We settled in to The Lazy Buffalo for the evening and realized we forgot toothpaste. Forty years ago we checked into the Holiday Inn’s Holidome, a fancy name for a hotel with an indoor pool and miniature golf, and discovered we forgot our toothbrushes. Back then we panicked and hit a local 7/11 for replacements. Last night, miles away from anything remotely convenient, we laughed and made do.
When we checked into the Holidome, a hotel now no longer standing, we had not the time or the money to go anywhere big. It was the Friday of my Spring Break my sophomore year of college. Patty worked as a Teacher’s Aide for elementary aged hearing impaired students. Her Spring Break would begin the following Monday. Time was limited. We barely had a checkbook.
Forty years ago we did not have the Internet. The Holidome sat along I-40 along my commuter route to OBU. It seemed reasonable both in proximity and price.
Over our forty years together we have enjoyed some traveling beyond the Holidome. Our first trip together was to Vancouver, B.C. I had meetings there and Patty was able to travel with me. We enjoyed sight-seeing and lots of walking. Together we have been to Prince Edward Island, Dresden, Orcas Island, Alaska, Washington, D.C., and Belize. For the past twenty years we have spent at least one week a year near Creede, CO.
We know what we want to do for a week sometime this year, later in the year, but what to do for a couple of days for our anniversary was up in the air. We remembered seeing Medicine Park, OK highlighted on Discover Oklahoma. The hosts travel Oklahoma and report on places to visit, eat, and explore. We had driven through Medicine Park a few times in 1989. But, there was little reason to stop. We drove through Medicine Park only because the route between Gould and Oklahoma City was more scenic taking us through the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Preserve.
Just after we took up fly fishing on our 30th anniversary we visited Medicine Park. From November to mid-March they stock the little river that runs through town with Rainbow Trout. That was the first time we saw the transformation taking place in this small, dwindling town. Today Medicine Park is a tourist destination. Cabins to rent, restaurants, river walk, and more lure folks from all over the State. We decided on a couple of nights in Medicine Park.
The Google Machine offered a variety of places considered in or near Medicine Park. I landed on The Lazy Buffalo after reading it was close to the Wichita Wildlife Refuge. Our accommodations are just what we wanted, even if not in walking distance to Joe Mountain Breakfast Bar, a place to eat highlighted on Discover Oklahoma.
Since I missed getting a place in Medicine Park, we took the advice of our hosts and drove to Cache. We had been to Cache when the girls played basketball. Tuttle’s girls basketball team defeated Cache three times this season, I think. From there we drove around Lawton, Patty’s birthplace. We enjoyed lunch at Polly’s Thai Restaurant.
We stopped in Books by Sandy in spite of Patty’s misgivings. We met Sandy. For the past 19 years she has operated a used book shop out of a little old house on Gore Drive. Her place sits between a Yoga studio and a Hair Salon. She told us the land sold. The house will be razed to make room for parking. She is sad. We are sad for her. I talked with Sandy as I waited on her to ring me up for the book Patty found. She told me she had talked to her husband and he told her he did not know if they could find a place to move her bookshop.
You are not supposed to speculate a woman’s age. But, I am guessing Sandy is at least 70. I asked Sandy how long she had been in Lawton. “Since 1969,” she said. Sandy asked if we had been to the Wildlife Refuge. I told her we had.
“Just past the Visitor’s center,” she responded, “take the next road. Pull off and park. Hike to the top. There you will find a cave. And, when you stand on top of that area you will be able to see three towns.” Sandy went on to tell me that her son has been to those very places they hiked and now thinks it a miracle he survived scaling the heights. Used book shops are hard to find. When Sandy closes, they will be harder still.
From time to time I have referred to myself as a recovering fundamentalist. These days that translates to label-givers as Liberal. Though I tire of labels and think them the purview of lazy minds, I knew there was yet one place a kid who grew up in the hippie 70s had to try - The Healthy Hippie Cafe & Bar. Discover Oklahoma spotlighted this eatery on their episode covering Medicine Park.
The atmosphere was relaxing, the waitstaff chill, and the food was fantastic. My friend Guy, a convinced vegan, would like the place. Patty had a carrot hot dog and I had a Bean Patty Burger. We are still talking about how good it was. We told the waitstaff it was worth the drive for us just to eat there.
My friend Jason wrote a marriage book that is not really a marriage book, Living In Sin: Making Marriage Work Between Death and I Do. It is really a book about grace. No matter where we have been, with or without toothpaste or toothbrushes, my life is better, our lives have been better for the grace that has been part of our time between death and I do.
We Forgot Toothbrushes
This was a great read! Sounds like a wonderful weekend! Happy Anniversary! 40 years? Wow! 🤩