Friday, January 3, 2014

The First Road Trip of the Year

 It was an early morning after a late night of football.  We left the house a little after 7:00 and headed to Enid.
 
 Our first stop was the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center.  This is a really nice museum!

 They have a little village of several restored original buildings you can tour, too.

 These were the markers that they would have at the corners of every claim.  The notches meant certain things (township, plot, etc.) depending on which corner they were on.  You had to register for the run, run and find the marker, then run to register the marker.  Only someone else might register the same marker at another office, and since there were no computers and the plots were 160 acres, it might be a while before anyone realized it.  The land run was in 1893 and the land offices stayed open until 1905 resolving disputes.  Kind of makes driving around town looking for land seem not so bad.

 After lunch, we tried out a park in town.  It was fun, but it was so cold!

 Then we headed to the Railroad Museum of Oklahoma.  They have tons of things there!  The kids got to talk to each other on old-fashioned phones.  (Alice is so close up because I had to hold her so she could reach the mouthpiece.)

 One of the many model trains.

 They have quite a few cabooses and the kids sat in the cupola of every. single. one.  They thought it was the best thing ever.


 They also got to try working a hand car that was built off the plans of an 1892 model.  They did a good job!

Next we went to Simpson's Old Time Museum.  This place backs up to the Leonardo's playground and somehow I've never realized what it was.  It has a bit of everything, including movie sets!
 
 Jack trying out a trick rope!

 We finished up the day at Leonardo's.

 Alice loved the building sets.

(And the play kitchen, of course!)

We had a great time, but after 12.5 hours away and 286.9 miles (I'm thinking of keeping track of how far we travel each year...if I don't forget!), we were glad to get home!

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