals and of course lots of wide open spaces,” I
add. Oklahoma is making a huge impact on the Irish travel scene for nostalgic
reasons and its appeal to Baby Boomers.
My plan works and we take a direct flight from Dublin to
Chicago on American Airlines. With a short two hour connection we arrive in
Will Rogers Airport to balmy temperatures and easily accessible car hire.
“That’s a grand airport,” my father comments, as we set off on Meridian Highway
for the start of our adventure. Okla-homa is a Choctaw Indian word, meaning ‘Red
People’, and one of the most notable features of the Oklahoman landscape is the
‘Red Earth’ – the same earth described in the first chapter of Steinbeck’s
Great American novel, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’.
Red Earth is also the name given to a festival held every
June in Oklahoma City and rated in the top ten Native American events in the
country. It begins with a parade of participants in full regalia through
downtown Oklahoma City and passes under the gaze of the impressive Devon tower
– the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River. It then circles the
Myriad Gardens, home to the beautifully crafted botanic gardens and surrounded
by play parks for all the family to enjoy. The festival runs for three days in Remington
Park, which more usually hosts horse racing events – a short ten-minute drive
from mid-town.
Dad and I potter around the display of paintings and
handcrafted products ranging from basketry to hand-crafted instruments. We lose
the run of ourselves and buy dream catchers and reed flutes. Out on the paddock,
the main stage hosts various dancing and singing competitions, showing the
talent of a wide-variety of tribes from across the country. “That’s brilliant
stuff,” Dad says as he poses for a photograph with the gorgeous Ms Comanche
Nation. Dancers include men, women and children and the Fancy Dances are
definitely the highlight.
After an exhilarating day we check in at the Hampton Hotel
in Bricktown. This downtown district has seen a complete rejuvenation over the
last couple of years, as old warehouses have been pulled down and new amenities
erected. It boasts newly built basketball and baseball arenas. The Hotel is
only a stone’s throw from Chickasaw Baseball Park – home to the Minor Baseball
League team, The OKC Redhawks. Neither of us has a clue what is going on at our
first baseball game, but with hotdogs in one hand and large cup of beer in the
other we get into the atmosphere and shout for the home side.
Micky Mantles Bar & Restaurant, named after the famous
baseball player, is across the road from the grounds and we get chatting to the
bar tender and some locals. “Your father’s never met a stranger, I see,” one of
them says, and it’s true. Oklahomans have to be the friendliest people in the
United States. Some of the best bars and restaurants are just around the
corner, including Nonna’s restaurant and Pearls Crab Shack serving Creole
cuisine.
Oklahoma City has seen a renaissance since the terrible
events in 1995 surrounding the Oklahoma bombing when 168 people lost their
lives. It now boasts an array of stylish quarters and we are drawn (excuse the
pun) to the Paseo art district. This area is filled with more than its fair
share of Art Galleries and craft-shops. We are lucky to be here on the first
Friday of the month when Artists provide wine and nibbles all evening long for
visitors to come and see newly exhibited work. We dine at The Paseo Grill, a
well established restaurant on the strip with a good mix of Euro-American cuisine.
Next day Dad and I hit Route 66. Lined now in part with
shopping malls, we get to do some damage to the credit cards. But we experience
a taste of the authentic Route 66 diner at Ann’s Chicken Fry House, which has
been a favourite of 66 fans for decades. Located on the original route, a pink Cadillac
and an old police Pontiac sit out front. Oklahoma is the state with the longest
stretch of genuine route 66 still intact. Museums that document the history of
this road from its beginning during the depression to its heyday in the 50’s
and 60’s are found in the towns of Chandler and Clinton among others.
My father isn’t usually one to drive when he goes on
holidays but a car is a must in this state and Dad finds it incredibly easy.
“These are brilliant roads!” he says as yet again he insists I take the
passenger seat. Ten-minutes outside Oklahoma City, the sense of space becomes
overwhelming. Wide open plains, dotted with water pumping windmills and spectres
of lone oil drills, roll by. Roads are easy to navigate and in a little over
one hour we reach Ponca City. The statue of the Pioneer Woman by Bryant Baker,
is one of the landmarks in this town and the story behind Ernest Marland who
commissioned this work is enthralling.
Known as E.W., Marland was a millionaire who made his money
from coal but lost his fortune in a stock market crash in 1899, only to make
another fortune from oil a few years later. The Marland Mansion is worth a
visit, but Ernest’s personal life is even more intriguing. After adopting his
wife’s niece Lydie at age sixteen, he annulled the adoption twelve years later,
so that he could marry her when his first wife died. But he was an inspiring
and altruistic leader who was loved by the townsfolk of Ponca. After he lost
his second fortune, what is now known as Conoco Oil, he went on to become
Oklahoma Governor in Washington DC. When he died in 1941, his young wife Lydie,
went missing. The search for her became a national phenomenon. She returned to
Ponca City twenty-two years after her disappearance and finished her days
living in the chauffer’s cottage on the Marland estate. Her return ensured the
rebuilding of the estate as a national monument known affectionately as the
Palace on the Prairie.
Outside Ponca City, tall grass prairies stretch for miles
and new herds of buffalo have been introduced to roam wild and free. “You know
when the white man killed the buffalo he really finished the Indians,” my Dad,
reminds me. He’d told me this as a child as I’d sat watching a western on TV
and suddenly I’m overwhelmed by the moment and this father and daughter
adventure that we are so lucky to experience together. The story of the Ponca
chief, Standing Bear is commemorated in the visitor centre just south of the
city and en route to a very different Native American story in Chickasaw
Country.
A two-and-a-half hour drive brings us to the town of Sulphur,
to learn about a tribe who’ve gone from strength to strength over the last
sixty years through good management. They have made their fortune from casinos,
and filtered the profits into various enterprises that have enriched and
secured their culture for generations to come. Blessed with a wonderful
location, nestled amongst the Arbuckle Mountains, Chickasaw country is one of
the best places to find hidden Oklahoma. The tribe recently rebuilt the famous
Artesian Hotel in Sulphur. My father delights in the fact that in its heyday
the hotels guests included John Wayne and Grace Kelly. Many came to benefit
from the healing properties, allegedly found, in the nearby springs that give
the town its name. The Artesian is refurbished to a very high standard and has
a spectacular spa and casino. Log cabins and camping facilities are available in
the Chickasaw Recreation Area with plenty of fishing and swimming to be enjoyed
in the lakes and travertine falls.
Dad and I decide it’s time to live dangerously so we hit Crossbar
Ranch. Located high in the Arbuckle Mountains, we’ve a choice of quad biking or
zip-lining – the bikes win out. Hiking and swimming are on offer around the corner
at the impressive 77ft high Turner Falls. After all that exertion we try a
local delicacy at Arbuckle Mountain Pies. Tasting like a giant donut, the pies
come with a thick syrupy filing in a variety of fruit flavours. We shouldn’t, but
we buy a cherry and blueberry pie each.
We don’t realise that the highlight of our visit is yet to
come as we arrive at the Chickasaw Cultural Centre. Located outside the town of
Davis, we are met by our guide Francine. She is part Chickasaw, Creek and Cherokee
and she not only explains and describes the centre but gives us insight into
the history of her own family. Francine’s father has passed on but he crops up
so much in conversation it is as if he is walking along beside us. The
Chickasaws are one of the five-civilised tribes forced to leave their farmed
lands in Tennessee and Alabama in the 1830’s and walk the ‘Trail of Tears’ to
resettle in Indian country. It is poignantly portrayed in a statue in the
centre of the park – similar to our own famine statue in Dublin.
The pain is
clear on the faces of each character and Francine tells how her father passed
down the stories of this terrible time. “He’d smoke tobacco while he spoke, and
I’d feel the terrible weight in my own feet that my fore-fathers felt as they
walked the trail.”
She guides us through the archives and exhibits that include
rattles made from tortoise shells and instruments made from reeds. The native
game of stickball reminds Dad of hurling. The large grass mound in the
Chickasaw village grounds where they buried their dead bares a remarkable
resemblance to Newgrange. We are fascinated with the similarities between our
two cultures. Even the spiral symbol in the logo for this special place is
identical to the symbols found in Irish stone-age and Celtic artwork. The Native
Americans have a tradition and history that is unique, and yet not unlike our
own in Ireland. Oklahoma has been a delight and now Dad has the travel bug for
more road trips...so we are already considering a trip to Kansas next year!
Factbox
For information and advice on travel around Oklahoma and
Kansas from Ireland see www.travelksok.ie
American
Airlines flies to Oklahoma from Dublin via Chicago and Charlotte from €652.89 return pp (inc
taxes). For more information and to book go towww.aa.com
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