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Oklahoma Route 66 Itinerary
3 Days
Get Your Kick's on Route 66! It's known as the Main Street of America, and evokes images of mom-and-pop roadside diners, old-fashioned service stations, motor courts, neon signs and classic American automobiles. Oklahoma stood at the heart of Route 66, and today has over 400 miles of the famous route, winding through small towns, eclectic attractions and out-of-the-way diners.
Day 1
In Quapaw, notice the colorful murals on the sides of the buildings. Continue on to Commerce, home to baseball player Mickey Mantle. Notice that Route 66 throughout the town is named in his honor. See The Rock Shop, an outdoor display of all kinds of rocks and minerals. Miami is pronounced "My-am-uh," in Oklahoma. Check out the beautifully restored Coleman Theatre, a 1929 structure built with fortunes made in the lead and zinc mines. While in Miami, see the Dobson Museum, the Quapaw Casino, and the mural on the Osborn Drugs Building. Afton offers a wealth of classic Route 66 roadside architecture, including: K & M Rocket drive-in, vinagte old gas stations and motor courts, the Palmer Hotel, the World's Largest Matchbook Collection, Horse Creek Bridge, Linda's Route 66 Café and Rest Haven Motel. Travel on to Vinita, the second oldest town in Oklahoma, which has many surviving Route 66 buildings. On the turnpike, visit the world's largest McDonald's, based on square footage, and is also the only one known to have an elevator. While in Vinita, see the Cabin Creek Civil War Battle Site, Eastern Trails Museum, and the Little Cabin Pecan Company with an old bridge that once was a part of Route 66. Chelsea was the site of Oklahoma's first oil well, and offers great photo opportunities like the Chelsea Motel, and a Sears Catalog Mail Order House. Foyil has the distinction of being the home to the World's Largest Totem Pole - 90 feet tall, located in Galloway Park. The park is full of folk art concrete totems of all shapes and sizes and a 12-sided "Fiddle House." Find the Historical Marker, dedicated to Andy Payne, the winner of the 84-day, 2400-mile, 1928 First International Transcontinental Footrace, more commonly known as the "Bunion Derby." Claremore is home to Oklahoma's favorite son, Will Rogers. The Will Rogers Memorial has eight galleries featuring items from his cowboy trick roping days to Vaudeville. While in Claremore, visit the Will Rogers Hotel, once famous for its radium baths, the J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum with over 20,000 firearms, the Lynn Riggs Museum dedicated to the playwright who wrote "Green Grow the Lilacs": the basis of the musical Oklahoma! Don't miss the Swan Brothers Dairy Farm and the scores of antique stores. Catoosa is famous for "The Blue Whale" swimming hole, which has recently undergone a facelift and plans call for the restoration of the park area. Also, see the Cherokee Nation Resort and Casino, Tulsa Port of Catoosa and the Arkansas River Historical Society Museum. Tulsa, known as the "Oil Capital of the World," was home to Cyrus Avery, "The Father of Route 66." A number of motels, tourist courts and shops are along the route. Downtown is a mix of different architecture styles - including art deco. A section of 11th Street has installed Route 66 shield signs and some unusual art deco street lamps. Stop in the Route 66 Diner, the Metro Diner or Ollies Station with running trains and model railroad displays. Tulsa offers plenty of attractions like the Gilcrease and Philbrook Museums, Oral Roberts University and the new Oklahoma Aquarium.
Day 2
Sapulpa is home to Frankoma Pottery which was founded in 1933 and offers dishes and souvenir items made from Oklahoma red clay. Tours of the factory are available. Also, see the Chief Sapulpa chainsaw statue, the restored Collins Building built in 1925 as a Masonic Temple, Creek County Courthouse, Mr. Indian's Cowboy Store and the Sapulpa Historical Museum & Route 66 Satellite Exhibit. Bristow has more miles of brick streets than any other town in Oklahoma. Visit art galleries and the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Wake Island War Memorial at City Park. Stroud is the home of the Rock Café, a famous Route 66 landmark which first opened in 1939, and still has the ghost sign of a vintage Coca-Cola advertisement. Chandler features authentic ghost signs on the sides of buildings, a huge WPA era native stone Armory, and an old brick Phillips 66 cottage-style gas station. Many buildings downtown are on the National Historic Register. Stop in at the Museum of Pioneer History with a Route 66 Satellite Exhibit and the Read Ranch for trail rides, hayrides and cookouts.
Wellston offers the Pioneer Camp BBQ, a stone tavern, the last remaining wooden tourist cabin and a concrete totem with marbles for eyes. Arcadia is best known for its famous Round Barn, built in 1898 and recently restored to its former glory. On the ground floor is the gift shop with a Route 66 satellite exhibit. Edmond is home to the first public school in Oklahoma Territory, the first church in Oklahoma Territory (St. John's Catholic Church) and the Olympic Gold Medal gymnast, Shannon Miller. Memorial Park Cemetery is the final resting-place of Wiley Post. Oklahoma City is the state capital and offers over 50 attractions including the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, the newly opened Oklahoma City Museum of Art, with the Dale Chihuly exhibit, and the Myriad Botanical Gardens, to name a few. Bricktown, Oklahoma City's renovated warehouse district, is home to the Bricktown Canal, a mile-long pedestrian waterway with canal-side restaurants, clubs and water taxis. Overnight in Oklahoma City.
Day 3
Yukon is the hometown of country music great Garth Brooks. The old Chisholm Trail, used by cattle drovers during the 1870s and 80s, cuts through the city. See the Chisholm Trail Wall Mural, Chisholm Trail Watering Hole and Historic Marker, Interurban Railway Mural, Yukon's Best Flour and Grain Co., Yukon's Best Railroad Museum/Route 66 Satellite exhibit and the Yukon Museum and Art Center. El Reno, home of Ft. Reno, a cavalry outpost established to protect the Darlington Indian agency during the 1874 Cheyenne Uprising. Today, the USDA uses the Fort for livestock and grazing lands research. Downtown, vintage buildings are still in place. Take the trolley tour of the downtown area then head for the Canadian County Historical Museum and Heritage Park. Tour Fort Reno, which was established in 1874 to protect the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency. See photography exhibits including Buffalo Soldiers, Cavalry, Indian Scouts, WWII German Prisoners of War Camp, and Remount Station activities. Over 25 of the historic structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Hydro is the site of Lucille's gas station, one of state's remaining upper-story out thrust porch, and live-over style stations along the Oklahoma Route. Note the old motor court with its own sign next door. In town stop by Johnson Peanut Co. Weatherford, hometown to astronaut General Thomas Stafford and one of the most famous buildings along Route 66, the "Greek Temple" which is now a dress shop. See General Thomas Stafford Airport Museum, Lee-Cotter Blacksmith Shop and the National Guard Armory. Clinton was the National Highway 66 Association headquarters for twenty-four years, and is now home of the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum. Other attractions and photo opportunities include the oldest active trading post in the state, the Mohawk Lodge Indian Store, the Cheyenne Cultural Center, the City Hall land run mural, the Calmez Hotel and Rio Siesta Motel, the Pioneer Man statue, and the National Guard Armory. Canute offers a 1930s WPA Park, the Catholic Cemetery with its 1928 Grotto, a 1918 jail, the Holy Family Church, the old Cotton Boll and Washita Motels, the TipTop nightclub and Thelma's Sundries - a soda shop. Elk City is home to the Old Town Museum, which features an authentic turn-of-the century gingerbread-style home, a pioneer church, a one-room school, railroad depot, Native American teepee, farm and ranch Museum in a big red barn, and the National Route 66 Museum. Further in town see Cozy Cabins Motel, Anadarko Basin Museum of Natural History and the Magnolia Service Station. Sayre's courthouse was featured in the movie "The Grapes of Wrath." Look for the Ward's 66 Lounge building mural, WPA constructed rock swimming pool, Art Deco Post Office, the pedestrian tunnel under the highway, RS and K Railroad Museum and the Owl Drug Store, with a 50s style soda fountain and giant murals. Head west to Erick, hometown of the singer/songwriter legend, Roger Miller. Erick is proud to have the Roger Miller Museum in its downtown area. The museum houses the artist's artifacts and memorabilia as well as a gift shop featuring his music and other western Oklahoma items. Across the street is the 100th Meridian Museum open by appointment for any history buff to view exhibits depicting life along the 100th meridian from prehistoric time to early-day Erick. Nearby, the SandHills Curiousity Shop features live, vintage country-western music, turn-of-the-century furnishings, and a heaping helping of "redneck" hospitality. This unusual shop, featured in magazines and television, is located in a historic meat-market and offers free coffee, cold drinks and photo-ops. Another historic stop of interest is the North Elm Gallery, which is a restored one-room school displaying artistic, prairie photos by local photographer, Sam Hagen. To create prairie photos of your own, or for excellent birdwatching and hiking opportunities, visit Sandy Sanders Wildlife Area, the 19,100-acre preserve south of Erick in a terrain the locals call the "breaks."
