"Family Tour Guide in Our Town" - Time Out #200

This edition is the 200th installment of "Time Out" your humble scribe has been offering for Sunday reading for almost 4 years.

Wow for sure!!

This week's topic is about family, always a GREAT favorite for me to discuss in a fun manner.

As I have mentioned several times over the years, I possess several "passions" in life. One of these driving forces in my personality is being a tour guide, especially when it concerns my out-of-town relatives. I also thoroughly enjoy it when it involves guiding a large group of former local high school students in town for one of their reunions. Unusual liking? Certainly not when compared with athletic officiating which I have done for 52 seasons.

The most recent occasion of my tour guiding avocation happened in mid-Spring this year when my 52-year-old nephew, Patrick, and his lovely wife, Adrienne, conveniently flew from Reagan National Airport in our nation's capital to our jewel facility, Stillwater Regional Airport. It was SO great to pick them up at our local terminal 10 minutes after leaving my driveway!

Patrick had been here 14 months ago, but Ms. Adrienne had not visited our home in several years. As was the case 3 of the 4 evenings with us this trip, my bride, Ms. Debbie, fixed a delicious supper that first evening, consisting of Adrienne's favorite, Italian food. It was so great to sit around our circular dining table, catch up on all types of conversational topics, while enjoying wonderful food and drink.

Full day #1 was a travel day to nearby historic Guthrie. Following Debbie's nice brunch, I headed my "activity" vehicle (4-door pickup truck) southwest to the Logan County city, while my bride stayed back to get the evening's Mexican food ready for us when we returned home. Our initial drive through Guthrie was through their quaint downtown area, and all the historical structures. After my brief visual and audio orientation to the city, we parked in front of the massive Masonic. We went inside the 300-room stone structure, and took their 1-hour afternoon walking tour, lead by a very knowledgeable guide. I have done this tour many times in the past, and knew my young relatives would marvel at this experience, and they did!

Next it was coffee (2 different places as my guests are coffee shop super fans), then some shopping back downtown, in and out of Guthrie's historic buildings. After we had logged our sufficient walking distance for the day, my activity vehicle then took us back to our home and my bride's 2nd tasty evening meal in as many days.

Now it's on to Thursday, and a half day of work in my Ponca City office I have maintained for 37 years. Our visitors rode with me up and back, a great time to further chat about a plethora of subjects. After I was dropped off at my office, I let them drive my truck over the Kay County city. They saw both millionaire E W Marland's huge homes from the outside, and toured the long-time Pioneer Woman Museum. They also stopped at the famous Dixie Dog Drive-In for some delicious eats; all places previously recommended by their physically-absent tour guide, yours truly. Yes, they did also manage to locate a friendly coffee shop while in Ponca City, and have a nice cup. After returning home that evening, pour party of 4 had supper at Eskimo Joe's in the older east side of the restaurant. I explained to them as we dined, as a youth I ate their many times when it was Williams Dining Hall, then serving all-you-could eat family style meals; $1 for lunch, and $1.25 for supper. Our Joe's waiter that evening appeared as surprised with my comments as our guests!

Friday was the last full day of their visit, and, of course, I took them to Mazzio's for our weekly Class of 1965 gathering which has happened regularly now for several years, 1-3 pm.

We had about a dozen classmates show up, and my guests were well accepted as are all folks as visitors to this regular, warm group of friends. After this wonderful gathering, I took them to Our Town's Starbucks for their afternoon cup. Patrick needed another "fix" so we drove to the Iowa tribal casino in Perkins where he tempted Lady Luck for 1-plus hours. Adrienne and I, however, went to Stillwater's Tiny Paws cat rescue facility, and received an outstanding guided tour. Adrienne has done this type of volunteer work in her Rockville, Maryland, location for over 5 years.

Saturday afternoon being flying home time, we took the fun couple out for local waffles before returning them to our user-friendly terminal, and their 2 flights back to the populous Northeast via American Airlines.

Very few things that I do provide me with as much satisfaction as acting as a tour guide for various folks. When those people are blood, it is even better! Thank you Adrienne and Patrick Breedlove!