Last weekend, Michael planned a wonderful birthday getaway for me.  I didn’t know where I was going or what I was doing until the morning of my birthday.  He presented me with an itinerary of the weekend, which included a trip to Tulsa, a stay at the Hyatt, dinner at a fancy restaurant, and a showing of the Lion King.  I was super excited.

So, we packed up on Saturday and headed along the back roads of Oklahoma.  The first thing that really welcomes us to the state is the huge Choctaw Resort and Casino.  When we saw this from a distance, we assumed it was a hospital.  It is not, however, I know that they have many concerts here because they are advertised on the Dallas billboards.  If the concert is really good, we may try out this resort someday.

We decided to avoid the toll roads, and I am so glad we did.  We drove through farm lands and cute little towns that had speed limits of 25 mph.  Of course, you would want to slow down in these little towns to take pictures, so I completely understand why the speed zones were put in place.

Finally, we arrived in Tulsa about dinner time.  We headed to our hotel first to freshen up and get fancy.  I love the Hyatt hotels (I’m not paid to say that, either).  We always get treated so well, and the rooms are really comfortable.  Plus, they manage to build or acquire hotels with a great view of the downtown.

Once we were all fancy, we headed to a local restaurant called the Wild Fork.  Michael picked this place because it rated well on the review sites, and it was a new one for us.  We ate snow crab cakes for the appetizer.  I had the filet mignon (because that’s what you eat on your birthday), and Michael had the cornbread crusted chicken and linguini.  It was all very good.

Then, it was time for the Lion King.  When I was a senior in high school, I had the privilege of traveling with a family to New York around Christmas time.  Every year, this family would take one or two girls with them to New York so the girls could watch their two kids while they went out one night during their visit.  It was fabulous.  The night they went out, they saw the Lion King.  The way they talked about it has made me want to see it ever since.  The costumes, dances and storytelling are superb, and if you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend it.

It was late by the time we got back to the hotel, and this is getting rather long, so stay tuned for the second day of our trip on tomorrow’s post!