Road Trip : 10 Cities in 14 Days: Day 4

Day 4: Tulsa

Woody Guthrie Ctr & The Gathering Place

We got back on route 66 and arrived in Tulsa the evening of day 3, planning to have dinner at Roosevelt's and going to bed early. If you ever get to Roosevelt's, let us know how it was because we didn't want to get in the car again, and instead asked the hotel clerk for a restaurant we could walk to. He suggested Ti Amo Downtown, which we could walk to. The food was Italian, the dining room airy and spacious, the service, sweet, and the manager's advice on the city excellent. Paul asked the manager, who was so nice, what one place in Tulsa he would suggest for someone who would just have a few hours the next day after seeing Woody Guthrie Center, which was our reason for being in the town. He strongly recommended a city park named "The Gathering Place," which proved to be terrific.

Photo: Peter Greenberg

But first Woody Guthrie Center, first thing the next morning. For anyone who doesn't know about Guthrie (1912-1967) he 

was one of America’s greatest folksingers and most influential songwriters. His songs celebrate the beauty and bounty of America  and seek the truth about our country and its people. He turned complex ideas about democracy, human rights, and economic equality into simple songs that all Americans could embrace. Woody Guthrie spoke for those who carried a heavy burden or had come upon hard times — giving voice to their struggles and giving them hope and strength. (WGC website)

Our welcome at the entrance from three different people was effusive and genuine. The permanent exhibit, our first stop, is a grand tour of Woody's life and work. I am not a fan of him as a husband and father, but no one has ever done more to give voice to working people in songs that are absolutely joyous and influential and definitely speak to what we are living today, like

All you Fascists bound to lose

The exhibit included a brief film on Woody's life, interviews with friends and family, recordings of Woody singing, quotes, some history on the Dust Bowl Era via clips of Ken Burns' documentary on the Dust Bowl, a wonderful selection of various popular groups and singers singing, "This Land Is Your Land." Paul reminded me that we don't often hear all the verses, which are much sharper than the one we sing over and over. You can read them all here

Paul's fav is this:
As I went walking I saw a sign there,
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing.
That side was made for you and me.

The docents at the center were attentive and knowledgeable. When I asked about Woody's Huntington's disease, he knew all about it  and the fact that all of his first wife's three children died of it. 

I wasn't interested in the Exhibits on Hip Hop in America or Artifacts from the movie about Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown, but Paul and I both gravitated to the exhibit on Phil Ochs, whom we are both fans of. 

If you are a lover of folk music, as we are, I encourage you to visit the Center, and if you can't, check out the museum website, which has so much more online. The gift shop is a good one, both live and online. 

We also rambled an art festival that was happening outside the museum, grateful to an artist who helped us as we struggled to get the parking app on our phone by pointing out that there is free parking on Sundays, which it was! We promised to visit her stand and looked for and couldn't find her. Someone in Tulsa, let her know.

Then we were onto "The Gathering Place," probably the very most amazing city park I have ever been in, and Ohio is filled with wonderful city parks. It is billed as "Tulsa's Riverside Park: A Park for All,"

a 100 acre park, built with private money for the city, with 6300 trees, 300 kinds of plants and an emphasis on ecology and sustainabilty. Kayaks to rent for free, huge rooms inside and out for people to gather in, amazing play centers for children with tiny fairy gardens and a 10 foot tall elephant and a bigger pirate ship to climb, a koi pond, bridges and running underneath, running paths, many many wildflowers. Dogs are allowed two days a week, that Sunday being one of them. It is SO BIG that we got lost twice and people set us back on track, until finally, a security guard gave us a tour  of some inside places then saw we got back to our car, getting off ROUTE 66 for the last time, to head to Texas, McKinney, Texas.