HOOKER! the Place to be!

Hooker holds its annual Classic Car Show this year on Saturday September 10. They will be turning lose of this great handmade quilt depicting cars, cars, and more cars!

you'll find memories of past car shows in this patchwork display. I saw Alva's Big Cruise & Car Show among the blocks.

And who could live in a town named HOOKER without having a signature t-shirt? This is just a sample of the many unique designs that promote life in Hooker.

Inside the Rexall Pharmacy you will find a wonderful surprise! Some great food! The fountain and grill serve up some great sandwiches and they have a very nice salad bar too.

The decor will keep you wandering around just looking at some of the nostalgic items on display. 

complete on the outside with a nice handicap ramp, this is a must see when going through Hooker. Take a minute, leave the highway and enjoy HOOKER!!

Guymon Gourmet

I went to Guymon last week on a business trip and stopped to visit with a lady I had worked with briefly a year ago when she and her husband first decided to open a coffee shop. One of Susan Barias's goals was to not only serve good coffee drinks (they told me they are both addicted to coffee) but to provide a healthy place to eat and a comfortable place for people of all ages to gather and connect. The result of that dream is Urban Bru, a coffee house that serves scrumptious frappe's  and out of this world smoothies like the Mocha frappe and the strawberry smoothie that Laura and I had for lunch. 

And speaking of lunch, Laura enjoyed this fabulous Strawberry Fields salad made with spinach and fresh strawberries and laced with nuts and cheese! She ate every bite!

 My choice was this Southwestern sandwich, filled with chicken and a spicy southwest sauce. It was HUGE, the bread was awesome and I sure did enjoy it!

 Melyn Johnson joined us for lunch and she enjoyed this Mandarin Salad along with a croissant filled with a cranberry chicken salad. (I went back that night and tried this sandwich and it was also wonderful!)

My friends Laura Girty and Melyn Johnson as we prepared to enjoy a leisurely lunch.

 Melyn's final touch to her meal is this Mocha Locha, and doesn't it look wonderful!

 Did I mention dessert? Looks good enough to eat, doesn't it?

Urban Bru is located at 418 NW 21st St in Guymon. Stop in and check out the delights when you are there. Everything they serve is made fresh right there in their kitchen every day! Stop in, sit and relax, you may see some customers engaged in a lively game of Monopoly or Scrabble, or a quiet corner may be the preferred spot for the checker game. Young, old and in between all seem to enjoy the hospitality at Urban Bru!

Meers OK home of the Meersburger

Meers is just north of the Wichita Mountains right at a bend in the road. This tourist attraction has been in business with the current owners since the 80's and has been a continuous business since the 40's or 50's depending. They are famous for a unique dining experience. The line waiting outside to get in the door is almost always there. We arrived around 1:30 p.m. and we were outside about 20 minutes. One interesting side note is that beside the building in a shaded area there are a number of small wire kennels. They ask folks to NOT leave pets in a hot car, and they go the extra mile to help those folks who travel with pets to see to their safety.

Then you get inside and see how long the line is there as well! This is our first time and while we waited we got the good news that the food would be well worth the wait from a young Wichita Falls Texas couple behind us who visit as often as they can.

Robert and Misty waiting for food as we all took the time to read the informative menu with some interesting bits of information. For instance, the Meersburgers are prepared with their own beef, fresh from longhorn steers. No frozen patties here! They come with mustard, pickles, red onion, lettuce and tomato. You can order it your way, but be warned, the cooks consider mayonnaise is for SISSIES, ketchup belongs on fries, not hamburger and several other interesting comments. They have their own brand of beer, Meers Beer, brewed by the folks that brew Choc in Krebs Oklahoma and it comes in a 22 ounce bottle. 

I can verify that the homemade ice cream and cherry cobbler on the menu are out of this world. Misty and Robert tried the peach and declared it outstanding.

the decor in the building keeps your mind busy and even though the wait for the food is about as long as the wait to get in, you don't notice it so much with all the interesting things to see!

drinks like this iced tea are served in Mason jars, and they keep them full for you. 

and then came the food! The Meersburger is served in a metal pie tin, cut in fourths to make it easier to eat (we shared this burger) and you can see the Fries and onion rings (they are beer batter dipped) were plentiful as well. 

It's standing room only in this great little restaurant. Oh, and did I mention that Meers has been recognized in places like the New York Times and the Food Channel and is widely known as one of the top 10 places in the whole United States of America to get a great  hamburger! and, when we left, our tummy full, the line was still long outside the building. 

Groom Texas

 Groom Texas is just off I-40 east of Amarillo about 40 miles. Visible for miles leading up to it, is this huge white cross, standing 191 feet in the air. We's seen the cross while traveling I-40 several times and never took the time to really stop and see what was there. Surrounding the cross, in life size detail is the story of the crucification of our Lord Jesus Christ.

At each of the stations there is a marker describing the scene. The realism of the figures was pretty amazing.

The property also has a nice visitor center, this beautiful circular fountain area with seating that invites visitors to stop and sit awhile and contemplate what they have just seen.

The wind was blowing about 50 mph from the south the day we were there, made it difficult to spend as much time in the open air as we would have liked. But having experienced the first visit I have no doubt that we will go back one day to spend a little more time.

High on a hill overlooking this circle of the story of Jesus's suffering and death stands three crosses.

I took a couple short video clips and they will be posted on my facebook page. Find me: Jeanne Maras Cole and check them out!

Arcadia OK

Took a road trip to Arcadia. First stop was Pop's famous for the many flavors of pop! When we got there the awning first caught our eye. Note there are no support beams at the outside end of that canopy! The wind was typical Oklahoma wind the day we were there, probably gusting to 40 mph. so it must be structurally sound!

The walls are glass so that when you walk up you can see all of the different bottles of pop gleaming on shelves in the windows. Inside or out side, the color are bright and cheerful and we enjoyed walking around and checking out the different labels.

 

the big bottle outside is pretty cool. At night it is all lit up and attracts passers by.

 

The sign says Please do not climb on the bottle, and of course we know "someone" can't ever resist a chance to do it anyway!

Enjoyed the day with a good friend Jim Waldrop from Laverne!

This is the famous round barn in Arcadia. The entire bottom floor is a museum with the history of the barn told in pictures and story by the "barn man".

The top floor is used for dances and parties. Great structure, solid wood, nice view out the windows!

the grounds surrounding the barn have a lot of interesting things to see too. The guys found this old outhouse humorous! there is a sign that says out of order to keep visitors from trying to use it!

Just a couple of the old cars we saw while we were looking around! Quite a collection of old farm equipment as well.

Not old classics but what I like to call NEW CLASSICS, Jim's Mustang and our new Challenger were fun to drive on the trip.

Take a trip to Arcadia, the burgers at Pop's are very good, the selection of "pops" is virtually endless and the Round Barn and its history are well worth the trip!