Tulsa, Oklahoma: Humidity & Half-Remembered Dreams
okay, so tulsa. it’s…a lot. i ended up here because my van, bless its rusty soul, decided it needed a ‘rest’ approximately 300 miles west of nowhere. and honestly? i’m not even mad.
let’s just say the numbers 4553440 and 1840021672 keep popping into my head, which is probably just the mechanic’s bill and the amount of coffee i’ve consumed trying to decipher the local bus schedule. the weather? i just checked and it’s… clinging to everything right now, like a regret you can’t shake. 2.48 degrees celsius, feels like 2.48 (groundhog day, anyone?), min of 1.59, max of 3.41. pressure’s at 1027, humidity’s a solid 81%, and the sea level is…well, it’s tulsa, not miami. 1001 on the ground level, apparently. basically, bring a raincoat and your existential dread.
i’m a freelance photographer, which means i’m professionally obligated to find beauty in the mundane. and tulsa…has mundane down to an art form. but there is beauty. it’s in the art deco architecture, the surprisingly good tacos (more on that later), and the sheer, unadulterated weirdness of it all. i spent yesterday wandering around the Brady Arts District, trying to capture the vibe. it’s kinda gritty, kinda hopeful, kinda like a dog trying to do calculus.
someone told me that the Cain’s Ballroom is haunted. like, really haunted. apparently, Bob Wills’ ghost still demands a specific brand of whiskey. i haven’t personally investigated (i’m more of a beer person, tbh), but i did overhear a bartender complaining about unexplained cold spots and moving glasses. you can check out reviews on Yelp.
the tacos i mentioned? from a place called “El Rancho Grande.” don’t let the unassuming exterior fool you. those things are life-changing. seriously. i’m pretty sure i saw a guy weep openly while eating one. i also heard a rumor that they use a secret ingredient…something involving ghost peppers and a family curse.
my neighbors, or rather, the people i’ve awkwardly made eye contact with while waiting for my van to be fixed, seem…resilient. if you get restless, Oklahoma City and Wichita are just a quick jaunt away. i’ve been browsing TripAdvisor for day trip ideas, and honestly, the Gilcrease Museum looks pretty cool.
i’m staying at a motel that smells faintly of mothballs and regret. it’s…an experience. the wifi is spotty, the coffee is questionable, but the owner, a woman named Doris, makes a mean pecan pie. she also warned me about the local squirrels. apparently, they’re organized and will steal your snacks. she wasn’t kidding. i lost a perfectly good granola bar to a fluffy-tailed bandit this morning.
“don’t trust anyone who says they ‘love’ the humidity,” doris told me, handing me a slice of pie. “they’re either lying or they’re secretly robots.”
i’ve been checking out local photography groups on Facebook to find some interesting spots to shoot. there’s a really cool abandoned warehouse district that apparently has some amazing street art. i’m planning to check it out tomorrow, assuming the squirrels don’t stage a full-scale assault on my camera bag.
someone else, a guy nursing a beer at the motel bar, said that the Center of the Universe is a total tourist trap, but you should go anyway just to experience the weirdness. apparently, if you stand in the center and talk, your voice echoes back to you…but only you can hear it. it’s… unsettling. you can find more info on the City of Tulsa website.
“it’s like tulsa is trying to be cool, but it’s also deeply embarrassed about it,” the beer-sipping guy slurred. “it’s beautiful, in a tragic sort of way.”
honestly? i think he nailed it. i’m still waiting on the van, still drinking questionable coffee, and still trying to figure out what those numbers mean. but i’m starting to think that maybe, just maybe, getting stranded in tulsa wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
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