Our goal for April 30th was to get to Purcell, Oklahoma, and then meet a long-time friend for dinner. Michelle and I worked together ages ago, and she moved to Oklahoma several years ago. So when I was working on our plans, I reached out to her to see if we might be able to get together. Not only did she say yes, but she also picked out a fun restaurant to meet at.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, we still had to get there! From the end of the Talimena Scenic Byway, we drove west towards Purcell which is just south of Oklahoma City. Along the way, we stopped at Ada, OK, at a local community center / park to have a picnic. While there, we met a nice woman and her children who were also picnicking. Harkening back to our day in Tupelo, I made a peanut butter and banana sandwich because I had a banana that needed to be used and I had some gluten-free bread from home and I had some Jif peanut butter cups.
After lunch we went into the community center which was the Chickasaw Nation Community Center. Inside they had a beautiful piece of artwork that serves as a timeline. I know this because one of the people who run the center came into the lobby where I was admiring it and told me about it.
He asked where we were from and what brought us all the way out to Oklahoma (we have gotten versions of that question nearly every day). We started talking about the weather and I commented that I was trying to learn how to read the Oklahoma sky for weather; he laughed and said no one can! Then he did proceed to give us some safety tips should we encounter any severe weather.
The rest of the drive to Purcell was uninterrupted, so we got to the hotel early and were able to go ahead and check in. We were meeting my friend at 4:30 at Bad Daddy's Burgers in Norman. Near the restaurant were two things - a Target - so we got DH some flip-flops; and a Nothing Bundt Cake where I was able to use my birthday freebie for a gluten-free chocolate chip bundt cake! Of course DH wanted a little cake, too, so we got a carrot cake one for him.
It was so good to see Michelle and catch up. And the restaurant was good, too. They serve burgers, sliders, other sandwiches, and salads. If you want to build your own burger, you fill out a form and mark on it what you want. It reminded me of ordering pizza at Barnaby's.
And just like that, our first seven days were done!
Thanks for reading and following along so far!
~Cindy D.
P.S. I am writing these posts in the evenings when I can as I am "being present" during the day. For the most part, I'll have entries per event / attraction, but in some cases it will be more of a narration, like this one.
I love that you take the time to go in “not your normal” places like the community center. I really hope you get to Helena one day. Downtown, and just about everywhere, has photos and facts about the history of the town. Even our school has old photos of the history of the school. And I’m so glad you got your birthday freebie!
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