day 11: tulsa: archives, street festival, and street art

One of Tulsa's most famous murals,
of one of its most famous sons.

Yesterday was Allan's second day in the Dylan archives. He loved the experience, and was sad that it was over. He actually said he's trying to focus on how fortunate he is to have been here, something he never thought he would do, and not how short the time was, and all the things he didn't see. That's a Big Thing for Allan. Well done.

We headed to the downtown early. After Allan went off to the archives, I did something I always like to do when I'm not in Port Hardy: get a mani-pedi! It was lovely. I've been considering taking a break from sightseeing to have a spa day, but for various reasons opted not to. But a bit of time making my hands and feet look and feel better was very nice.

When I was finished, the Mayfest booths and food trucks were open for business, and people were starting to mill around. I did a full circuit to see every art or craft booth. There was lots of the usual suspects -- the standard pottery, jewelry, and woodworking, lots of shlock, and a few real knock-outs. The first booth I saw totally knocked me out: Hill Brin Design. I fell in love with this piece, and I knew Allan would love it, too.

This is well out of our price range. We're talking four times as much as we can reasonably spend, even on something very special. Yet I was seriously considering rationalizing the expense, thinking about how we could ship it to our family in Oregon, and retrieve it on our next road trip down there. I knew we shouldn't, yet I was already planning how I would make it work.

The other art I really enjoyed were these folk-art pieces, made of bottle caps and other found junk. I love playful work like this, and the fish motif is perfect for our coastal life. We might buy one of these. (Link to artist to follow.)

I also really enjoyed these metal sculptures. Plus the artist charmed me with his story of taking a workshop, falling in love with the teacher, now they're married and are making art and running a business together. (Link to artist to follow.)

After seeing every art and craft booth, and sampling some food trucks, I was done for the afternoon, with several hours to spare. I wanted to drive back to the Airbnb and sit on the shady deck and read, but with all the road closures for the festival, if I left, I'd never get back in. It was a hot day (not for Tulsa, but for me), very sunny, and there was very little shade. I sat in the car with all the windows open and read. Not ideal, but whatever.

Allan appeared right on time, because the archives closed and he had to leave. He was super excited about his experience. We headed straight back to Dante's Woodfire for dinner, the pizza was that good,  the picnic table was in the shade. 

Dante's is in a funky neighbourhood right above the highway. The previous day, we thought we must have bad directions -- maybe I punched in the wrong address? -- because the neighbourhood looks strictly low-income residential or industrial. A real treasure.

We went briefly back to the Airbnb to regroup and plan an art safari, to see some of Tulsa's famous murals. I love street art, and this whole city is dotted with murals. (One mural is visible from Dante's pizza truck.) We did some searching online, then dotted a paper tourism map with what we found, and set out to search. 

There is a high concentration of murals in the Arts District, but there was no point trying to do that with the street festival's first night going on. We parked slightly outside of the downtown, and found the murals in the Cathedral district, and the Blue Dome district. (Tulsa's "districts" are tiny areas, no more than a few square blocks.) It was a beautiful clear night, and it was fun walking around looking for the art. 

Allan also spotted something even better. High up on a brick wall, above a famous mural, there was a hole -- the size of a missing brick -- and a little bird was perched in it, feeding her tiny chicks!

There were actually two adult birds, obviously a mating pair, flying in, perching in the hole, then flying out again, perching on some wires, looking around, and flying off. We could make out the teeny tiny heads (or maybe mouths) of the little ones inside the hole. The location was brilliant -- too high for humans, likely unseen by predators. Some weeds spilling out of the hole was the only clue that anything might be in the tiny space. We watched for a long time and took lots of pictures.

We found some great murals, including some of the most famous ones, like the Astronaut and Leon Russell. We hope to get the murals in the Arts District today, before the festival heats up. Also today: Greenwood Rising, and a used bookstore.