Western Oklahoma Roadtrip

Had an excellent Saturday, minus waking up at 4:30 AM. The Tulsa Urban Design Studio traveled to Seiling, OK this morning to collaborate with some OU Norman students to present our studio project from last year, The Northland Plan. We also ended up facilitating part of the morning which was very enjoyable. I myself, interested in small towns, found the day very rewarding. Seiling, although a small town, is an exciting place to be with many interesting qualities and exciting events throughout the year. I was inspired by the community spirit and the large amount of people who dedicated their Saturday morning to community planning. I have great hope that Depew can organize themselves as well and have great community spirit also.

Also to add I convinced my husband, Ryan, to accompany me to the event. I've decided he was as well be an honorary member of the studio since he's good about participating :) We stopped for lunch after the event in Seiling at a local place, The Oklahoma Hills Cafe. If you are ever in or near Seiling or just need something to do on a day off I would highly suggest travelling to Seiling and trying out the menu! The little cafe is exaclty what so many small towns need. Locally owned, clean, great food, excellent prices and a  great wait staff, one of the best places I've ate in a long time. Not only that it was definitely a local gathering place with hardly any parking or booths available for the hour or so we were present. These places are what we should be proud of, so much more personable than chain restaurants and franchises, Hills Cafe is a great asset to Seiling.

Seiling is also located near some new wind energy projects consisting of some gigantic wind mills. Having never seen this type of machinery in person I was astounded at their visual impact!

To finish out our day we traveled to Watonga, OK and checked out Main Street and some other exciting buildings there. I took quite a few pictures and fell in love with the local character. I am smitten with old historical buildings and I couldn't seem to get enough in Watonga.

Finally it was Ryan's turn and we made a stop in Yukon, OK to check out Express Ranches. If you are not familiar with me my husband has cattle and is highly interested in anything to do with cattle. Express Ranches are owned by the creator of Express Personal Services and have quite a beautiful compound in Yukon as well as several other locations across the US. Needless to say their black Angus bulls are quite extravagant as well as their sprawling estate.