Wednesday 4-3-24 Woolaroc Museum & New Campground

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Sunset on Copan Lake 

We have been on the road for ten days, We are having a super time. 

We had another cold day with wind. We started with the temperature in 40's and the high was low 50's. 

We have been at Brush Creek Campground on Keystone Lake for five days, it's time to move on. This morning I crawled out of bed at 7:15 and made mini waffles for breakfast. We weren't in any hurry because we are only going about 85 miles but along the way Larry wanted to stop at Woolaroc Musuem.

After breakfast I put things away and put a small cooler together. Larry dumped the tanks. It is easy when you have full-hookups. We were on the road by 8:30. The drive to Woolaroc were back-roads. They were narrow two lane roads. As we drove we passed by ranches with horses and cattle. The scenery was mainly prairies with rolling hills. At times the roads were rough. It was a nice drive.

Woolaroc was oilman Frank Phillips(the founder of Phillips 66) ranch retreat in the Osage Hills. Now it's a 3,700 acre wildlife preserve and museum. Frank Phillips built the ranch to host parties for East Coast investors, Native American chiefs and even bank robbers. 

We arrived at the time it opened up, which was 10:00. We bought our tickets for the museum and entrance. The lady, who checked us in gave us a map of the ranch and sites to see. She was very friendly. The road going to the museum is two miles long. As we drove we saw a replica of a Phillips 66 gas station, mountain man camp and wildlife. The wildlife were buffalo, Emus, zebra, Scottish Highland cattle, Llamas, Water buffalo, Ostrich and deer. The drive was very nice. The parking lot was huge and had a lot of different birdhouses on a row. There was a parking area for busses and rv's. It wasn't level so we had to turn off the refrigerator while we were there. There also had a bus load of kids from the area schools.

On the grounds there was the museum, barn, playground, visitor center with a restaurant and statues. The museum was outstanding. It had a lot of exhibits, that told the history of the ranch and Frank Phillips. There are six rooms of exhibits on the top floor and downstairs there were four more rooms. It also had a gift shop. The entrance to the museum doors were beautifully decorated with Native Americans made out of tiles. We picked up a brochure with a map of the museum. The rooms were 1) The Dawn of History exhibits are archaeological of cultures found in the past to what is present-day Oklahoma, 2) Land of Forgotten Cities exhibits explores the life and religion of the Pueblos, Apaches and the Navajos, 3) Indian Territory exhibits shows the blending of cultures that occurred during westward expansion, 4) The Trail of  The Cowboy exhibits were about the cowboy way of life, 5) A Cavalcade Of History exhibits were about the lives of pioneers and the Native Americans with whom they interacted, 6) Grandeur Of The West exhibits show the finest works of art in the Woolaroc collection, 7) The Woolaroc Airplane exhibits are about the Pacific Air Race in 1927 from California to Hawaii, 7) The Oil Patch exhibits were about the housing of oil workers and their family between 1850 and 1950, 8) Colt Firearms the exhibits were Phil Phillips and Waldo Wilson firearm collections, 9) Frank Phillips & Woolaroc exhibits was the history of Frank Phillips and how Woolaroc came to be, and 10) Waterfowl Collection exhibits were The Sam P. Daniel & Mary Lou Daniel Waterfowl Collection about the historic landmarks from the area. There were so many outstanding exhibits. 

 

Herd of buffalo

 

A waterfall

 

Water buffalo

 

Entrance sign

 

Entrance to the museum

 

Kachinas 

Chief Yellow Shield Sioux

Phillips plane in the race

 

One of the statues on the grounds

 

Frank Phillips

Crow Indian Dance (the figurines actually dance on display)

 

After walking around the museum we walked around the grounds. We walked to the barn, where they had animals for people to pet. There was a playground and a tower you can climb to see the grounds from above. It was too cold for me to climb but other people climbed it. I did pet a few of the animals.

 

A couple of sheep in the barn

 

Afterwards we went to the visitor center and had lunch. It a beautiful visitor center with a stained-glass window, chairs and wooden ceilings and walls. The restaurant was called Prairie Dome Cafe. For lunch we decided to have the Woolaroc Buffalo Sandwich, which was slow-roasted buffalo that was raised on the the grounds. We thought it was going to be a pattie but it was more like a pulled pork. We got fries to go with it. The food was delicious.

After lunch we went back to the Minnie. Larry programmed in Washington Cove Campground. We took the same 2 mile long road back to the entrance. Then we were back on the road. We stopped by a Walmart to pick up a couple of items. Then we went to the campground.

We had no problem finding our site. It was #2 and right by the bathroom. Larry backed the Minnie it the site and we set it up for a few nights. We are the only ones in the loop. After setting the Minnie up we relaxed. For dinner we had bacon on dinner rolls.

 

Washington Cove Campground
 

After dinner we went for a walk around the campground to check it out. It's a big campground, it has 101 sites around Copan Lake. There is suppose to be a hiking trail, that you share with horses. While walking we walked part of it. It was a little muddy so we're not sure we'll be hiking it. Larry walked with me for an hour. Then I walked around for another hour. I ended up doing 16,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.

After I did my steps I did the Daily Solitaire and the event. The event was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Free Cell and 10 Pyramid). It took me 1 hour, 53 minutes and 5 seconds, which put me in 9th place in my group.