Buffalo wings. Creamed corn. Peanut butter and jelly. You might expect to find any of those items on a diner menu but in Arcadia, Oklahoma you’ll find them on a different type of menu. A soda menu. At Pops 66 Soda Ranch on Route 66 you can try over 700 varieties of soda and even check out the world’s largest soda bottle while you’re there.
Pops Soda Ranch is one of the newer attractions on Route 66. Aubrey McClendon (1959 – 2016), former CEO of the Chesapeake Energy Corporation, opened the Route 66 soda site and named it Pops after his father, who most people referred to as Pops.
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The restaurant, convenience store, and souvenir shop opened in 2007, long after the Mother Road was decommissioned. But that doesn’t make this road trip stop any less iconic. With row after row of shelves filled with glistening bottles of soda and a larger than life glowing bottle out front, it quickly became a must-see attraction on Route 66.
What can you see at Pops 66?
Pops 66 Soda Ranch
Stop into Pops Route 66 Soda Shop to try one (or several) of the over 700 varieties of soda from around the world. They have everything from standard colas to fruity blends to flavor concoctions you’d never expect to find in liquid form There are even some more off the wall flavors just about anyone would be hesitant to try. Sodas with names like bug barf, dog drool, and kitty piddle.
Pops Route 66 Restaurant
If you’re hungry for something that doesn’t come in a bottle, stop in the Pops 66 restaurant for a burger, a hot dog, or an omelet. Eat in the small dining room or grab a road trip meal to go. I took a Cobb salad back to my hotel room in Oklahoma City.
World’s Largest Soda Bottle
You might think the sodas inside Pops 66 are weird, but the soda outside is pretty weird too. Here you will find the world’s biggest soda bottle.
The giant soda bottle weighs over four tons and stands at 66-feet tall (66 to honor its famous location). A typical 12oz glass soda bottle stands at around 9-inches tall. That means that you’d need to stack 88 regular soda bottles to reach the top of this Oklahoma roadside attraction. That’s a lot of pop!
The Oklahoma roadside attraction was designed by architect Rand Elliott, who consulted with Michael Wallis, a historian and Route 66 author, to make sure this new giant soda bottle would fit in among all the other classic attractions. It was constructed by WW Steel in Oklahoma City.
Be sure to stop by at night to see the giant bottle’s hundreds of LED lights light up in a variety of patterns and colors.
If you’re traveling Route 66 be sure to pop into Pops 66 Soda Ranch for a meal, a roadside attraction, and a bottle of teriyaki flavored bubbly. Or maybe just a root beer. In either case – cheers!
Looking for more iconic Oklahoma Route 66 attractions? Add these to your road trip itinerary: the Blue Whale of Catoosa, the World’s Tallest Gas Pump, Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park, Arcadia Round Barn, and the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum.
Pops 66 Soda Ranch & World’s Largest Soda Bottle
Address: 660 U.S. Rte 66, Arcadia, OK
Cost: Free to See, Sodas and meal costs vary
Hours: See the store’s official website for up to date hours
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