If you’d like to get out of the metro area for a quick day trip, here are some places that are worth a look.
Located 90 miles away just north of Lawton, the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is a 59,020-acre refuge of mixed-grass prairie managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge. While not all the land is open to the public, there are plenty of wilderness areas that offer fishing, hiking, wildlife watching (buffalo, antelope and prairie dogs are among the animals), rock climbing and other recreation. If you’re not a hiker, you can even drive to the top of Mount Scott for some incredible views of the entire area. Be sure to grab a burger at Meers, a landmark restaurant nestled on the edge of the Wichita Mountains.
Other outdoor spots near Oklahoma City include: Roman Nose State Park in Watonga, Lake Thunderbird State Park near Norman, Red Rock Canyon State Park in Hinton, Great Plains State Park near the Wichita Mountains, and Great Salt Plains State Park in Jet.
If you’re into the lore and history of U.S. Route 66, there are all kinds of stops within an hour or two of Oklahoma City that you can get to by traveling along the highway that crisscrosses Oklahoma. We’ve already mentioned POPS. For museums, the most well-known one is the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton, but Elk City has its own, too: the National Route 66 and Transportation Museum.
Speaking of museums, if you end up in western Oklahoma exploring Route 66, check out the Stafford Air and Space Museum off of Interstate 40 in Weatherford, named after Weatherford native and astronaut Gen. Tom Stafford. It hosts 40,000 square feet of exhibits.
Tulsa, Oklahoma’s second-largest city, offers well known museums like the Gilcrease Museum, the Philbrook Museum of Art, the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and the Tulsa Children’s Museum, as well as other attractions.
If you have kids to entertain, don’t miss going about an hour east of OKC to the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum in Seminole, where children of all ages can learn and explore.
[Image courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service]
Comments
Leave a Comment