Friday, December 29, 2017

Road Trippin'

At the end of September, I flew to western Kansas to spend a week with my dearest friend, Trudy. Trudy and I have been friends for nearly 45 years, since the first five years of our marriage when Mark and I lived in Scott City.

Staying with Trudy and her husband, Don, is like staying in a bed and breakfast. 


While there, we drove past the two houses Mark and I lived in while in Scott City. They have not fared very well. The first was a rental on Main Street. It was such a cute house when we lived there. 
This is the very first house we owned. We spent so much time fixing it up and maintaining it. When we lived there, we had painted it white with black trim. Now it just looks so sad and neglected. :(
The first few days were spent having a quilt retreat with several of Trudy's friends.







I was thrilled with how much I got done, so a little celebrating was in order.

On Friday night, Trudy's friend, Brenda, hosted us for appetizers and wine. 
The wine she served was from Quady Winery. I came all the way to Kansas to drink wine from Madera, California!

On Sunday afternoon, we departed for a much-anticipated road trip. We were headed to the Silos at Magnolia in Waco, Texas!
The first night was spent in Shamrock, Texas.



Yum--frito chili boat at Sonic. Sonic Drive-Ins were in nearly every town we went through.

Monday we headed to Waco.

Our first view of the Silos.
The inside of Magnolia.

Of course, I signed the guest book.


We had a snack outside.


And bought some cupcakes for later.

The gardening center was a nice place to linger.




It was such a fun afternoon.
Our hotel was across the street from the Waco River Walk. It's true--everything is larger in Texas. 


 We spent a lovely evening as the sun set.



 



The next day, before heading to Oklahoma, we stopped at Harp Design Studio.

We passed through Dallas, where my brother lived for a long time.


We stopped at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. It was especially poignant, as the massacre in Las Vegas had occurred the night before. 

The tour of the museum is well worth the time. I'm so glad we had the time to go through it and reflect on the loss of life, which is occurring now on a much too frequent basis.

As we walked around the memorial outside, everyone seemed to feel the need to remain silent.

The reflection pool was my favorite.

9:01 a.m., when the bombing took place.


Our hotel was in the Bricktown area of Oklahoma City, aptly named as there were so many buildings made from red brick.
We had a fabulous dinner.

Oklahoma City has a riverwalk as well.
We were also close to Chickasaw Ballpark, home of the Dodgers' triple A affiliate, the Oklahoma City Dodgers. So course, I had to take some pictures for the Dodgers fans in my life.

Don't you wonder how this street earned this name?
And since I'm a huge Vince Gill fan...
We capped off the night by eating the cupcakes we had purchased at Magnolia.

The next day it was off to Pioneer Woman's Mercantile in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.

Wow, did it ever rain! The windshield wipers could hardly keep up with the rain. 
Pawhuska is a charming little town with, you guessed it, more red brick buildings.

The inside had kind of an "Anthropologie" feel to it. I loved it.





We had planned on having lunch there. There is a small restaurant, and the lines were long--because of the rain, tents had been set up outside for the people waiting. Trudy said the bakery was upstairs so we headed there. It turns out they also sold boxed lunches. There were hardly any people up there. And while the cupcakes from Magnolia were good, well, the bakery items here were phenomenal. So.much.butter. It was the perfect afternoon for me, rain outside, warm and cozy inside, good food, best friend--it just doesn't get any better.





We passed the sign to Pioneer Woman's actual ranch on the way out of town.
And then we were on our way back to Scott City. 

My flight was supposed to leave early Thursday morning, but it was canceled. I had an extra day to spend, and used the time to do some knitting in Trudy's sewing cottage.



Souvenirs to remember Magnolia and The Mercantile.

It was the most wonderful week. We are already planning our next road trip!