The Gathering Place

I'll be honest -- I was not among the large group of Tulsans that were anxiously awaiting this day and looking forward to it with anticipation...  I knew very little about the Gathering Place and had never cared enough to look into it.  Tiffany was super excited about it, and thanks to the blatant absence of any movies worth seeing, we decided to go explore this new park on its crazy-crowded opening day yesterday!!  

I was impressed with it all and kept thinking that my niece and nephews would really love it someday. =)  I do wish they'd named it something less cheesy, but oh well.

This huge castle/fort was pretty awesome!

This = the lodge all lit up at night.  Really pretty!  (Not my picture, in case the signature at the bottom didn't give that away.)

This is the boathouse... I know very little about architecture, but this is just cool and fun! =)  My friend, Evan, actually works for an engineering company that helped design this park, so that's awesome!

 They had several unique swings and mini-playgrounds like this one all over the park!

Along with lots of big slides and fun water features!

This swing looked like fun! lol

When I realized this slide was an elephant, it made me happy. =)

The Sensory Garden was my favorite part of it all - so many random cool things in there!

Here's me in the "Singing Stone." lolol

And us by the hall of mirrors.

I just thought this enclosed-slide entrance was cool!

The rock garden is where we first came in... kinda cool, but not something I got very excited about.  (We parked at the fairgrounds and took a shuttle to and from the park, so yay for that!)

And here's our random mini-beach area by the river.  Kinda cute, and kinda funny!

The sky-pods looked cool, but also like an injury accident waiting to happen!  (They climb the rope ladder then sit in there together - you can see kids feet hanging from some of them. lol)

(Not my pic.) This is the "Global Rainbow" art installation that lights up the night sky, so that's fun!

There's three awesome new bridges like this that go across Riverside (which will finally reopen tomorrow).  It being closed has not adversely affected me, but I'm sad for all those who have been inconvenienced and likely lost business because of it.  (And for the Tulsa court reporters who've had to hear those civil cases, because I'm sure there are lawsuits over it.)

Even the Tulsa Driller is excited about the Gathering Place! lol

We walked around all of it, got to see Questlove from afar (The Roots were in concert), played in the Sensory Garden, and had a fun day there!  I'm definitely excited about going back a bit later when it's not so ridiculously crowded!!  YAY, Tulsa! ❤

Here's a slideshow with some Gathering Place pics (not all mine):