"Showing Pride in Our State" - Time Out #51

Debbie and I had the absolute honor in early June to host some dear out-of-town friends for several days, and show them the sights.

They aren't your average household guests.

They are from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (yes, Down Under!), and had were on their first trip to America, although they like us have extensively traveled the globe.

In fact, we first met 4 years ago on our Insight Vacations 11-day guided tour completely around Iceland.

We always make a number of friends on our adventures, and sometime during a trip will exchange information about our future contacts. Many of those folks we still correspond with over the years, and some we have even seen again. In this particular case with Paula and Gary, we told them if they ever come to visit the USA, to come to Stillwater, Oklahoma, America, and we will show them parts of our environment.

Guess what? 4 years later after touring the western US with Insight Tours, they flew to Our State to experience our hospitality and sight-seeing guidance.

I thought a great deal about this endeavor before their arrival. I really wanted them to have a positive experience with the Breedloves and Oklahoma, both.

We kept in e-mail touch several times the last couple of months with schedules, so were able to greet them at Will Rogers World Airport (WRWA), Oklahoma City, when they arrived. After hugs, small talk, and getting use to seeing each other after an absence of several years, I "changed' into my tour guide mode by taking our guests to the world famous Cattlemen's Cafe in the OkC Stockyards area on South Agnew. As usual, the steaks were excellent, and the western atmosphere great as the restaurant was very crowded early on a Wednesday evening. Our waitperson was a very friendly native American fellow, and he told us he was Sioux. I then told our Aussie guests during the course of the delicious meal about the major influence native Americans have had on our special state. From cowtown, we next visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial. They had heard of the tragedy, and were honored we took them there, parked the car and walked around the grounds on a nice, still daylight early evening. Of course, photos were taken to record the experience.

The first full day they were in our home, we drove them 40 miles north to Ponca City. I have maintained a satellite office there since June, 1982, so I know the city fairly well. We had a wonderful Mexican lunch at

Enrique's, located on the west side of the Ponca City Airport. For those of you who have never tried it, you should, as the food, service and atmosphere are all great. After the good eats, we went to the Pioneer Woman Museum, an attraction I had not visited in years. We spent about an hour there, and it was enjoyed. I thought it really laid the groundwork for our foreign guests to understand some of our state's earliest history, and to help see just how we evolved into the 46th state of the union.

It was then just up the street north to the famed Marland Mansion. What a outstanding example of money, power, elegance and prairie beauty all rolled into one incredible location.. Just to stand in the ballroom in that magnificent structure and imagine what it was like at a party years ago was exciting for me. I'm sure our friends got a rush of satisfaction touring it, too, and taking loads of photographs.

Day #2 I drove our house guests to Guthrie. A classic lunch downtown in the Stables, a favorite of ours, especially to browse around and look at all its memorabilia. Afterwards, we ventured east to the gigantic

Masonic Temple, and took their hour-long, 2 p.m. guided tour with a very capable guide. Gosh, that building is beyond the unusual in it's size, history and features. We then drove back west toward downtown, and toured the State Territorial Museum. Again, I felt our Aussie friends were gaining a better handle on our state with a visit to this interesting place and all it's historical exhibits. Lastly, in Guthrie, we parked near the Pollard Theatre where we have seen many entertaining performances over the years, and were given an impromptu tour of the historical place. After a coffee house visit, we strolled the various antique shops downtown, and marveled at the 100+-year-old buildings, with lots of photos. On the drive back to our home, I guided our vehicle though the Langston University campus, and gave them a mini-tour and history of it.

The next day was totally devoted to Our Town. This consisted of lunch at Eskimo Joe's, complete with a visit and purchases at adjacent Joe's Clothes. Then it was off on a 2+ hour tour around to all the nooks and crannies around the city. We had a coffee break halfway through, so it wasn't an absolute marathon outing.The guests were really impressed with the size of the OSU buildings, and they really enjoyed the beauty of their architectural design.

Their last full day, I took them to the LSU vs.Georgia women's softball game, played in Oklahoma City during the College Softball World Series. They are both big sports fans, and since I had never been to one of those annual games in Oklahoma City either, thought it would be a fun time. It definitely was so, and we didn't have any problem securing game tickets since no local team was playing that session. It certainly did make me want to return sometime in the future to the Series.

The last day, we drove them back to WRWA, and they flew on to Chicago's O'Hare Airport, then connected to London. London because Paula is originally from England, and still has family there.

We think we were able to show them our little piece of paradise on earth here, along with the priceless Oklahoma spirit. We certainly have the world's greatest folks!