Oklahoma City, OK

#135 (December 13, 2022): Texas is a BIG state. Having only driven across the Texas panhandle on this trip, we are certainly leaving behind many fun adventures here in the Lone Star State for another time. We continued our drive east on Route 66 (aka I-40) across flat, treeless, golden, grassy plains (with an occasional oil rig here and there) to Oklahoma City, OK.

On the way, we stopped at Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, OK, about an hour west of Oklahoma City. The museum has a fantastic chronological display of all-things air and space. Walking through all the various advances in flight in chronological order helped gain a better understanding of the whole picture and timeline of the progression of flight and how it has impacted history. The entire museum is very well done with multiple interactive exhibits to draw its visitors in. All the kids loved their scavenger hunt; Neil especially enjoyed the flight simulator game at the end.

Although we typically think of Texas, Florida, and Alabama as having made significant contributions to the space program, Oklahoma has also made its fair share as well. The museum taught us a couple interesting facts we didn’t know. One: “Oklahoma is the only state to have had an astronaut fly in every American manned space program.” Two: “Of the 31 total missions flown during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, one out of every three had an Oklahoma astronaut on board.” Wow! Thank you, Oklahoma!

We parked our rig at Twin Fountains RV Park in Oklahoma City and ate half-pound burgers and chicken wings for dinner at the campground’s Sempre Fi Bar and Grill. After dinner, we spotted a new critter—a scorpion—crawling on the floor underneath our table. Yikes!

#136 (December 14, 2022): Today was another day to stay home and focus on school, work, and other projects. The kids did a virtual music lesson. Mac was conveniently groomed by a groomer here at the campground. If only more campgrounds offered such a service! It was fantastic! That afternoon Emily and the kids found a soccer field to go burn some energy and get some soccer practice in. On their way home, they grabbed burgers at Braum’s. Emily soon remembered that dually trucks and drive-thru’s don’t go well together. Bless! LOL!

#137 (December 15, 2022): While Chris continued to get some work done at the RV, Emily and the kids spent the day exploring Science Museum Oklahoma. Wow! We can’t say enough good things about this museum. It is indisputably the best, most comprehensive science museum that we have been to. Some of our favorite highlights include riding a Segway around a small obstacle course, laying on a bed of nails, walking a tightrope, attending two shows that demonstrated science explosions, 2 different build-an-arch activities, a planetarium show, and a space launch simulator. Those are only a few highlights and just a drop in the bucket of what we saw and did here. We stayed ‘til closing and even after 6.5 hours, we still didn’t see and do it all. This place is gigantic (390,000 square feet, one of the largest in the country), and there’s just so much to do! Although this museum has been created with children in mind, this is by no means a children’s museum. Adults and teens can kinesthetically learn about nearly any advanced science topic imaginable here. We highly recommend Science Museum Oklahoma to anyone! It is well worth a stop!

That night, we ate dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse in Yukon with Emily’s Uncle Jim and Aunt Ramona. It was so fun and special to visit with them over dinner. Afterwards they showed us some beautiful murals in Yukon and their amazing Christmas lights display at their house.

#138 (December 16, 2022): Well, we loved Science Museum Oklahoma so much that we have decided to stay an extra day so the kids can take Chris and show him all the fun, while Emily stays home for some quiet work time in the RV, researching and booking reservations for the next leg of our trip. Nice! She has gotten quite a late start in planning our southeast loop and could use all the quiet time she can get!