1299 On to Tulsa [Sunday]

On our way to Tulsa where we would catch our flight home, we stopped for 90 minutes at a jewel of an art museum, The Gilcrease. I would say it is a secret, but obviously since there was a crowd on Sunday morning, it isn't. It is famous for its collection of western art, including a fascinating collection of Indian artifacts. There wasn't enough time to see everything, so I stuck with the western art. I stopped at the room devoted to Thomas Gilcrease, and learned his mother was a Creek Indian so he was entitled to some acreage of the tribal land. He was a good business man and got into oil. While touring Europe he visited museums and got the idea to collect American western art, which not many were doing at that time. When his personal fortunes plunged with an oil bust, his collection was quite large and valuable. Rather than lose it to other collectors, the city bought his personal museum and collection. The museum also has unusual and themed gardens, but the heat prevented my taking advantage of that. I stood next to a large rock for a photo and could've fried and egg on it.

Our tour plan included a drive by photo op of the Richard Lloyd Jones Residence designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Tulsa, OK. Jones was his cousin and a newspaper editor, and he lived in the house (built in 1929) until his death at 90. The house is huge--10,000 sq. ft. on 4 acres. Privately owned, it is NOT open for tours.

We also drove through the Oral Roberts University which may win a prize for the ugliest, most ostentatious architecture in the USA (just my opinion). We said good-bye to our capable, knowledgeable driver at the airport and while checking in discovered our plane would be about an hour and 15 minutes late making it virtually impossible to catch our flight out of Detroit to Columbus. But they held the plane for us while we galloped through that massive airport in Detroit, and we settled in for a quick hop home.

It was a fabulous trip, and now we're back at Lakeside.