As I said in my last blog post, our Spring Break wasn't all about staying at home in Kansas City. After all, that wouldn't have been all that exciting after the first day or two. Instead, we found ourselves wandering south towards Tulsa, OK for a Spring Break adventure!
Now, I know that when people think of hot Spring Break destinations, they're normally thinking Florida or perhaps some other tropical destination. Rarely does Tulsa come up as the destination of choice. Not that there's anything wrong with Tulsa; it's just hardly seen as a tourist destination. However, it just so happens that there is one thing in particular there that really appeals to families: the Gathering Place.
The Gathering Place is a 66.5 acre park along the Arkansas River in Tulsa, Ok. And yes, I did steal that description directly from Wikipedia. However, this park isn't just any park. It's an awesome park! The highlight, and the main reason for us going, had to be the Adventure Playground. In fact, our trip to The Gathering Place was so anticipated that it was actually the very first thing we chose to do once we arrived in Tulsa (not including stopping by our VRBO and McCallister's Deli for a quick lunch).
Once we arrived, I was immediately taken aback by the size of the structures Ellie and Ethan set out to conquer. I can only describe it as a series of tree houses/forts connected by rope bridges and cargo nets leading from one structure to another. Actually, that's a fairly apt description of what I was looking at. While Bethany and I expected Ethan to be the one deterred by the somewhat insane height of everything, instead it was Ellie. Although, for the record, I think she was just slightly overwhelmed by the mass of humanity closing in on her. Ethan made it his personal goal to conquer the cargo nets. In fact, he spent probably ten minutes traversing a set of three cargo nets that were probably a good twenty five feet in the air.
It didn't take long for Ellie's and Ethan's cousins and grandparents to join us at the Adventure Playground for some, dare I say, adventure. In fact, the four of them spent practically the entire afternoon climbing and clambering over every structure they could find. For the record, my favorite thing there had to be the slides built into the sides of some hills. I even made a few trips down those myself! After we finished up our afternoon at The Gathering Place, we retired back to our VRBO for a dinner of BBQ meats and sides.
The next day was a little unfortunate due to the fact that most of our original plans had been throttled due to nasty weather. We had been planning all along on spending Friday at the Gathering Place as well. However, high winds and freezing temperatures don't really make for a fun day of outdoor play. Instead, we changed gears and headed to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. It honestly made for a super fun morning. Not only were there plenty of interactive exhibits to play with but it was also cool to learn all about the history of aviation. There were actually planes that spanned basically the entire history of aeronautics! There was also a ton of cool stuff about space exploration including an area where we could watch a video of an actual NASA rocket launch!
After we finished up at the Air and Space Museum, we headed back to our VRBO for afternoon naps and quiet times before grilling out for dinner that night. That was honestly a bit of an adventure as I had never actually grilled on charcoal before. It was also a bit of adventure finding a place that sold lighter fluid. No worries though as I finally found some at the sketchy gas station with bars on the windows and a Plexiglas box around the cashier who nearly had her face pierced shut. She was super nice though!
The next morning went pretty quick. While the kids spent time playing outside (Ellie and her cousin, Elbert, went on a "nature" hike with Bethany's mom while Ethan played in the garage and driveway with Bethany's dad and his cousin, Edmund), I mostly helped get all of our things packed and ready to go for the trip home. There was one additional stop we had to make before we could head home though: THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE!
While I know it sounds impressive to say we were at the Center of the Universe, it's not actually the literal center of the universe. Instead, it's this really cool area in downtown Tulsa where you stand and anything you say is amplified back to you at a louder volume. While Ethan was probably a little underwhelmed, Ellie, Bethany, and I found it to be pretty cool! Ellie and I even made one additional trip back to the circle after getting in the car.
Actually, did I say that was the last stop? Well, I lied. Our last stop of the trip was arguably the most important thing we could ever hope to see. That's right folks, after a short detour down Route 66, we found ourselves at the majestic Blue Whale of Catoosa! Of course, we had to get out and take a short walk through the whale. I even got my picture taken in front of it! Clearly the most important part of our trip, right?
Ok, wow, I wrote a lot about a short three day vacation. However, there was a lot crammed into those three days. No worries though. Now anyone who reads this can feel like they visited Tulsa (not to mention the majestic Blue Whale of Catoosa!).
#DaddyWrite
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