So… my birthday is done and gone for another year and I survived! Started out with church, then lunch with our pastor and his fantastic family!! Spent the afternoon doing laundry, then headed over to a dear friends’ house to celebrate their son’s 23rdbirthday. It was a fantastic day!!!
Rewind to Saturday… I’ve been wanting to travel to Tulsa since we moved here. Connor and I have never been, but Rob has about 500 times. He went to college there at Oral Roberts University. We started our time in Tulsa by walking Macy along one of the many River Park trails that border the Arkansas River. More on that in just a minute…
After a couple miles on the trail, we went to eat lunch at Zios, my favorite!
Then… I finally got to go here…
The Vintage Pearl! I discovered this wonderful store through a wonderful cooking/photography blog I follow call “The Pioneer Woman”.
Please raise your hand if you’ve heard of her???
Any-hoo…
The girls at The Vintage Pearl make hand-stamped jewelry. I’ve purchased numerous things in the past off their website. Their stuff is super cute and reasonably priced.
Even Connor found something he wanted to buy! (Just happened to be the birthday present I mentioned on here yesterday!)
The business started as a hobby and creative outlet for a stay-at-home mom in Tulsa. She taught herself how to hand-stamp the pieces and sold her creations and special orders online. Everything is made by hand and no two pieces are alike.
The actual store opened in 2010.
The business is committed to helping those in need by donating some of the profits on certain pieces of jewelry.
If you’re ever in Tulsa, stop by The Vintage Pearl at 81st and Lewis. Or check out their website by clicking on the link below…
After our Vintage Pearl fun, we moved across the street to the campus of Oral Roberts University. Rob graduated from here in 1996. It’s a beautiful campus with interesting architecture and statues.
This massive sculpture is located at the main entrance to campus.
Founded in 1963, the university is named for its late founder, evangelist Oral Roberts, and is the largest Charismatic Christian university in the world.
This is the Prayer Tower… It was so peaceful in the gardens surrounding the base. Connor and I went inside and looked around. We also were able to go up to the observation deck and see the 7 portals. There is symbolism in every ounce of this structure, from the base to the eternal flame at the top. Click HERE for more info on the Prayer Tower as well as a virtual tour.
If you’d like to know more about Oral Roberts University… click HERE to go to their home page.
After our visit to ORU, we hopped back into the car and drove closer to the downtown area. There was a walking bridge that Rob remembered from his college days.
Here it is…
It’s an old train bridge that spans the Arkansas River over the dam. According to riverparks.org, the Pedestrian Bridge, formerly used by the Midland Valley Railroad, spans the river’s 1,400-foot channel at 29th and Riverside.
For more information on Tulsa’s River Parks, click HERE.
I thoroughly enjoyed Tulsa and hope to go back again real soon to see more of the parks, the aquarium and possibly downtown Tulsa. If you’ve ever been there, please comment with suggestions of other fun/interesting places to see and family-friendly things to do!
Until next time…
Happy Blogging!
