Welcome to our 50th Anniversary road trip....

We had an awesome breakfast at our motel, Comfort Inn & Suites, then left for the day to explore the area.  Our first stop would be the Cherokee Heritage Center on the outskirts of Tahlequah, about 6 miles from our hotel.  http://www.cherokeeheritage.org/  We arrived a little early as the parking lot was just about empty.  As we got out of the car we noticed the quietness and serenity of the surroundings and all the informational kiosks’.  As we approached what appeared to be the main building, there was major construction going on and we didn’t know where to enter.  We walked around the side to the rear of the main building and discovered a self guided little park with recreations of old buildings.  These were buildings that would have been in old Cherokee villages in the 1890’s.  After visiting them we continued our search for the main building entrance and found one in the back.  Once inside, we investigated the many artifacts and teaching stations.  Linda spent some time with one of the resident experts in their research area, trying to determine which one of the seven Cherokee clans she belonged to.  We spent a couple more hours inside while we purchased a few things for our kids then we went outside and visited the recreated ancient Cherokee village.  Cherokee people are the guides as well as the people working the village.  It was very similar to the Cherokee village in Cherokee, NC that we visited last year….very realistic and enlightening.  We had a wonderfully happy guide take us to each ‘station’ and explain the intricacies of ancient Cherokee life.  It was a very interesting time but it was time to move on.

We took a long way back to town just to explore the countryside a little but eventually ended up on one of the main streets in Tahlequah.  We found ‘The Cherokee Restaurant and decided to check it out.  It was a buffet kind of deal with local kinds of food.   Since we arrived about 3PM they were about to close up for the day?  So we ate and moved on…..to find ice cream!  Driving through Tahlequah we saw many new buildings and businesses mixed with very old buildings, like the Armory.  The Cherokee people are unique in Native tribes in that they have a written language.   The Cherokee syllabary was invented by George Guess/Gist, a.k.a. Chief Sequoyah between 1809 and 1824.  And to assist the Cherokee people in learning/using their written language, most of the businesses and signage is written in Cherokee & English, check the pictures.  We finally found a really big ice cream place/small grocery store….tried it out….it passed!

We explored the surrounding area the rest of the afternoon and since we ate lunch late we decided to skip dinner and just turn in early.  A very informational day….a day to be proud to be Cherokee….I think Linda really liked it.