One of Tulsa’s premier Route 66 attractions was the giant Blue Whale, in the suburb of Catoosa, northeast of Tulsa along the stretch of the old road that runs from I-44 exit 240. The park closed down long ago and was left to crumble, but unlike so many other long-suffering Route 66 landmarks, the Blue Whale has been lovingly restored by the family of its original creators, and is sometimes open to visitors.
Catoosa, surprisingly, is also a major port, linked, by way of impressively engineered improvements to the Arkansas River system, to the Gulf of Mexico.
