TOP LEFT: LT. GENERAL THOMAS P. STAFFORD, A WEATHERFORD NATIVE WHO COMMISSIONED TWO APOLLO MISSIONS. LEFT: CHISHOLM TRAIL HERITAGE CENTER, DUNCAN. ABOVE: EXHIBIT AT THE STAFFORD AIR & SPACE MUSEUM.
call the neighboring Black Kettle National Grasslands home. Admission is free to the visitor’s center and historical site, open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Guided tours and a junior ranger program are available upon request; call 580- 497-2742 to schedule your guided tour. Chisholm Trail Heritage Center - Duncan (84 miles southwest of Oklahoma City) Chisholm Trail Heritage Center chronicles the heyday of the cattle-driving trail. Merging together picturesque art, high- tech theater experiences and old-fashioned, hands-on fun, visitors can experience what life was like on the famous trail. Learn about stampedes, frontiersmen and women, Native American tribes and more through award- winning exhibits. “Kids can rope a steer, ride a bucking bronco, create their own brand and shop in a re- creation of the Duncan General Store,” said
Toni Hopper, a representative with the center. “The T.H. McCasland, Jr. Experience Theater is the closest to a real stampede you’ll ever want to get!” The Painted Ladies – Watercolors of Friendship art show opens in January and March is the Heritage Center’s youth art month, showcasing local students’ creations. The center is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. A family one-day pass is $17 for up to six kids. Individual admission ranges from $4 to $6; kids under 5 are free. Stafford Air & Space Museum - Weatherford (70 miles west of Oklahoma City) Peruse the pioneers of flight and space exploration at The Stafford Air & Space Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate museum named after Lt. General Thomas P. Stafford, a native of Weatherford. Stafford piloted
Gemini VI and was the commander of Gemini IX and two Apollo missions. Stafford’s namesake museum houses several artifacts of the history of flight, aeronautics and the space race, including an actual Titan II rocket, a Russian MiG and items flown to the moon on Apollo 11. The exhibits take visitors on a historical journey of the accomplishments and failures of the journey to flight. Learn about Stafford’s early career, his four space missions and early and modern aviation. In the education center, kids can put what they learn into action with several interactive stations including flight simulators and a close-up look at what astronauts experience in space. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $7 for adults and $3 for kids ages 5 to 18. Kids 5 and under are free.
METROFAMILYMAGAZINE.COM / JANUARY 2020 45
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