OKC 3 of 5: Cowboy Museum May 11

Monday May11th, Robin and Jeremy both took off work. Autumn and Isaiah were in school and the four of us adults went to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Robin and Jeremy picked us up from our hotel around 10:00. With this leisurely start we pulled up in front of the museum late morning after about a 20 minute/~15 mile drive north.

Upon passing into the soaring open entrance of the museum, we encountered a huge statue of the epic sculpture End of the Trail. It is the original 1915 plaster cast of James Earle Fraser's iconic End of the Trail sculpture, which is permanently housed and on display at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The famous 17-foot-tall statue was originally sculpted for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. After the fair, the fragile plaster sculpture was relocated to Mooney Grove Park in Visalia, California, where it remained for decades. To protect the deteriorating piece of art, it was relocated to the Oklahoma City museum in 1968 and restored. 

Beyond the glass walls of the End of the Trail enclosure can been seen as array of flags. These flags border the outdoors Western States Plaza (in pale brown on the following map). The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City was originally founded in 1955 as the Cowboy Hall of Fame by a group of cattlemen and business leaders. The effort was designed to represent and was primarily spearheaded by 17 Western states, whose governors were invited to serve on the Board of Directors. The original 17 Western states officially represented by the museum's board and state flags are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming. An additional 18th flag represents Missouri because The original idea to establish the Hall of Fame was sparked in 1953 by Missouri businessman Chester A. Reynolds.

Following is a map of the museum and outdoor gardens. Where we entered near End of the Trail  is in the pale grey region at the center bottom. On the side of the map to the right are listed the different indoor galleries of the museum: American Cowboy Gallery (indoors in dark brown), Native American gallery (indoors in medium brown), Atherton Gallery (indoors in block), The Cowboy Era- an Immersive Journey (in gold in the projection movie theatre). In the upper part of the map are the outdoor exhibits: the Museum Garden full of sculptures and grave sites of famous horses and bulls (in green), and Liichokoshkomo, a Chickasaw phrase for “Let's Play!”, (in dull green) an outdoor education and play space dedicated to providing learning through STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math).

Off to the right after our entrance to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in OKC were four official cardboard mascot characters: Cisco the Mustang, Hopalong the Jackrabbit, Chester the Scissortail Flycatcher, and Ma'ii the Coyote. These characters champion scavenger hunts throughout the galleries. You can find them in the "Choose Your Adventure" kids' guide to solve the Cowboy Code. Jeremy was the only one of us four of us to diligently solve each of the adventures, even meticulously counting cowboy hats up into the double digits

Chester, the smallest character, is a Scissortail bird. The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus) is a striking North American bird renowned for its exceptionally long, deeply forked tail. As the state bird of Oklahoma, it is primarily found in open country, grasslands, and along roadsides in the south-central United States. The following photo illustrates the reason for its name.

Here we are before setting out on our museum explorations. We traded photographer role between Robin and me to capture all of us standing beside the four mascots.

Then we set off to the left, counterclockwise on the map, to see the museum gardens (green on the map) early, before the day heated up. Along the way we browsed through a small Prix du West painting and sculpture display on the way. Frank posed comically by John Wayne and Jeremy posed a bit more respectfully by Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln.

I wondered why Lincoln was featured in a Western Heritage Museum but the plaque explained well his interventions that aided in the expansion in the West.

Off the hallway was a large conference room, most likely used for conventions or assemblies. The tryptichs on the four walls were HUGE! This canyon set was Robin's favorite.

On to the Museum Garden, full of beautiful landscaping and awesome sculptures. I took many photos that follow but for a video overview see this instagram post. The Buffalo Bill statue is far greater than life size and wildly impressive.

Other statues of wildlife, such as a bald eagle and geese, are smaller, but contribute to setting off the green lush landscape.

An intertribal village featured authentic, historically accurate dwellings representing seven distinct groups: Caddo (Grass Hut), Chickasaw (Council House), Hopi (House), Kiowa (Tipi), Navajo (Hogan), Pawnee (Earth Lodge), and Ancestral Puebloan (Cliff Dwelling). Along with a set up of the living modes of many Native American tribes were statues also commemorating that culture. The following stainless steel sculpture Unstoppable, is by Choctaw and Oglala Lakota artist Gene "Ironman" Smith. It took the artist 17 months to create. The rider's headdress is adorned with inscribed feathers to represent all the tribes of Oklahoma. There are 39 federally recognized Native American tribes. Jeremy's great grandmother on his mother's side was 100% Apache so Jeremy is at least ⅛ Apache. 

Wandering through the Liichokoshkomo, we made our way back indoors to have lunch, passing a display honoring Annie Oakley and a picturesque mural on the tall exterior of the Annie Oakley Center, central to the Liichokoshkomo.

We made our way across the Western States Plaza, pausing to document our visit to the museum by photographing our four pair of feet. Clockwise from the top: Diane, Frank, Robin, Jeremy.

We had a pleasant lunch, sitting outdoors with a view of the water feature surrounding the End of the Trail sculpture. I remember I had a chef salad and Frank had a chili dog. I don't remember what Robin and Jeremy had but I do remember we had four, huge, delicious, chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies!

We went back indoors and made our way toward the right side of the museum into the galleries we had yet to visit. We passed through a pleasant sitting area with another view of the water feature from within. There were couches and chairs for lounging and I was bemused by the cowhide side cushions.

In the galleries we visited, we each gravitated toward our particular area of interest. Jeremy wanted to see the historical exhibits on firearms and the military.

I drifted toward an exhibit on weaving. Frank was drawn to documentaries on famous actors in western films in the Hall of Western Performers. He is shown reading about Fess Parker who played in Disney's Daniel Boone and Davy Crocket.

The gallery on the rodeo was closed for refurbishment. That was OK. We were pretty tired out. We'd seen a lot. There was a unique interactive exhibit where we could get pretty amazing photos of ourselves in western garb. Frank and I posed. Then Robin and Jeremy posed with themselves posed in a kissing embrace. They got back a message that a generated photo was not possible because the pose did not meet acceptance requirements due to impropriety. They behaved in the photo of all four of us.

We drove back to Robin and Jeremy's house in time to get Isaiah from school. Autumn takes the bus proudly and independently. For dinner we had lots of leftovers from Charlestons's the night before. The phrase I have coined for that menu is "a night to remember"—remember what you ate earlier in the week.

Jelly Belly

On Sunday March 15th,  Frank and I took Alex to a visit of the Jelly Belly® factory in Fairfield, CA. The ride is about 43 minutes north of Alex's home. It being a weekend, there would be no formal factory tours, but we were OK with that, allowing us to go at our own pace and stop at whatever struck our fancy.  Upon arrival we first noticed the brightly decorated Jelly Belly® company car.

Upon entering the building we gazed up at Jelly Belly® jelly bean replicas suspended from the high ceiling. We bought our entry tickets and followed the signs for a self-guided tour.

We all had to don official Jelly Belly® paper hats for health reasons since it is a food production plant. Along the well defined path of the tour were stations with videos to watch about the packing operations and jelly bean production itself. Some of the packing and sorting machines were extremely complicated and consequently repeatedly accurate. The huge rotating drums for mixing the jelly bean ingredients reminded me of the kind on cement mixers. The mixing drums were not as complex as the packing equipment. At this stage the cooking process relied more on the skill of the operators knowing precisely when to add sugar, or flavoring, or other appropriate ingredients. It was enlightening to learn of the care taken to create a gooey center and exactly how and when to add the outer hard coating and buff it to a special sheen. 

One lane of the tour had stations to sniff and discern the flavor of a jelly bean by its scent. I sampled a few of those and was impressed. But sniffing a few a few were enough. It was quite warm along that corridor and the smells were starting to nauseate me. I was very grateful we were not touring when the plant was in production. Other aspects of the tour were historical in the roles Jelly Bellys played in the various halls of government. Jelly Belly® jelly beans were a fixture in the White House and a common snack in many cabinet meetings. When debates got tense, a jar of Jelly Belly® jelly beans was passed along during a short break to lighten the mood. They got their start when Ronald Reagan, as California Governor, ate them to break a pipe smoking habit. 

There were many other anecdotal signs along the route. I found them interesting but they did not hold much allure for Alex. Bits of trivia by year touched such topics as the introduction of mint wafers during sugar rationing (1940), the first shipment across the sea to Europe (1982), being the first jelly bean in space (1983), and the introduction of Harry Potter inspired weird flavors (2000).

There were also many, many, many, murals and samples of artwork with Jelly Belly Beams as pixels in a mosaic from presidential, to animated cartoon characters or from famous Hollywood personalities (e.g., Marylin Monroe) to well-known paintings (e.g. Starry Night).

The end of the tour had murals paying tribute to those beans that did not make the exacting standards. These are sold with the delightful name "Belly Flops". After the tour we went for a bite to eat in the snack bar. In keeping with the theme, I had a pizza that was shaped as a jelly bean. I enjoyed it; it was very tasty. I did learn this tidbit however. Jelly Belly® does not currently sell a pizza flavor, but their infamous "Vomit" flavored bean (featured in Harry Potter Bertie Bott's and BeanBoozled lines) was created from a failed attempt at a cheese-pizza flavor. Taste testers found the pizza attempt so unpalatable that the recipe was rebranded as a bad flavor instead. Both these goofs are prime examples of "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade".

After eating, we browsed the store. I bought a sample of the Jelly Belly BeanBoozled Fiery Five collection which features five progressively hotter, pepper-inspired flavors made with real purée: Sriracha, Jalapeño, Cayenne, Habanero, and Carolina Reaper. Ranging from mild to scorching (up to 2 million Scoville units for the Reaper), these are designed as a tasting challenge rather than typical sweet candy.

We then went outdoors for the train ride to the museum. The museum is just a few yards across the parking lot from the factory/store, but why not enjoy a free train ride as well? The red brick building is visible in the background of the second photo. The third photo is from the museum perspective looking back on the factory/store. Yes, the two are an embarrassingly close walking distance away, but we climbed aboard anyway for the fun of it.

Since it was close to Easter on April 5th, there were several springtime displays. I thought the first one with flower sprays and bunnies was artsy and pretty.

I wanted Alex to pose in one of the chairs, flanked by rabbits. Based on his facial expression, he was definitely reluctant at first. He did cheer up shortly, though.

The museum had other artwork to admire. This decoupaged bunny caught my eye. I also liked the jelly bean 3-D renditions of animals of the Chinese zodiac, the rooster and the pig. Notice the detail in the feather colors of the rooster. The pig even has splotches of mud plastered to his side and snout.

Most of the museum was a collection of antiquated or outmoded equipment that had been used in making Jelly Belly Beans in the past. We did a cursory walk by. It was toward the end of the outing and we were tiring. Alex and I took one last train ride back to the front of the factory where our car was parked. Alex seemed thoughtful. We headed home. We were glad we had explored something different for this Sunday's outing.