WOOLAROC

We took a little trip out to Bartlesville to see the infamous Woolaroc Nature Preserve. It was undeniably cool for adults and kids both; a true Oklahoma gem! I will be going back because I feel like you couldn't possibly absorb it all in one day. It was a gorgeous drive down Rt.11 and when you pull up it looks like this:

I payed my $10 for myself (because kids 11 & under were free), got a map, and popped in my history CD that they give you when you pay.

The history behind the place is really cool. From what I understand, Frank Phillips (one of the original people who struck oil in OK and got rich) used to live here. The lodge was his original home. Animals have been sort of "collecting" there for many years. I'd love to learn more about it…maybe next time when I don't have kids to manage!

So before you pull into the lodge/museum/playground/petting zoo area, you drive through the 2 mile stretch of animals. All animals have free range of the grounds, so you can imagine how cool that is. We actually had a Bison come right up to the driver's window! The variety of animals is impressive!

We met our friends there to explore the playground (not pictured), museum, and rest of the place. I was super impressed at what a versatile venue it was. It is totally a place to bring company when they come to town. The history is very interesting for adults, yet there are more then enough things for kids to discover. The vacuum Buffalo may have been the favorite. 

Everyone had a great time stuffing there heads into it, and my child stuffed his lunch trash up it when no one was looking. Whoops! I don't know if that's what it was meant for! We found this guy right over by the kids play area. There's a place for food right behind it, and we sat in the back on the picnic tables.

The collection of art was pretty awesome. My favorite was all the Pioneer Woman sculptures. I guess they had a contest years ago where artists did their best to sculpt their interpretation of an Oklahoma Pioneer Woman. It was so interesting to see what people came up with. I want to go see the Pioneer Woman Museum one of these days (which is a huge statue of the sculpture that won the contest).

Here's the lodge that Frank Phillips lived in. The animal collection was unlike anything i've ever seen. My kids had a great time in there.

Another favorite of the day was this water pump. Our kids actually discovered it which was surprising! I can't believe how many things I would have just walked past if it wasn't for them. My little guy actually took a drink from it!

The petting zoo had just barely opened. The bone room was quite cool. 

It was a really great day! I want to come back in the summer and do it again and tag on a trip to the Kiddie Park in Bartlesville once we're done. Definitely makes my OK top 10 so far! Thank you WOOLAROC!