Day 36 - Blue Whale (Rte.66) and Natural Falls State Park, OK

Yesterday we traveled down Route 66 to get from Oklahoma City to Tulsa but there was one attraction on Route 66 that I still wanted to see and it was just past Tulsa. So rather than heading straight for our next destination, we took a short detour to see the Blue Whale at Catoosa.

A man called Hugh Davis built the Blue Whale out of concerete in the early 1970s as an anniversary gift to his wife who collected whale figurines.

Its not just a whale, it has slides either sides, a diving ledge off the tail, and a second level to look out portholes into the pound. It became a big attraction for locals and travelers and there was an arc shaped reptile center added. I guess it would have been like our modern day water parks.

It closed in the late 80's and the poor whale fell into bad shape but local funding and volunteers got her back to how she used to be and whilst you can't go swimming in the lake anymore (the water is apparently not as nice as it used to be), you can go into the whale and take a look!

Before leaving Oklahoma state and heading into Arkansas for the next 7 days, we stopped off near the border at what I had read as being one of Oklahoma's prettiest State Parks, Natural Falls.

We hiked down a broadwalk to an observation platform where you can view a 77-foot waterfall. It didn't have the power of the waterfalls we had seen previously but it did have a magical, romantic feel to it. You could imagine hiking in a jungle in South American and stumbling on this type of waterfall. It helped that there was no one else around (the advantages to visiting on a week day!). 

Lee then looked at the trail map thought we should carry on walking a little to see a lake. Both of us were in flip flops, and not hiking gear, I was even wearing a skirt! We had a few unusual looks from more serious walkers along the path and we soon found out why, the nice and easy boardwalk soon turned into a rocky, steep, unkempt path. Whilst I would not recommend anyone copy us and do this walk in such inappropriate clothing and footwear, we did laugh a lot and whilst it was only a short walk, it felt like a long adventure trying to find a suitable path for flipflops and skirts!

One of the great things we have noticed about State Parks in America is that they are set up for people to get together. At Natural Rock State Park, there was a huge covered area filled with benches that you can hire with a very large BBQ. The area also had plenty of the kids nearby with a playground, basket ball hoops and pitch and putt. I can't think of anything similar to this in the UK.

I also noticed on the leaflet for the park that it featured in the 1974 movie, "Where the Red Fern Grows". We haven't seen the movie but I would be interesting to watch it when we get home to see if we recognise the park in it.