Half Way There - Amarillo to Tulsa

Today we took a journey into a new state that neither myself or Lizzy have ever been into, Oklahoma!  Before I go on to talk about Oklahoma and all it's wonderfulness, I should say that I'm a little miffed at Texas.  I guess I kind of feel like there was never closure to our relationship.  Texas welcomed us into its state when we drove from New Mexico, but we didn't even know we were leaving until we saw the Oklahoma sign.  There was no "thanks for coming", no "have a safe journey and come visit us again y'all."  It just let us leave without any good-bye.  I thought more of you Texas, but I guess we just weren't in the same place. *sniff*

We started off well with a Texas sized breakfast bagel and the knowledge that we in fact did not leave anything behind at the hotel.  As we drove along Highway 40 we passed by some ridiculous sites that included the leaning water tower and a cross that was bigger than the wind turbines across the street from it.  I guess we're in real America now!

We didn't have any planned stops for the day, but as we drove closer to Oklahoma City and as our stomachs started to rumble because we hadn't eaten lunch yet, Yaron decided to look up places to eat that the Food Network recommended.  He ended up finding the Cattleman's Ranch which was listed on numerous shows from the Food Network, Travel Channel and oddly some British stations too.  It just so happened that this restaurant was one block away from the Stockyards.  Yup!  From the animal to your plate all within one block of each other (just kidding....or at least I hope I am)(P.S. Sorry to all the vegetarians/vegans reading this, but we like meat).  We got some take-out as it was a beautiful sunny day and they had no patio for us to bring Lizzy onto.  The food was incredible and while I didn't go into the restaurant (hung outside with Lizzy) Yaron assures me that every third person in the restaurant had a cowboy hat on.  Only in Oklahoma (so far)! :D

After our delicious break we decided to book it on over to Tulsa because frankly, we were tired of being in the car.  Our hotel for the evening (which was fire-free) has a large grass area which we fully took advantage of and let Lizzy off leash to run around chasing her ball.  All three of us had an excellent time and it was a much needed exercise break.

For dinner tonight, we had planned to check out a pizza place, but ended up finding a bistro with good beer.  It reminded us a lot of Monks Kettle, but it was bigger and less pretentious.  The food was delicious and Yaron enjoyed the beer selection.  We enjoyed the smores bread pudding for dessert.  Issao, next time we cook together this will definitely have to be on our dessert menu!  They used homemade marshmallows on top which really just sealed the deal for both Yaron and myself.  So amazingly good!  We walked around downtown Tulsa for a bit and it's pretty nice.

So all in all today was a pretty good day.  We were tired of driving, but made it to our destination and made some impromptu stops along the way.  Tomorrow we head to Memphis and get to pass through Arkansas.  Who knows what adventures await us there?

For more time-lapsed videos, feel free to check out these links:
Day 4: http://youtu.be/xI1svURHDvI
Day 5: http://youtu.be/Cdzff0TDh7w
Day 6: http://youtu.be/YjkzYYD10ZU

Also, this post was brought to you by the soap in our hotel room which was made by the San Francisco Soap Company.  Thanks soap people!