#cowboymuseum

After leaving Minnesota and possibly boarding the most expensive flight of my whole trip (except my transatlantic one) I traveled to Oklahoma. Oklahoma once again was one of those states that I didn't really know anything about and which I probably would not have seen if I wouldn't have visited someone there. Once again I traveled over Dallas and arrived in Oklahoma City in the late afternoon. Kris my new host, picked me up at the airport and we went to have something to eat at one of his favorite places. Our first evening together we spend with good food, relaxed and taking a lot. In the morning of my first real day in Oklahoma, Kris brought me to a nearby gym so that I could meet my absolute favorite fitness stars in the world - Kelsi and Lauren from Club Fitz. Zumba was the very first sport that I attempted to do and actually sticked with. I went with a girlfriend to a class many years ago and even though I couldn't really keep up, I fell in love with it immediately. From once a week I went to three times a week and got really good at it in a short time. Over the years I did some of the choreographies at home as well and once I changed my job I didn't have time to visit my classes anymore. So I started to completely transfer the dancing to home. Of course you start to get bored if you're doing the same routine week after week so over the time I started to research new choreographies to certain songs that I liked. Pretty fast I found Lauren Fitzgerald and her friend Kelsi who had their own YouTube channel with amazing videos of choreographies to great songs. It was mostly more hip hop than Latin but quite a few Zumba related choreographies were also published by those two. Over the course of the last years they created Club Fitz and became a steady part of my fitness routine. Eventually I found out that they are in Oklahoma City and that actually another member of our FFTFL group was a member of their classes. When it was clear that I would go to Oklahoma, she told me to definitely come and attend a class. That is exactly what I did on the morning of my first day there. Not only did I get to meet Lauren and Kelsi and take one of their classes, but I was also there to shoot one of their videos. Which of course was crazy since I never danced the choreography. It was so much fun to not just stand in front of my computer and dance their routine at home but to actually be there, feel the energy and be part of it. It was also so wonderfully weird to talk to and see people you have only ever seen on your screen in real life all of the sudden. I will forever be grateful to everyone involved who gave me the chance to be there (that would be you Lorrie, Kris and the ladies from Club Fitz). I was warmly welcomed and made sure to attend the class on another day that I was still in town.

After working out there and Kris being out running, he picked me up again and we went for breakfast with another member of our group - one of the original members in fact. Lealah was also featured in the documentary that was filmed about a group of people with a similar background story about running. Even though Kris and her live in the same city they never met before, so it was nice that all three of us got together. We had breakfast at a very hippie like place and since Kris is a vegan we would go to a lot of places like that which I probably never would have found on my own.

The afternoon of that day we spend going to the Cowboy Museum in town. I have to admit the cowboy state for me was always Texas, but I learned that day that Oklahoma has a very rich country/cowboy history rooted into the state as well. I love everything country and cowboy. So a museum that was basically only focused on everything surrounding that world was the perfect place for me. The museum was really big and exhibited everything from the history of the cowboy culture, over art to a replica cowboy town. The Wild West at its best. In a lot of parts of the museum you were not allowed to take pictures. Mostly at the art collection. Kris and me we marveled about the prices of the sculptures and paintings and how many of those actually have been sold. Not that any of us could do something slightly similar or how long it takes to paint two Cowboys riding into the sunset. There definitely were some really pretty paintings. I had no idea that a museum like this even exists, but I would recommend everyone to go there. Not just if you like the whole cowboy culture but because this is such an important part of American history. Don't we all kinda like those old western movies and romanticize that era? You can spend hours wandering through the museum, learning more about modern and old school Cowboys, the history of rodeo, the role of women from that time, John Wayne and his fellow famous Cowboys, the clothes and the equipment of the Wild West or today. I enjoyed my time there tremendously. After all I wear cowboy boots ever since I turned 15....