Jan Got A Trifecta . . .
We were out the door about 10:45 this morning, to have lunch at Monterey’s Little Mexico, our first visit to one since we left the Houston area in March.
We were kind of worried about how the food would compare to our one down in Dickinson. But it was just like home.
It even looked the same.
Everything from the salsa to the Chicken Tortilla Soup was just as good.
Leaving Monterey’s we headed back toward town to check out a few places, but our first stop was to get gas for the truck.
Seeing as how Bartlesville in the home of Phillips Petroleum, I guess it’s not surprising that every station in town seems to be a Phillips 66 one. But the prices are great too.
$1.79 for unleaded and $1.99 for diesel.
But here’s something I haven’t seen before.
Unleaded with Ethanol and 3 grades of gas with NO ethanol.
Guess it helps to have your own refinery in town.
Next up we drove by the Frank Phillips home.
And then back to the other side of US 60 to get a better view of the Price Tower, the only skyscraper built to a Frank Lloyd Wright design.
The 19 story, 221 foot tall building, built as the headquarters for the H. C. Price Company, a local oil pipeline and chemical company, opened in 1956 to pretty much universal acclaim.
Very impressive.
As we’ve been driving around Bartlesville, we’ve noticed the local mascot statures.
Now as we’ve traveled around the country, we’ve seen mermaids in Beaufort, SC, pelicans in Seabrook, TX, moose in Coeur d’Alene, ID, bears in upper NY state, and now buffalo in Bartlesville, OK.
Very colorful buffalo.
We had next planned to drive out to the Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Preserve, but Jan was afraid we’d run out of time and not get to visit The Lodge on the Drummond Ranch, which closed at 4pm. So I guess that’s for next time.
When we deicded to come to Bartlesville, it was just a place to park the RV while we did the Pioneer Woman thing, not realizing how much stuff was in Bartlesville. So our next visit we’ll have to allow more time here.
The Drummond family lodge is not only used for parties, banquets, and overnight guests, it’s also where her TV shows are taped.
Following the directions on our pass, we left US60 and headed north out into the ranch. We passed a couple of oil production areas with a number of large storage tanks, and off in the distance we could see at least 30 large wind turbines.
Along the way we also saw several large herds of the controversial wild mustangs that the BLM pays the Drummonds to house on their land.
Finally we arrived at the Lodge and found a place to park.
From the front entrance the place is not real impressive, but once you get inside you realize how large it really is.
It just keeps going back, and back.
With four large bedrooms,
multiple storage areas for dishes, pots and pans, and small appliances
it’s much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.
And then there’s the area where the TV shows are taped.
A really beautiful place.
Wrapping up our tour of the Lodge, we drove back into Pawhuska to once again have dinner at the Merc. We got in line at 4pm and were inside by 5:10, a longer wait than yesterday, but then we were an hour earlier.
This time we each got the Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Dippers, which as I said yesterday, is a 3 Cheese Grilled Cheese sandwich on homemade bread, sliced into dipping sticks.
And of course we split an order of the Whiskey Glazed Carrots.
These things are addictive.
I mentioned in the title about Jan’s Trifecta. Well, the first two were to eat at the Merc, which we did, twice, and to visit the Lodge, which we did.
And then came the last leg of the Trifecta.
We were seated near the area of the open kitchen, and as we were finishing our meal, Jan looked up and said, “Ladd!”
And who should walk out of the kitchen but Ree’s husband, Ladd. When he heard his name called, he came over and talked to us for a couple of minutes and then posed for a photo
I want commend Jan for not ‘babbling’ as she is wont to do in moments like this. Especially when the next thing Ladd said was, “Ree’s right behind me.”.
I’m actually surprised Jan didn’t just faint at that point, but she managed to keep her cool, even when Ree walked out of the kitchen and started talking to her.
Jan had questions about several of Ree’s recipes and Ree took the time to answer each one.
And then of course the obligatory photo.
As you can tell from the photo, at this point it’s all Jan can do to not giggle uncontrollably.
As it turned out, Ree was there to have dinner with her family, Ladd, her brother Mike, and her father and stepmother. And they were sitting at a table right behind Jan.
I think it’s telling that rather than eat upstairs in their offices, they were right here in the middle of the place, just like us regular folks.
Deciding we had room for dessert, we split an order of the Tres Leches.
Once Jan figured her shaky knees would support her, we left about 6:45, noticing there was still a line waiting to get in.
What’s kind of ironic is that we almost didn’t eat at the Merc this evening, since Jan wasn’t sure she wanted to wait in line again. Now she’s really glad she did.
Tomorrow we’ve got a 200 mile run down to Pauls Valley, OK to visit for a couple of days with our son-in-law Lowell’s parents, Sonja and Lendel. Really looking forward to it.
Thought for the Day:
Ree is just a nickname. Her real name is Ann Marie.
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