Oklahoma

Steve signed up to do Land Run 100 and since it was the girls' spring break we tagged along, too.  It was their first time in Oklahoma which brings their state total up to 13.

We brought along the 2nd grade class pet "Froggy" to take pictures because Hannah was star of the week.

It is always an adventure with us.  On our way to Stillwater, we wanted to see the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.  We followed the GPS which led us on gravel roads and to this unlocked gate.  Thinking this was okay because there were free-roaming buffalo (so of course there would be a gate), we opened it and kept driving.  I saw something that looked as big as deer, but looked like a dog.  We thought it was a wolf (but google revealed there are no wolves in OK.)  So we might have seen the world's biggest coyote.  And we ended up on private property.  Oops.  I was laughing so hard I was crying.  We finally saw another truck and the guy gave us directions to the prairie.

This is what the actual entrance looked like.

It is the largest piece of prairie left in the world and there are 2,500 bison.

It was an adventure for Froggy, too.

I was super excited to drive by all the windmills.  The girls were not so impressed.

The next day while Steve was doing the bike race, we drove to Oklahoma City to do check out their science museum.  It is the best one we've been to yet...and we've been to a lot!  And of course it was free with our Union Station membership. :)  The museum is HUGE!  It had lots of interactive exhibits as well as science museum stuff like actual space suits from several NASA missions.

We all got to ride Segways for the first time!

And in one corner was the coolest play gym we have ever seen.

The crooked house was like the one in Silver Dollar City.

 We found several rooms with bicycles, so we took a picture for Steve.

Mirror maze= AWESOME!

Steve texted that he was halfway done around noon, so we decided to drive back and see if we could watch him finish around 4:00.  We waited and waited and waited.  Then we got a text at 5:30 that he stopped to help someone he knew and it would be another hour.  So we left to eat dinner and warm ourselves up.

 

He finally finished after 7:00pm.  It was 80 degrees the day before, but race day was rainy with a high of 40.  Everything was covered in mud and even with three pairs of gloves, he had mild frostbite on his hands.  It is now a week later and his hands still aren't completely back to normal.  The guy he was helping had the beginning stages of hypothermia and had to drop out of the race about 6 miles from the finish.  He couldn't see or walk straight.  I'm not sure why anyone chooses to do races like this for "fun."  1300 people signed up for the race, 850 started it, and only 165 finished it.

One of the best parts about any trip is always the hotel pool.

Center of Universe in Tulsa.