I got this great e-mail from a reader, Chris, awhile back: <div><br /><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">One crazy question for you: for a tourist with one day (really more of a half-day) to see something distinctly Tulsa and/or Oklahoma, what would you recommend? </span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">I am trying to visit all 50 states before I turn 40, and am rapidly running out of time! Oklahoma is one of the 4 states I have left to visit before December...the opportunities [for daytrips] do not present themselves very often as I am mother to 3 kiddos under the age of 6...Any advice/suggestions are welcomed and much appreciated!  </span></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>First, I must say: People who have more than one child amaze me, but folks who have multiple kids under 12 defy logic as I know it. I have a seven-month-old son, and it's all I can do to hold down part-time work, get a few meals on the table and maybe bathe once per day. If you're someone who has more than one small child running around the house, please send me your minute-by-minute daily schedule so I can send it to scientists. You and your ability to bend the limits of patience and love should be studied.</div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>Okay. I considered Chris's question for several days before I decided how to advise her. I was surprised by how difficult I found it to narrow a place like Tulsa down to an attraction or two for an out-of-towner looking to glean the essence of this city in a single, short visit. </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>Always the brickhugger (to borrow a phrase from the <a href="http://sochey-jazzcafe.com/">SoChey</a> kids), I told her she'd have plenty of options to "get Tulsa" if she planned to spend an afternoon downtown. I'm not so sure I gave her the right advice. Unless she scheduled one of those art deco or tunnels tours or had a specific event to attend, downtown may not be such a great destination for someone in town for just a few hours. Maybe better destinations would be Brookside or Cherry Street, Gilcrease of Philbrook, Tulsa Zoo or Oklahoma Aquarium. </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>I didn't get very far along this line of thought before I started to feel, well, kinda stupid. I thought, I have a blog on things to do in Tulsa, and I can't come up with a quintessential Tulsa experience?</div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>Then I realized that Tulsa just isn't a one-destination kind of town. </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>Go ahead and try to think of just one, single thing that would provide a visitor with the Cliff's Notes version of Tulsa. Take your time; I'll wait. I bet that you could come up with several lists of things to do in Tulsa - something like ready-made Do Tulsa handbooks or something. One for food, one for history, one for architecture, one for art - you could fill any of those lists with dozens of things to see and do in the Tulsa area. </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>Not ever sane enough to think about something for five minutes and then move on to something else, I thought of a few cities that immediately bring to mind a certain tourist destination, or vice versa: Seattle (Space Needle), St. Louis (the arch), San Francisco (Golden Gate Bridge), Paris (Eiffel Tower), New Orleans (the French Quarter), Orlando (Disney World)...</div><div><br /></div><div>Tulsa: HA! No. </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>It's easier to get a feel for Tulsa via a set of experiences rather than by visiting one attraction or one area of town. Plus, I don't think you and I would come up with the same set. I'm sure everyone has his or her own opinion about what a visitor should take the time to see here.  </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>If you could write a Do Tulsa handbook that details, say, five things to do in T-Town, what would they be? Chris, I hope you're reading... </div><div><br /></div></div>