The Pioneer Woman, Continued

On Saturday, we were a party of five for a while: 

Clockwise from left: 

Deb, Felicia (Flea), Yours Truly (Mary Ann), Jennifer, and Jennifer's mom, Doreen

Doreen is Deb's sister, and Jennifer, of course, her niece.  We teased her about a weekend trip with the old fogies! 

As you see, breakfasts were substantial, and satisfying. 

A lovely young waitress asked if she could take pictures for us! 

Felicia came in just for breakfast, and a little flea-marketing afterwards. 

I ate lightly, having a lovely cup of hot chocolate 

and a cinnamon roll straight out of the Pioneer Woman cookbook. 

It was good! 

It was STILL RAINING. 

Not just rain, thunderstorms! 

Deb and Flea were able to have a good reunion.  Flea lives in Tulsa and drove 

over for breakfast with us.  She told us that the wait time can be up 

to three hours for the restaurant! 

On the wall behind them are pictures of the Drummond family working cattle 

on their ranch. 

The Mercantile is in an old National Biscuit Co. building... Nabisco... 

and was enhanced with this beautiful woodwork.  Flea does 

woodburning artwork, and liked this. 

The Drummond brand is featured in the kitchen wall. 

I have to say that I am sure the employees get crabby on 

busy weekends, but even the cooks in the kitchen seemed to be smiling a lot, and though some of the employees looked tired at the end of Friday ALL were so very nice to us. 

Here is the brand again in tile in a side doorway.  

Beautiful tile that matched the building, well done, Drummonds! 

The door where the tile appeared.  Notice they are open at 7 AM! 

This is a side door, the main door is on the corner. 

I have an aside about the restrooms... they are huge, old-fashioned looking, and VERY CLEAN. 

Almost every store front, though, on Kihekah, has a prominent sign on it
NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS. 

Be prepared! 

The ghost doorway of a JC Penney store on Kihekah.  My guess 

is by this time next year, this town will be BOOMING again. 

Within two years, it will be a huge attraction for this area. 

So, since it was still raining, we did a little flea-marketing, 

and then went back to the Whiting for a little rest. 

I actually drove over to the Immaculate Conception church, called 

The Cathedral of the Osage. 

I was unable to get in, tours are Wednesday through Friday, but I could

tell from the outside that it was a beautiful church with 

huge stained glass windows.  I had just my phone to take 

pictures, so did not take it out in the rain.  

Many Osage converted to Catholicism, and they have kind of a sad story, one which I would like to know more about.  (a future post).  

About five, we decided to go to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in a rainstorm (with thunder and lightening)! 

My gosh, the prairies.  It makes you realize how 

insignificant we truly are on this earth. 

Again, I had just my phone... I hated to take the camera out in the weather. 

But the expanse!  It made your heart sing! 

There are about 3000 of these on the preserve.  I did not get ONE good picture. 

We saw many little calves, and on our way out, 

lightening began striking the ground, and the buffalo began to run. 

There are signs frequently that say "Bison are loose.  Do NOT get out of your cars". 

We believed them, because close up, they are HUGE. 

This beautiful sculpture was at the Preserve 

headquarters which were CLOSED ON SATURDAY. 

Mystifies me how tourist places are closed on Saturday. 

I lightened this up so you could see the buffalo in the distance.  It truly is a wonderful place. 

We stopped at the Blacksmith's house as we left to go to Bad Brad's Barbecue for dinner. 

Bad Brad's is about 12 blocks from downtown, but the food was good. 

The blacksmith was a Swiss who was brought in to take care of the 

hooves of the horses of the Osage.  His house houses the chamber of commerce. 

There is a lovely sculpture there, too. 

After we got back, Deb, Doreen and Jennifer settled in for a real 

family visit. 

I took my camera and went out onto Kihekah to take a few pictures 

between the rain drops. 

As I said before, I believe in one year, life will come back to 

this town and people will be walking the streets late into the night. 

This was from the balcony of the Whiting. 

Each room is provided with a bistro table and chairs to take 

out at night to visit on the balcony.  Unfortunately, 

it rained so much we did not get to sit outside. 

What a lovely idea, though. 

Lights lit up the 200 steps up to the courthouse at night. 

Deb, Doreen and Jennifer said goodbye in the parking lot of the
McDonalds located fairly close out of the town proper. 

And Deb took one last picture of me before we said goodbye to the Whiting, 

and started for home. 

It was a lovely weekend trip, but my, I was glad to get home to my babies 

and my own bed 

Deb, likewise. 

We recommend a trip to the Pioneer Woman Mercantile. 

We are telling you to wear comfy shoes and be prepared for a wait when you get there. 

If you are going primarily for the Mercantile, stay one night at the 

Whiting if you can do stairs, and you will be close enough to walk back and forth. 

For history buffs, there are museums and the Tallgrass Prairie.