From the Dallas home tour, we headed north to Oklahoma. All my research on Oklahoma didn't turn up much - it's really about Indians and stuff like that, and we didn't want to go as far as Oklahoma City. Even their welcome sign is a little pitiful - it was half covered by bushes and was a mile into the state! 
Pretty much the only thing out there - Indian reservation casinos, which are the worst.
Our destination was about an hour in, and we stopped for lunch at a Taco Bueno on the way in. It's pretty much like a Taco Bell and they're all over the Southwest. Just as we were leaving this little town we were REALLY almost in a wreck. There are a lot of things I'd like to do in life, but getting in a wreck, on vacation, in a rental car in a small town is not one of them. We were driving down a divided two lane highway, with a middle turn space, when this woman pulled out in front of us only looking right and NEVER looked left to see the cars approaching her! Brent blew his horn and slammed on the breaks, and we were able to miss her but the car in the lane next to us never even tried to stop (no clue why....) and slammed into her front end. We were really lucky that they didn't bounce into us. REALLY lucky. Lilli was a little mad that her baby doll flew off her lap.
So onward we traveled, down these little country roads, past a real working oil drill.
And we followed the signs to the Gene Autry Cowboy Museum....
Being sure to turn at the corner of Tumbleweed and Happy Trails.
And we made it! Seriously, this is pretty much grabbing for straws but we needed to do SOMETHING in Oklahoma, and according to them this is the only museum dedicated to Singing Cowboys. And it was free.
They had a ton of memorabilia, and of course lots of horse stuff which Lilli loved.
Rooms full of memorabilia for Gene Autry and the shows/actors of that time period. He's not from this area, but had bought a ranch there many years ago, so they renamed the town Gene Autry, OK and started the museum hoping to build tourists. The town has less than 100 people so it really hasn't worked out for them.
She loved looking at all the toys in cases. It was actually a really big place, lots of rooms and stuff. It used to be a school. And since we were the only people there she could run around like a wild Indian and no one cared.
Of course we had to have a fab picture outside before we left!
On this trip she got really attached to her sunglasses. She figured out she could see the TV better when it was bright with them on.....
From Oklahoma we headed back down into Texas to Fort Worth. Naturally we arrived in Fort Worth right at 5 pm and got to experience their rush hour.
Downtown Fort Worth
Fort Worth has the second largest Museum of Modern Art in the country, with New York (MoMA) being the largest. When we went to NYC a few years ago we went there and absolutely loved it, so we figured #2 would be worth visiting, too! And we got really lucky - on Tuesdays they are open until 7 pm, so we were able to be there around 5:15.
It was pretty much deserted, just us and a few other people. I don't think the late hours are widely known since on their day it says 5 pm for every day. Lilli and I walked around together and let Brent enjoy it on his own. She was actually really, really good. We talked about the paintings and she stayed in her stroller the whole time, which is the best way to tackle someplace like this because I SURE don't want to buy these pieces!
Overall the Museum was pretty disappointing. They had one piece from each of our favorite token artists, but the overall collection was pretty small (to be the 2nd largest Modern Art Museum). It was a FAR cry from New York's MoMa. The building itself is really pretty and spacious, they just don't really have all that much. And WOW - the people who worked there were SO rude. They glared at you in each room. I know their job is to protect the art but I believe you can do that with a smile!!! Seriously, they were hateful.We wanted to stay nearby because our first stop the next morning was the Zoo, but every hotel around there was SO expensive - $150+ for just your basic Marriott/Courtyard type places like we'd been staying. So Brent got us this Extended Stay type place for cheap, and cheap it was.
I think I scratched imaginary bed bugs all night. It was clean, I guess, but it just seemed gross. And it had outside doors and I don't like that! Lilli enjoyed it....
For dinner that night we ate at one of the big Pappadeux Seafood Places. It was ok, they had lots of Cajun dishes so I got some kind of Cajun rice meal and Brent got some Spicy Shrimp.Up next - the Zoo and Cowboys!!
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