Oklahoma road trips & hidden gems.

Roadside Scenic · free (retail store on-site)

A 21-foot fiberglass 'muffler man' in a space helmet and cowboy boots landed outside a repurposed 1950s gas station on Tulsa's 11th Street in 2019 -- the newest giant on Route 66, built to celebrate the road's next hundred years.

Landmark History · free (24-hour city park)

At noon on April 22, 1889, a gunshot turned an empty prairie into a land grab of 50,000 people on horseback and covered wagon. Sculptor Paul Moore spent over two decades casting that single frozen moment in bronze -- 45 larger-than-life figures mid-gallop along the Bricktown Canal, forever racing toward a stake in the ground.

Roadside Scenic · free (donation box)

Retired woodworking teacher Ed Galloway spent 11 years by hand building the world's largest concrete totem pole -- 90 feet tall, resting on a giant turtle, covered in 200 painted bas-relief images -- on his farm near Foyil, then kept building smaller totems and a fiddle-shaped studio until he died in 1962.

Museum · ticketed

The 175-foot earthen mound rising beside FAM's entrance is deliberately aligned to the cardinal directions, tying the building's architecture to the shared origin stories of Oklahoma's 39 First American nations housed inside.

Landmark History · ticketed (state historic site)

Robert E. Lee, Zachary Taylor, and Jefferson Davis all walked this ground before they were famous. Built in 1824 as the Army's westernmost outpost, Fort Gibson anchored the end of the Trail of Tears and kept an uneasy peace on the frontier for over 50 years without a single battle at the fort itself -- reconstructed log buildings and a stone garrison still stand for visitors to walk through today.

Roadside Scenic · free (24/7 outdoor)

A 76-foot, 43,500-lb steel-and-plaster oil worker has stood guard outside Tulsa Expo Square since 1966 -- the seventh-tallest statue in the United States and Oklahoma's unofficial state monument to the Oil Capital of the World.

Giant Roadside Colossus

The grinning 80-ft whale of Route 66.

BBQ · Clinton · $

A family-run Route 66 smokehouse near the I-40 frontage plating smoky brisket and towering specialty sandwiches like the pork-rib Pig Sickle.

New American · Clinton · $$$

A first-class steak-focused restaurant set in the native red-stone former country club clubhouse, prized for succulent steaks and sweeping Route 66 sunset views.

Dessert · Elk City · $

A small Elk City treat stop for the western Oklahoma run, best used as a quick morale lift between museum stops and longer prairie miles.

American · Elk City · $

A gift-and-tea-room lunch spot off Route 66 in Elk City, beloved for homemade soups, sandwiches and its signature French silk pie.

Mexican · Oklahoma City · $$

Refined Mexican and Tex-Mex with a pink-fireplace patio that's one of Midtown's best hangouts.

Mexican · Oklahoma City · $

Food Network Great Food Truck Race winner turned brick-and-mortar slinging inventive Mexican street food.

Short walk · 77 ft

a slender plunge in a green grotto, seen in the film "Where the Red Fern Grows".

Short walk · 77 ft

Oklahoma’s tallest, with a big swimming hole in the Arbuckles.

Short walk · 35 ft

a tiered fall in the Arbuckle Mountains near Turner Falls.