Oklahoma City Might Be Nice, But…

Oklahoma City might be nice, but we didn’t really give ourselves a chance to find out.

We recently stayed in Oklahoma’s state capital for 10 nights while on our 50 state road trip. We’d figured that’d be plenty of time to explore the city and, to be honest, it probably was.

The thing is, Shae and I were exhausted. We’d been going non-stop for almost a year and it caught up to us while we were in Oklahoma City. It didn’t help that the hotel we stayed at had a terrible bed, so we slept badly each night too.

That meant we spent a disproportionate amount of time napping and watching TV rather than doing our usual travel stuff. We did get out of the hotel a few times, so here’s what we got up to while in Oklahoma City. Unsurprisingly – if you’ve been following our journey so far – half of this list is places to eat!

Oklahoma State Capitol Building

The state house was in year two of a six year renovation project when we visited, so much of the building was undergoing construction.

We arrived just after the free guided tours had ended for the day, so we did a self-guided tour instead. It was interesting looking around as the building was far less lavish than other state capitol buildings we’ve visited.

Something interesting we learned while chatting to a worker in the gift shop was that the building’s dome was only installed in 2002. When the state capitol was being built more than 100 years ago, the project’s budget was greatly exceeded and so they decided to leave off the dome to save money. A decision was made in 1998 to add the dome and it was finally installed four years later.

Swadley’s BBQ

While out running some errands, we drove past Swadley’s BBQ. I took a look at their menu online and immediately fell in love.

They had a menu item called the Oklahoma Sampler which contains over 1lb of meat – brisket, ham, chicken, sausage, a rib, a roll and two sides.

There was no way I was going to pass up on an opportunity like that, so I got take-out from Swadley’s one night. I ended up choosing green beans and coleslaw as my sides and the entire sampler was incredible – definitely some of the best BBQ I’ve eaten. The brisket in particular was soooo tender, but the entire meal was delicious.

You can choose what kind of BBQ sauce to get on the side. I highly recommend their spicy BBQ sauce if you don’t mind a bit of heat.

Myriad Botanical Gardens

When looking up stuff to do in Oklahoma City, Myriad Botanical Gardens showed up. We’re traveling with our dog Truffles, so were pleased to see that the gardens were pet-friendly.

To be honest, the gardens were a bit of a letdown. There wasn’t much botanical nor garden-y about it – the photo above was about as garden-y as it got.

Myriad Botanical Gardens does have a water stage where some of Shakespeare’s plays are performed, so that could potentially be something interesting to do there, although we didn’t take in a play during our visit.

Another reason we’d wanted to check out the gardens is because it said that there was an off-leash dog park. That was true, but it was pretty much the most underwhelming dog park we’ve been to. Most of the park was gravel and there was no grass in there – just one mound of artificial turf.

Happy Tails Dog Park

A much better dog park was one we visited in Moore, a city to the south of Oklahoma City and about 15 minutes away from our hotel.

It was much more spacious, there was a fair bit of shade and it had separate areas for large and small dogs. Everyone we met there was very friendly and we visited with Truffles multiple times during our stay.

Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum

In 1995, Oklahoma City suffered from an act of domestic terrorism when Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols attacked the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City with a truck bomb.

More than 150 people were killed in the attack and the former site of the building is now home to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.

Shae’s friend had mentioned that the memorial was beautiful at night time, so Shae and I visited after dark. It was a good recommendation as it was indeed beautiful lit up at night and very peaceful.

Nic’s Place

We met up with that same friend and her husband for dinner the night before we left Oklahoma City. They took us to Nic’s Place which is apparently known for its burgers.

I can see why.

I ordered their JoJo burger which comes with grilled onions, bacon, egg, smoked gouda and mayo (I got it without the gouda as I don’t like cheese). There are several sides you can choose from; our friend recommended their haystack onion rings, so I went for those.

The entire plate was amazing. The burger was one of the best I’ve ever had, as were the onion rings as there was far more onion than batter.

Shae went for the classic Nic’s Original burger with steak fries and she loved her burger too.

Pie Junkie

After eating at Nic’s Place, we stopped by Pie Junkie to pick up dessert. They had all kinds of amazing-looking pies and we ended up getting three different slices – French Silk, Drunken Turtle and Peach Blackberry Crumble – along with a whoopie pie.

Oh man, those pie slices were unbelievable. Seriously – if you ever visit Oklahoma City, you HAVE to get dessert from Pie Junkie.

Leo’s Barbecue

Last but not least, we stopped by Leo’s Barbecue on our way out of Oklahoma City. This was another recommendation from Shae’s friend who said it was a great hole-in-the-wall eatery.

As it was moving day and we had Truffles with us, we ordered it to go and ate it once we arrived at our next hotel. I ordered the Leo’s Special which consisted of two ribs, two hot links, beef, bologna, potato salad, beans, bread and a slice of banana and strawberry cake.

This was a great recommendation too. The BBQ wasn’t quite as amazing as Swadley’s, but it was still definitely worth eating.

Question

Do you have any recommendations of things to do in Oklahoma City if we ever return? If so, let us know in the comments below.