Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Preserve

Wednesday, June 6th we left Riverside RV Park in Bartlesville and traveled about 12 miles south to Woolaroc.  Frank Phillips (Phillips 66) established this in 1925 as a haven from the hustle and bustle of New York City, where he was building his business.  He brought in bison, elk, deer, longhorn cattle and ostrich for the preserve.  He established a museum to showcase Western art and artifacts; Native American pottery, baskets and cultural art;  historical displays depicting the settling of the West and an extensive Colt firearms collection.  Our first stop was at the Mountain Man Camp where re-enactors Wes and daughter, Ember,  shared about the life of a trapper/trader.  Wes loaded a musket for Gene and he took a shot at the target.  Then he showed him how to throw a tomahawk and he sunk it into the log like a pro.  Wes regaled us with stories of elk hunting, coyote trapping, tanning hides, and Mountain Man rendezvous that are held mainly in the West.  .  They had rescued a newborn fawn a couple of days before and it liked our fingers (for the salt I imagine). 

We ventured on toward the museum and stopped along the way for Gene to take pictures of longhorn cattle, water buffalo and ostrich.  A beautiful black and white ostrich came to the fence, sat on his haunches, spread his wings and swung his head from side to side in a beautiful "dance".  Most impressive!

The museum offered room after room of displays.  It would have taken the rest of the day for me to see everything., so I limited myself to the Native American and pioneer display rooms and art gallery.

On our way to the next campground, we passed through Barnsdale, OK - the home of Anita Bryant and Clark Gable.   Just some of the interesting things you learn on the back roads.  We passed through Ponca City where they have a huge Phillips 66 refinery, and we've seen pump jacks (we call them "praying mantis") and the large three bladed windmills.  Now those are things you don't see in Florida.

We spent the night in Guthrie, OK at Cedar Valley RV Park.  Guthrie was the first capitol of OK.  This will continue in my next blog.