We celebrated Juneteenth and Father's Day by visiting Tulsa, OK. We started in Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District and read the Black Wall Street Mural sign. I still remember hearing about Black Wall Street for the first time 2 years ago. I had watched this video. It's hard and horrendous, but "A is for the acknowledgement of a painful past."
We entered the Greenwood Cultural Center and read the articles and history on the walls. A nice man who worked at the center asked to be in our picture. 😊 We really wanted to visit Greenwood Rising but tickets were required to be reserved in advance, and there were no remaining tickets left for the day.
We attended Vernon AME Church (the only standing structure left of Black Wall Street after the 1921 Tulsa massacre). We were warmly welcomed and got to visit the basement where people sought refuge. Dad even received a gift card when fathers were recognized. He was the dad with the most number of kids present at service. 😂
Next, we made a quick 5 minute stop at The Center of the Universe to hear our mysterious amplified echoes before eating lunch at Lone Wolf. We got a few rice bowls and kimchi fries. Everything was tasty, maybe an overall 4 stars rating. The kimchi was different, very sour and vinegary, but it complemented the fries well.
Just a quick 10 minute drive and we were at the Gathering Place - of all the parks and playgrounds we've ever been to, this place wins hands down. It's no wonder it's one of Time Magazine's Worlds Greatest Places of 2019 and National Geographic's 12 mind-bending playgrounds around the world. Due to the heat, we only stayed an hour and visited just a couple of acres of the nearly 70 acre park. It's phenomenal, and did I mention - free?!
Mirror Maze
Koi Pond
Redbud Cafe at the Gathering Place where a single scoop of ice cream or Italian Ice is $1.99
We absolutely would have stayed all afternoon exploring the Gathering Place but needed to find some place indoors with ac. Only a 2 minute drive from the Gathering Place was the Discovery Lab, an ASTC and children's museum. Compared to other children's museums, it's a smaller space, and upon entering, I thought maybe our kids would only stay 30 minutes. But to our surprise, they were very engaged and loved the many hands-on stations. Even our oldest was engaged, especially at the origami station. We stayed over 2 hours, and they still didn't want to leave.
They spent the longest time here vacuuming and sorting balls.
Finally, we grabbed dinner at a well rated, no frills place on the way to the airport - Mexican Corner. Where else can you get 4 tacos and a 32 oz drink for $5.50?
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