Our late afternoon flight Monday (4-29-19) left us ample time to explore OKC’s revitalized warehouse district and revisit Stockyards City in daylight. Our hotel was located in Bricktown and we started our day with a hike along the canal.
Near the south end of the Bricktown Canal the Centennial Land Run Monument depicts the utter chaos that occurred during the Land Run of 1889 to claim Unassigned Land in Oklahoma Territory.
Paul Moore created the 45 separate works that make the Land Run Monument one of the world’s largest bronze sculptures.
Standing next to the realistic figures we could feel the energy and excitement this artwork portrays. This is an awe-inspiring display and free for public viewing.
We walked the mile-long canal to the warehouses that line the final stretch. You can take a canal boat if you don’t care to walk to the bronze statues. The eateries and entertainment options here are geared toward nightlife.
Across the street from the canal sits the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark which is home to the Oklahoma City Dodgers. Bronze statues and busts of famous Oklahoma ballplayers adorn the main entrance. Front and center is Mickey Mantle born 10-20-1931 in Spavinaw, OK.
We ate an early lunch at Oklahoma’s first craft brewery. Bricktown Brewery served up tasty Avocado Fries, a fine Cobb Salad and a beer list as long as your arm. “Oh sole MIO!”
The Oklahoma National Stockyards are full of real cowboys, horses, cows and manure. This is not a juke joint spot for city slickers like Fort Worth’s stockyards.
Looking down on the hundreds of pens from catwalks, potential buyers and tourists can inspect beef on the hoof for sale. Cowboys herd livestock from the pens into the auction house in the video below.
Cattle auctions are open to the public every Monday and Tuesday. Lots are hustled in on the left, sold and run out the other side in short order.
Stockyards City sells anything a rancher might need, including cattle. We stopped at Shorty’s Caboy Hattery and that’s not misspelled. Lavonna “Shorty” Koger started the only woman-owned and operated custom hattery in the US in 1990. I left my Stetson to be cleaned, refurbished and blocked with their promise I’d get it back in the mail a week or so later. I sure do miss that hat. The ones I tried on didn’t fit like mine.
We were too full of beef the night before to have dessert when we ate at Cattlemen’s Steakhouse. We stopped in to get a slice of homemade coconut cream pie to eat on the way to the airport.
Cattlemen’s Cafe opened its doors in 1910 and kept expanding “a few feet at a time” until it ran out of building. The original cafe on the north end has not changed, neither has the quality of the food and service they are famous for.
Thanks OKC we had a great time. Please don’t forget to send my hat back.