About The Oklahoma Experience
The Oklahoma Experience started with a simple frustration. I got tired of hearing people say there’s nothing to see or do here. To an extent, I understand the sentiment. If I’m being completely honest, and that’s definitely the goal here, I used to feel the same way.
I’m Jenna and I’m a travel writer from Oklahoma.
Jenna Walker
Travel Writer & Content Creator
Jenna Walker is a life long Oklahoman and travel writer who learned to see her home state differently after years of traveling extensively around the world. She writes about Oklahoma with an experience first approach and a tendency to look a little bit closer at the places we most often overlook.
How this started
Oklahoma and I haven’t always had the best relationship. I spent a good part of my life complaining about it and finding any excuse to go anywhere else. As it turns out, my once passionate disdain for the all that I thought Oklahoma lacked is what led me straight into the realization that I was wrong.
Learning to Look Closer
We are almost all cursed with an inability to see, or at least appreciate, what is right in front of us. The familiar inevitably becomes less exciting if not flat-out boring. Ask someone where they are from, then ask what is interesting there, and it’s rare to hear anything other than “nothing.”
That’s nearly never true – a lesson it took me far too long to learn. It’s often simply a matter of perspective. Sometimes, you have to step back so you can see things from a different point of view.
While I’ve lived most of my life here, I’ve also lived a good portion of it exploring elsewhere. I’m fortunate to travel as often as I do, but I no longer do it for all the same reasons. Whether we like to admit it or not, travel is often an escape – not necessarily from problems, but from the mundane.
The more I traveled, the more obvious it became that Oklahoma’s story is often oversimplified. It’s not lacking in experiences – it’s just hard to know where to look sometimes. This site is my way of paying closer attention to find something interesting in unexpected places. Since starting The Oklahoma Experience, my enthusiasm for exploring closer to home has only grown. The more I look, the more I find, and the more I want to share.
What to Expect
I write about Oklahoma the way I experience it. You won’t find over-hyped attractions or travel cliches here. Instead, you’ll find places that highlight Oklahoma’s diverse landscape and culture alongside good food, time outdoors, smaller communities and the locally owned businesses that give a town its personality. I write as a journalist, but also as a local who understands the state and how easy it is to overlook what’s right in front of you.
If you’re from Oklahoma, my hope is that this helps familiar places feel worth a second look. If you’re visiting, I hope you walk away with a clearer sense of what the state has to offer. At its core, The Oklahoma Experience is about noticing more and dismissing less. No hype. No fluff. Just thoughtful, attainable ways to explore a state that’s far more interesting than it gets credit for.