TravelGuides

(TGA) - The good lady wife and I are planning to do an AR/OK road trip vacation this year in late September / early October. We have no planned itineray and would appreciate any comments or suggestions, both positive and negative if neccesary. We have been in to the US many times and know the form re driving, hotels etc., but would appreciate any advice and suggestions as, what to see and what to do. We thought ,maybe to fly in/out of Dallas and then drive north, completing around trip of ca. 1200 miles, Many thanks in advance !!
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We go thru Oklahoma City often on our way out west-- 2 places that are a must:
http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/
(lots of western heritage and artwork)
oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/…
(a memorial for the people who died in the federal building bombing. Instead of being depressing... it's a very beautiful and moving place.)
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Many thanks Wings, best regards, Pugwash !
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Some Suggestions:
In Anadarko, OK, you can visit the Indian City USA Cultural Center, Southern Plains Indian Museum and American Indian Hall of Fame.
Near Lawton, OK, visit Mt. Scott. You can drive to the top and get panoramic views of the area for miles.
You might enjoy spending the night at Quartz Mountain State Park Resort, about 20 miles north of Altus, OK.
From there, you can drive north and west, into the Texas/Oklahoma panhandle region. Near Amarillo, TX is the Palo Duro Canyon. The area north of Amarillo, up to Guymon, OK, is one of the best areas I know for getting a feel of what the Great Plains looked/felt like before there were cities, roads and power lines everywhere. Of course, now there are wind turbines all over the place, but if you get off the main roads, you can still find some places that reveal the stark beauty of that desolate landscape.
Further west from Guymon is Black Mesa State Park, north of Kenton, OK, which provides another panoramic lookout point.
From the Panhandle area, you can then travel back toward the south and east to the area of Woodward, OK. Near there are the Boiling Springs State Park, Little Sahara State Park (desert-like sand dunes with buggy rides for hire) and Alabaster Caverns State Park (you can tour through the cavern).
Further south and east from the Woodward area is Roman Nose State Park, near Watonga, OK, located in the heart of the "Gypsum Hills" which have a unique combination of blood-red earth, topped off by a white layer of Gypsum rock, creating some beautiful mesas and, with a little hiking from the lodge at Roman Nose, some spectacular views.
You can then proceed on to Oklahoma City, to see the Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Bombing Memorial both mentioned in the previous post.
From OKC, you can drive up I-44 to Tulsa, where you will find the Gilcrease Museum (western art, culture and history) and Philbrook Museum (fine art).
Head north from Tulsa to Bartlesville, where you can view/tour the mansion of oilman Frank Phillips - one of the founders of Phillips Petroleum Company, and you can visit or spend the night at The Price Tower, which is the only "skyscraper" ever built by the renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
About 15 miles southwest of Bartlesville is Woolaroc, which was Frank Phillips' country home. The original house is still furnished as it was in Phillips' time and is available for viewing. There is also a very nice western art and cultural museum on the grounds, with many works of art by some of the US's most well-known western artists and one of the lagest private collections of Colt firearms in the world.
From Bartlesville, head east to Vinita, OK, where you can have lunch or dinner at Clanton's diner. In Oklahoma, and throughout much of that region, the dish called "chicken-fried steak" is a mainstay of the local diet. Be warned that there is no chicken in it. It is essentially a tenderized piece of beef, which has been covered with a batter and fried. Not unlike a Weinerschnitzel, but with beef instead of veal. At any rate, Clanton's is the best place in the world to sample this quintessential Oklahoma dish.
From Vinita, you can drive to the Grand Lake O' the Cherokees and spend some time on or around the lake.
From Grand Lake, you can then drive eastward into Arkansas. My knowledge of Arkansas is not as detailed, but here are a few tips:
Eureka Springs, AR is a beautiful little town in the Ozark Mountains, with plenty of shops, restaurants and hotels.
The most significant American Civil War battlefield in the area is Pea Ridge, located in northwest Arkansas.
Hot Springs, AR is home to , as the name suggests, some pretty impressive natural hot springs, with plenty of lodging in the area.
I'm sure others will suggest plenty more sites in Arkansas (and OK too, for that matter).
Finally, after visiting Arkansas, and on your way back toward Dallas, you should drive along the Talamina Drive in SE Oklahoma, in the Ouachita National Forest, near Heavener, OK. In September or early October, the leaves probably won't be much to look at yet, but it can still be a pretty drive along the ridges of the mountains. Some people won't call them mountains, prefering to label them "hills" instead, but whatever you call them, they can be interesting.
And finally, before leaving Oklahoma for good, spend the night at Beaver's Bend State Park on Broken Bow Lake. Very nice area, with thick pine forests.
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Thank you Spyderwood, I really do appreciate your comments and time taken to respond,. It looks like OKC and LR for our vacation this autumn. Regards, Pugwash.
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