Day One - Head south to Bartlesville, OK
We began by giving Zac a Dramamine...which turns out may actually make him have problems on long drives because he threw up about an hour into the trip. Luckily we had a bag and after that, he felt great! No more Dramamine for him. Once we reached Independence, KS, we made stop #1 at Braum's for a shake. Woohoo! It was glorious. No kidding. From there we headed south just a bit to one of the 'Little House on the Prairie' home sites. They have built this place up a bit and added a gift shop and visitor center. The person who was working is actually a history teacher in the area, so she was very enthusiastic.
Heading in to Bartlesville, we checked in to our room at the Candlewood Suites, only to find the A/C had been leaking and the carpet was completely soaked. As they didn't have any other rooms that could sleep three, we did a quick pivot (Pivot!) and went to the Hampton Inn. We spent a bit of time driving around town, showing Zac where I went to school, seeing all the places I lived in town and driving through some beautiful neighborhoods. Bartlesville has a lot of these. The town was built on oil money, but has always been affordable and has a good sense of style. Dinner would have been Braum's, but no visit to Bartlesville is complete without a trip to my favorite place to eat in college, Dink's. Oh...Dink's. I used to have two t-shirts from Dink's, one red and one black. The black one died about 10 years ago but the red one has survived, just a lot worse for wear. I remedied that on this trip, buying new versions of each along with a few bottles of sauce, one to share with my brother.Days Two/Three - Head West (Woolaroc, Pawhuska, Ponca City, Enid)
Saturday morning we woke up to a thunderstorm close by. Sweet! Haven't seen one in quite a while, so we headed to the new Braum's on the south end of town and ate breakfast while watching it roll in. Finished up in time to be dry before the sky fell out. We had plans to visit Ree Drummond's Mercantile in Pawhuska but didn't want to get there before lunch (big mistake, by the way, waiting so long), so we looked for something fun to do that morning. A quick search of museum options reminded me of a place I'd never been, Woolaroc. Woolaroc was the retreat of Frank Phillips, who started Phillips Petroleum. It's 3700 acres of nature and animal preserve, full of amazing beauty, zebras, longhorns, ostriches...pretty incredible place. From the entrance off the highway, it's two miles to the lodge and other buildings. The lodge sits about 100 feet above a lake and has quite the view. The museum was something else. This is a pic of Zac sitting on one of the chairs made using longhorns for the arm rests.
We then headed north and then west to Pawhuska, home of the Pioneer Woman. The line outside the Mercantile this time was impressive, so we tried going across the street to P-Town Pizza. But that wait was 40 minutes, which would have been a very late lunch, so we headed next door to Charlie's Sweet Shop and had ice cream. Not a great lunch, but good ice cream. That killed enough time so we could go into the Mercantile and look around. While there we were approached by a worker who let us know that day was one of the ones when the Drummonds opened up the Lodge to visitors and asked if we'd like to go. Um, yes? So, heading west out of Pawhuska and then north on dirt/gravel country roads, we made it to the Lodge. It's just a pretty as it looks on TV. We spoke with a friend of the Drummonds (their kids have played sports together for years) for about 30 minutes. It was a fun stop and we really enjoyed the opportunity to see the place up close and in person.
The pic above of us all was taken after church, a neat building that had a very warm, welcoming feel. Of course that has a lot to do with the people and they have some great people in that church. Super friendly and, the best part was, no restrictions on numbers in church. It was so relaxing and enjoyable to be in a physical church service for the first time in months and be able to sing and worship without limits. The pic to the left is a nod to our Animaniacs obsession while in school, and is a variation on a Yakko handshake. Before you judge, just remember, us guys never really grow up. :) After church they took us to a local restaurant, El Patio, where we had a very good lunch and continued talking. Then about three we realized we needed to get heading west to Enid to check in to our hotel and do our next Braum's meal, though not before doing a little driving around to see the church dad pastored, the house they lived in, and two of the homes my sister-in-law grew up in. It was also nice to get to go swimming for the first time this year at their indoor pool. Zac and I had a good time doing that.
Day Four - Back North (Enid, Salt Plains, Red Cloud)
Monday started with a Braum's breakfast and the restaurant was, conveniently enough, almost right next to our hotel. Are we smart or what? We then headed north to the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, about 40 minutes north of Enid. The entire purpose was to stop at the salt flats and dig for crystals. When my brother Dan and I were there summer 1995, the flats were bright white and smooth. For some reason they now look like sand and the drive to get to a digging area is challenging, for sure, but we did enjoy getting to see it and dig for some crystals in the process.
We then headed north through Kansas, which is always an adventure, because a Kansas highway mile is the equivalent of about 1.2 actual miles. I think they lie to you to try to make you feel like it's not really taking as long as it is to go these distances. It is seriously the longest state to drive through. The scenery was actually interesting and quite pretty, but the drive...I could skip that next time. We made sure to stop at the last Braum's we could, in Great Bend, KS, ate a late lunch and picked up some ice cream and frozen yogurt to take to Red Cloud with us. We arrived in Red Cloud a little after five, our destination for the next few days.
Days Five/Six - Red Cloud, Grand Island, Hastings
Monday night through Thursday morning we stayed in Red Cloud with my brother and his wife, Stacy. Oh and of course, their little, joyful one, Matthew. That boy is just super cute and he sure does think his Uncle Scott is cool!
Red Cloud is a place we visit several times a year to see my family and it's nice to have the option to stay somewhere and not have to pay for lodging every time (unless we want to) and to have my brother grill out for us most nights. It was a fun time and I took like no pics other than the one you see, which is typical of me. What's worse is Wednesday was mom's birthday, and I still managed to take no pics of anyone that whole day! Despite that, it was great to settle in a bit and relax a little after a few days of more driving. We didn't stay still, however.
On Tuesday Katy and I headed up to Grand Island (about an hour north) to visit the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie. It has some living history shops (hats, tin shop, etc.) and an entire pioneer town to walk through. That was pretty neat. One thing the Stuhr museum has is a building full of old cars and farm equipment. The old cars are fascinating to me and this pic is of a 1926 Star, which is not one I had seen or heard of before. So many of these companies made small runs when cars were in their infancy and just couldn't end up making it. Zac had been pretty exhausted that morning so we let him sleep in. Not sure he would have enjoyed this museum as much, even though he loves history. We finished up with one of the few meals eaten at a national chain, Qdoba, then headed back to Red Cloud.
Wednesday was mom's birthday, which we were excited to be able to celebrate with her. Mom collects a number of things, including spoons, so we had gotten her one from our visit to Woolaroc, knowing there was no way she'd have one of those. We also headed up to Hastings (about 40 minutes north) in hopes of visiting the Hastings Museum. Specifically, for Zac anyway, this museum has a very large gun collection he was excited to see. As you can see from this pic, it also hosts information on Kool Aid, a Nebraska-born product. Sadly, the museum was requiring masks for anyone who entered, so we will have to visit another time. That night my brother grilled burgers (mom's favorite) and made her a butter cake with strawberries between the layers. It was really, really good. We were then able to end the night with a game of Five Crowns, one of our favorite card games. Mom said it was one of the best days she has had in a long time (think, pandemic), so that was nice to be able to be there with her.
Day Seven - Red Cloud to McCook
We had one reason for visiting McCook. Well, OK, maybe two. The primary reason was to visit Sehnert's Bieroc Cafe, which is a James Beard award winner and had been highlighted in the Omaha paper last year, I recalled. It's their version of a Runza, and around just as long if not longer. If you don't know, that's seasoned ground beef and cabbage, plus cheese ideally, wrapped inside a bread dough. This one from Sehnert's tasted homemade and was so, so good! And their pastries? Wow. Just out of this world awesome. I had a cherry turnover that was amazing, and I'm not even a real fan of turnovers. But this one looked so good in the case, I had to get one. This place may win the award for the friendliest restaurant staff I have ever seen. I mean seriously. If you ever have a chance to visit McCook, NE, do NOT miss this place.
The second reason for visiting was simply that we had never been there before. I love seeing the varied geography of my home state, and that part of Nebraska is really beautiful. The people we met in all the shops and restaurants were incredibly nice as well. Overall, it was a very pleasant place to visit for a night. The staff at our hotel was extremely friendly also. After Katy and I spent part of the afternoon shopping in an antique store that was going out of business (it was HUGE and had so many cool things!), we finished that night eating supper at a McCook staple, Mac's Drive-In. Good burgers and onion rings. Nothing fancy or special, but as you can see from the pic, if you eat inside, you have to pick up this phone and call in your order. Nice place, good food, very nice people yet again. It was in McCook Zac and I got to swim for the second time, and the pool was all ours, which was great!Day Eight - North Platte, Kearney
Friday morning saw us drive about an hour north to North Platte to begin our shift toward heading home the following day. McCook to North Platte is a very, very pretty drive. The rolling hills, which seem to be part Sandhills, are just gorgeous. Really just a view that needs to be seen and enjoyed if you are ever in the southwestern part of Nebraska. Katy's business has a location in North Platte, and the new parts manager there had not been given some training he needed that deals with the financial aspect, so she had let him know we would stop by during our trip to help him out. We spent about an hour there with him and his new puppy. I'm not sure if the dog's name is Cruz or Cruise, but he is the CUTEST and just 11 weeks old.
We did lunch in North Platte at a place called Good Life on the Bricks in downtown. They do a number of things but their focus seems to be smoked meats. Zac and I each had a smoked burger. It was extremely good, super tender and very flavorful. I'd post a pic but I have precious little space here left and have a museum pic to post next, so I'll save it, but if you are in North Platte, just north of the courthouse is this gem of a restaurant you must try. After lunch we went to the Lincoln County Historical Museum. Some of the museum is indoors, which is good because it was HOT. Lots of neat history in the museum, especially military, and then another village out back. One of the neatest things was seeing a Sears & Robuck house that cost $2300 way back when. The quality of the wood, the detail in the finishes...it was something to see, as you can note here from something as simple as the stairs to the second floor. Very impressive stuff.
After the museum, we headed east to Kearney for our final stop before going home Saturday morning. We stayed at a Holiday Inn that had a very small waterpark, which was kind of cute and Zac and I were able to enjoy a pool for the third time during our trip. Kearney is a nice little town we enjoy and Zac likes it as well, having done church camp here on the University of Nebraska-Kearney campus before. He has been craving pasta lately, so we committed to eating at Valentino's, another Nebraska staple. Then, as we had realized during this trip just how many of Zac's clothes no longer fit (he has had a bit of a growth spurt the past few months), we went to the mall next door and hit up JC Penney for some things he can wear. I'm sure going back to school with things that fit is always a good thing. All in all, this was a fun, very relaxing trip for us. Our days in Oklahoma were my favorite, as the entire time it felt like things were completely normal, and I found that eased my mind and helped me relax from the past few months. I leave you with a final pic of Braum's. Again, this will mean more to those who understand than those who don't, but it WAS the entire reason we went where we did this time, so it's only fitting to end this way. :)
