So….a couple of months ago, I got an email from my Dad. He told me that he and my mom and my sister were going to go to Springfield, MO. He thought it would be fun to surprise my mom with a visit from me and asked if I could possibly meet them there. I checked with my husband, checked my calendar, and discovered that it was the perfect weekend for it!!!
So we (sneakily) made plans and I left this past Wednesday (a week ago today!). I drove to Oklahoma City first to break up the trip a little bit. I got there fairly early, and my first stop was a cool bookstore I found online:
It was awesome. An amazingly curated selection of REALLY cool books. Books I had never heard of, never seen before, and just BEAUTIFUL books. I wanted to touch all of them (and I did touch a lot!). The owner was super friendly. As was the store dog. If I ever go to OKC again, I will definitely go back to this great bookstore.
The next morning, I left pretty early and started driving north to Pawhuska, Oklahoma. The home of The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. I got there early…by 8:00. I had heard that the crowds can be crazy and to get there early. I could have eaten breakfast, but honestly I wasn’t hungry at all and I just wanted to check out the store.
But first, the drive was really pretty. I was pleasantly surprised by Oklahoma! As I was driving to Pawhuska, I passed (part of) the Drummond Ranch. Very hilly, loads of trees changing color, etc. And then I made it to Pawhuska, which was….not much. Basically 1 main street. A charming main street though, with the Pioneer Woman Mercantile being the main attraction of course.
The restaurant is on one side of the lower level of the building and the store is on the other side. Upstairs is the bakery. The store was amazing. I went through it at least 6 times and each time I noticed something that I hadn’t seen before. She carries SOME of her brand that can be found at Walmart, but not much. Most of it IS her brand, but can only be found in this store (or online). Just a HUGE variety of stuff. Quirky, beautiful, and just an odd (but good) collection of goodies. The customer service is fantastic and everyone was extremely friendly.
And I am kicking myself for not taking pictures of the bathrooms. Yes, I know it’s weird. But the bathrooms were beautiful but sooooo simple. Super heavy wooden bathroom doors, and no toilet paper holders. A bunch of toilet paper rolls sit in a wire basket on the back of the toilet. Which is genius. NO ONE HAS TO CHANGE THE TOILET PAPER ROLLS. And considering the Merc gets (on average) 6,000 visitors per day, this is a big deal. Anyways…the bathrooms were pretty.
I bought some goodies at the bakery (we were all impressed except by the chocolate chunk cookie, which I ordered by accident). I also tried one of her famous cinnamon rolls (it did not disappoint).
After that I headed to Springfield. It was quite the drive. I went through maybe 6 teeny tiny Oklahoma towns on the way. I thought my GPS was leading me astray, but it wasn’t. I got where I needed to go!
I arrived in Springfield, texted my sister, and drove to a bookstore (of course) and surprised the heck out of my mom. It was great! We stayed there for a bit, then checked into our hotel, got unpacked and settled and went to Outback for dinner.
Friday we picked up one of my aunts in Aurora and then drove to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. This was my third trip there. It’s just a quaint little pretty town in the Ozarks. We walked up and down the streets, went into a few of the shops, and ate lunch at a little café.
Saturday we went to another bookstore, then met up with my other aunt, uncle, and cousins for lunch. It was so nice to see them! It had been way too long. We drove around to another small town (southern Missouri is just a string of little towns all like 10 miles apart) to see my Grandpa’s rental house that is for sale. My uncle had done sooooo much work on it. It is pretty much move-in ready now.
And then Sunday….I drove home. I do pretty okay on long road trips, even by myself. I had audiobooks with me (I finished one and got maybe ¼ of the way through another one) and also music. Fruity candy helps keep me alert and awake too. I was home by about 3:45. It’s about an 11 hour drive for me. Closer than Nebraska!
So it was a quick trip, but I packed a LOT in there and got to see my family AND my ‘extended’ family which was great.
