Fields & Friends

Having just gotten back from our massively introspective and exciting trip to Japan, Zach and I were faced with the daunting task of picking our next travel destination?  India?  China?  South Africa?  Naw, why go exotic when you have good ole Tulsa, Oklahoma just down the continental divide?  We had the long Memorial Day weekend available to us, and the drive to Tulsa was only a teeny 10 hours if you floor the gas pedal and don't stop for gas, the restroom, food, or stoplights, so we figured this was an excellent selection.  I suppose the fact that Zach's brother, sister in law, and niece are residents of the fine state of Oklahoma contributed to the decision a bit, too.  So without much ado, I met Zach at his office at 4:30 PM on Friday evening and we started the long trek through the Ozarks and down into the plains through the dark of a Midwestern spring night.

Tulsa is an enigmatic little city, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't on purpose.  It's downtown area has some older art deco style buildings reaching out toward the sky, while more modern glass and steel constructions interrupt the artistic stretch of skyline that juts up from the hills and plains of emptiness surrounding it.  The art deco architecture even lends itself to naming some of the neighborhoods, as I found out while wandering the Blue Dome district.  Despite some of the more interesting architecture, the city in parts seemed run down and neglected with random electric wires crisscrossing the landscape and rundown streets needing new pavement.  As if mimicking this pattern, the city itself is sandwiched on one side by new suburban developments with quaint houses and shopping malls, while the other half is sandwiched with oil refineries and industrial parks with billowing puffs of smoke and grease stains.

  It's both pretty and grimy, vibrant and deflated.  It all depends on where you are.

This isn't exactly the kind of city that you find hordes of tourists flocking to, as it's certainly not a New York or Los Angeles kind of place.  In the grand scheme of things, there isn't particularly much that an outsider would want to add to a "must see" list while in Tulsa, but we did manage to relax and enjoy our time and take in some of the more interesting sights. 

Strolling through the heart of Tulsa makes for a pleasant afternoon.  The older art deco buildings create an interesting backdrop of what the city might have seemed like when it was easier to remain in the heart of the US and isolate yourself a bit.

  The modern construction isn't anything impressive to write home about, but it does give you the impression that business is solid in Tulsa and that the citizens take pride in their home.  Which is why it's so interesting to move a few blocks outside of the downtown area to run across some rather rundown, dilapitated warehouses that echoed some of the more sketchy neighborhoods in Chicago I'm used to.  Did I feel like I needed to pull the razor out of my shoe heel and defend my life?  No, but these areas did leave you with the lingering feeling that you just might be surprised with a petty crime. 

While in this more run down area of town, we took a stop at the "Center of the Universe".  This is an odd attraction, located in the middle of a pedestrian bridge over railroad tracks, with a few strategically placed benches.

  In the middle of this area is a small circle of brick.  When you stand in this circle of brick, completely outside with no walls, gorges, canyons, or other contraption to produce the phenomenon, your voice echoes.  But only to you.  Anyone standing outside of the circle hears you as they normally would.  It's a surreal experience to hear your own echo and not understand how or why it's happening, let alone why you can hear it and no one else can.

One of the evenings of our trip, Zach and I accompanied his brother Matt to a garage rental on the outskirts of the city to watch his band practice.  This is a new experience for me.  Growing up in Japan and living in the hoity toity northern suburbs of Chicago didn't really give me much opportunity to enjoy attending rock band concerts or jam sessions (unless you count emo suburbanites who imagine themselves the next John Mayer rocking out).

  I'll admit I was a little uncomfortable being the only Asian man for as far as my eye could see while hanging out in a garage while a rock band blasted music into the Oklahoma night, but I ended up really enjoying myself.  The stars shine bright when your this far out into the middle of America, and it was a pleasant event to rest your back against a dirty pick up truck, watch the heavens twinkle above your head, feel the occasional rain drops fall from the great big sky, and listen to a 23 year old aspiring rock star do his best to make Journey cool with nothing more then his buddies on bass and his microphone in hand.

One our last day in Tulsa, we decided to enjoy the sunny weather (as it has been pretty spotty up until that point) and headed over to the Woodward Park.

  This is a quaint park area within Tulsa that houses a rose garden.  I'm not much of a flower afficianado, but Zach happens to love them, roses in particular.  So as we meandered under the now overbearing Oklahoma sun, humid wrapping it's unwelcome arms around your body, we got a little education as Zach taught us about the scents, colors, lay outs, and growth of roses while soaking in the visual aids.  The park is situated on some rolling hills, but this didn't stop us from breaking out the bocce ball set and having an impromptu couples tourney among the trees.  While it was my first time playing bocce, I'm glad to say that the combined efforts of Zach and myself were good enough to defeat his brother and sister in law (Matt & Brandi) with a score of 21 - 8.   Matt and Brandi's daughter, Claire, occupied her time crawling up and down the hill, chasing squirrels, attempting to eat grass, and gurgling with glee when bocce balls were tossed.

Food in Tulsa is ever present.  When we rolled into town, we were warned that the abundance of restaurants might be surprising to us.  While I was skeptical at first, after a quick drive around town it became quite evident that this was no joke: Tulsans love to eat.  I was informed that Tulsans dine out more then almost any other city in the United States, and as such is home to a variety of chain, local chain, and independant restaurants that would boggle the mind in even larger cities across the US.  I was even informed that Tulsa is a major test market for major restaurant corporations to try new products, sales, gimmicks, and even entirely new restaurants before mass marketing them across the country.

  With this in mind, we enjoyed quite a bit of great food in Tulsa, much to the chagrin of my ever expanding wasteline.  Two highlights included Chicago style deep dish pizza (though not as good as actual pizza in Chicago) at Savastrano's and the Indian-Chinese (Chindian?) fusion of Desi Wok.

I'm thrilled that I enjoyed a family experience with Zach, and it was a good bonding and relationship builder for the two of us to actually pick up and head out into an unfamiliar location that had very little actual "touring" in it.  This allowed us to actually soak up the feel and culture of Tulsa and enjoy each other's company without being distracted by monuments or temples.  While I love a big venture into the great unknown, sometimes it's nice to do a little exploring on a smaller scale closer to home.

Tulsa might not be at the top of my list in terms of places I'd love to return to, but I can definitely say that I enjoyed my time there and thought it was much more then I ever imagined it would be.