Story by Jon Stalnaker AKA The Studebaker Dude
This week, Carlene and I are blessed with a couple of special guests. Two of our eldest grandchildren (Robert and Erica) flew out from California for a week-long taste of Oklahoma. They started their trip early last Saturday and faithfully showed up at the Fresno airport two hours before their flight. I guess all airlines suggest the two hours early as a standard instruction, even the tiny airports like Fresno. Having flown out of many small Central Vally California airports in my lifetime, I kinda grimaced out a smirk when Erica told me this. She went on to say it took them 20 minutes to check in and then had to wait an hour and a half before takeoff. This was in the wee hours of the night and by the time we picked them up in Tulsa, they had already been awake for a considerable amount of time.
We took the scenic route back to Sapulpa, stopped to eat, showed them the house and even the fraidy hole. We had a nice visit before they were ready to retire early. Carlene and I went to bed around about our regular time. It was about 3 am when the tornado siren woke me up and I got up to watch the weather coverage. When I saw Sapulpa in the red polygon and was told it was time for Sapulpa to seek shelter, we had to wake them up and get them to safety. They were good about it and didn’t appear to be scared, however, I’m pretty sure it was a bit of a shock to their exhausted state of mind. Little did they know that they signed up for the deluxe Oklahoma experience. We were lucky enough to NOT be exposed to any tornadic circulation. We dodged that bullet.
We rested up and later Sunday decided to see if we could find the “center of the universe” in downtown Tulsa. After getting a little bit lost and looking for free parking until I saw the fine print about “Mon thru Fri”, we made it to the pedestrian bridge near the BOK Center. We were obviously not clear on how it works because it wasn’t as spectacular as we had heard. But it was a fun adventure. It was certainly more fun than taking shelter in the middle of the night. Robert is a big-time gamer and knew about the Waypoint Lounge in Sapulpa, so we went there to check it out. We had some good food and drinks, but Robert was still suffering from a bit of jet lag, so we plan to take him back on Thursday to get the total experience. Monday we chilled, as it rained most of the day. It was a great day for Carlene’s awesome clam chowder. We topped off the day with a treat at Braum’s.
Tuesday we had breakfast at the Metro Diner in Tulsa Hills and went shopping in Tulsa . We came back to Sapulpa to let them pick out their own popcorn at GiGi’s, ate another treat at Little Taiyaki, then we explored the under-construction Christmas Chute and the Route 66 Zip Code for more pictures. We took Erica with us when we went to vote, and she stayed up late watching the results on TV till we had enough.
Today we drove to Hominy to souvenir shop at Cha’ Tullis’ Gallery. That’s going to be an upcoming story. Thursday will be our last chance to show them Sapulpa. Robert will spend some time at Waypoint Lounge, and the girls and I will be checking out more downtown goodies and perhaps some museum time. Between Carlene’s awesome cooking and the many favorite restaurants in close proximity, we are feeding them well.
Robert and Erica were contemplating whether or not they should call their mother and tell her about their experience with the tornado warning. They decided it would be best to tell her when they got home so as not to have her worry even more until they made it back. Carlene got a text from their mom asking if the tornado stories all over the national news were anywhere near us. Carlene reassured her that we did not have any direct contact with the whirly storm and we will leave the storytelling to the grandchildren. After all, they are grown adults now and they will most likely enjoy the opportunity to talk about it. I know I would…
