A Chickasaw Day

Since I've moved to Oklahoma a year and a few humid months ago, I've been curious about the Native American presence and influence in the area. I've Googled and read some good amount of Native American History that I find very interesting.

On Friday, the "Fam" and I headed to Sulphur, OK to visit the Chickasaw Cultural Center. The plan was to visit the center and then go swimming at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. The trip to the Cultural Center had been in the planning for a while and it finally happened.

On the way, since I'm generally curious, we stopped to check this place out:

Arbuckle Mountain Fried Pies

The Menu

They have several fruit pies and breakfast pies too. Behind the counter is a mini pie factory where little look-alike workers make the pies while singing a song and dancing in harmonic choreography. I kid :)

We ordered our pies (I recommend the Pecan!) and headed to the back of the shop to an area upstairs to enjoy them - because upstairs anywhere is always more fun.

And so after filling up the gas tank as well (this place is also a gas station and has those old WALL-E looking pumps), we got back on the road.

Only about 40 minutes later, we arrived at our destination. This is the first view of the Chickasaw Cultural Center as we pass the entrance:

Chickasaw Cultural Center

The Center, according to TravelOK.org, spreads over 109 acres and features more than 96,000 sq ft of indoor space, including an exhibit center, the Holisso Research Center and a large-format theatre.

Here's our greeter so we had to take a picture with him:

Chickasaw warrior in the background.

We then headed on our own expedition through the campus. We watched a short movie about History and culture of the Chickasaw, walked through the Spirit Forest, walked around the Galleries and learned a whole lot about the Chickasaw and Choctaw History and how they ended up in Oklahoma, and ate lunch at the reasonably priced Aaimpa Café. We then visited the Sky Pavilion, the Amphitheater, the Traditional Village and lastly, the Honor Garden.

The Center has a contemporary Architecture (according to my very basic knowledge of Architecture). So one should not expect to experience primitive Indian life during his visit. Well, except when you make it to the Traditional Village and your 5-year-old points to these wooden stick structures and call them "monkey bars":

The "monkey bars" and my 2  lovely "monkeys".

They were actually used for drying animal skins, grass, etc.

The Center has 2 gift shops. One with some authentic (and expensive for us) Indian artifacts and another with t-shirts and very few other non-artifact things we weren't compelled into buying. Well, except a fox stuffed animal made in China my daughter asked for.

We'd like to have walked all the way around the campus but we were being cooked under the 100 degree temperature. So before we turned well-done, we concluded our visit, got in the car and drove to the Chickasaw "Water Park".

This was my second time at the Chickasaw Park where I actually got in the water. I went one other time in the Spring but just walked through the paved trails from the Nature Center - all the way to the "epicenter", the springs where all the water comes from. It's a very Zen walk - peaceful.

As before, we went straight to the "Little Niagara" - about an 8-feet tall (according to my hubby) waterfall perfect for jumping or even diving into the waters below. Although we didn't jump, my daughter and I made a pact to do it together next time we go there!

Little Niagara. Source: TravelOk.com

It was perfect. No huge crowds, the water was cold but it felt good in that hot day.

My 2 lovely "fishes".

There's so much still to be seen and done in this park. There are several other swimming spots, plenty of hiking trails, fishing and even bird-watching - Bald Eagles migrate to the area in the Winter season. No admission fee! Except for the Nature Center, the rest of the park stays open 24 hours. I'm thinking swimming under the moonlight. Well, snakes might be thinking the same...

After some hours of swimming and chatting with visitors and cowardly watching people jump from the Little Niagara, it was time to go home. Our other family member, Ace the Dog, was left inside the house alone and must have been doing the potty dance by then.

Oh, but wait...we made one more pit-stop. My husband wanted to check out the Bison at the Bison Viewpoint which is a fenced area off the main road where Bison frolic. I'm not sure if they were being private that day, or if my daughter's silly shrieks scared them, or maybe if they just packed and moved, but we didn't see no Bison.

"Chirp...chirp"

That was the end. We made it home safely and left behind a trail of contentment. It was a great day. A Chickasaw day.