Medicine Park, Oklahoma

Well, y'all, in all my years of Wandering of a Girl Ryder blogging and the MILLIONS of times I rode through this tiny little community, I never actually wrote about it. Go me. And, I mean millions of times. It was on the way home, so I generally detoured through it because anything for a little extra riding time.

I've been around Medicine Park my whole life. I volunteered as a kid when they added the riverwalk. My first job was at a small shop (now long gone) on Cobblestone Hill. I remember when there was a small coffee shop called the Mercantile, and it was in the shop the Chaps My Ass took over until the Mercantile moved to the Music Hall (before that became an event center for the Old Plantation and after it was the Music Hall). I remember when there was a tiny little coffee shop on cobblestone row in the late 90s, and I spent Y2K's New Year's Eve there with my family and best friend. I remember when that coffee shop's owner opened up 10 years a new coffee shop later at the Medicine Park Y next to a restaurant called the Master's Kitchen. I worked at both of those. Anybody ever stop in there? The coffee and brownies at Buffalo Ground were the best. And, the food at Master's Kitchen was phenomenal. That's actually where and how Blueberry got the name. Did I ever share that story? 

Is Medicine Park part of your history? Tell me about it in the comments! I have a picture of the Old Plantation from the 80s from my mom that I posted somewhere (here or on another blog of mine), and the owner of one of the cars in that old picture said hi in the comments. Sometimes the world is F'n small, y'all.

Watching the community go through its phases (some good, some bad) has been interesting. Medicine Park has definitely been working hard to become one of the top destinations in Oklahoma. It's worth the drive from wherever you are. 

Hands Down. No questions.

Badass history ✅

Cool aesthetics ✅

Swimming hole in a river ✅

Dining Options ✅

Riverwalk ✅

Live Music ✅

A vegan restaurant ✅

Aquarium (...kind of) ✅

Harley Davidson Shop ✅

Seriously. What more do you want? I've even heard about escape rooms. 

It's true, Medicine Park is a pretty tiny little community. And, if you're breezing by on HWY 49 or HWY 58, you're likely to miss it as it's tucked along Medicine Creek. But, if you're on top of Mt. Scott, and you look down, you'll see it. 

It's high time I get into a little bit of Medicine Park's history on this blog, so the following posts will be more about Medicine Park. I hope you'll have a seat and stick around!

Nostalgia Tour

Life is a funny thing. It never really works out the way you plan, and that's alright, I guess. Wanderings of a Girl Ryder has definitely taken the back burner for the last...oh, you know, DECADE. Shit, I'm gettin' old.

Thus, I was really surprised to see that people still find my WGR blog in the shadowy depths of the interwebs, and that made me a little sad that I had space/storage issues back then and had removed most of the photos from the posts. And, that I've lost a lot of pictures due to faulty thumb drives, so I can't add them back. You'd think after losing all of my pictures three times over the last 15 years, I'd learn to back up my work, but...

Currently bike-less, also a life concept I never would have associated with myself when I was in my 20s, but, hopefully, that will change in the future. Some things change, and some things don't. I still love exploring my local area, photography, and getting into good trouble ('xcept now it's the kind that lets me be in bed by 9PM). I have been exploring a bit in a completely different location, and maybe I'll share some of those adventures here in the future. 

On that note, I thought I'd share a little bit of a nostalgic tour. I backroad-road tripped my way over to Walters and Comanche for the first time in, well, also almost a decade. I got a tip about a little store in Comanche that has garden art, so I had to go check it out.

I have lots of great memories from coasting around WWC (Walters, Waurkia, & Comanche), and it's a loop I rode on a regular basis in one form or another. It made me a little sad, but maybe that because I was in a car. 

The car thing let me turn it into a girls trip with another photographer, and we listened to music and reminisced about the good ol' days when you could hang out at the gas station and get a date. But, maybe that was just me. I feel like that might not be the best dating advice in today's world, so DON'T DO THAT. Oh, and a cool thing about road tripping with other photographers is that they don't look at you all weird when you make a random U-turn to take a picture of something. And, sometimes they catch things you didn't see because, you know, you were actually paying attention to the road for once.

I remember Walters was a super cute little town back when the Silver Spoon was still there, but it looks like the town is going through a little rough patch. Store fronts on Main Street (Broadway St) are empty and run down. I realize, it's not just a Walters' problem as small towns nationwide (even worldwide) have been fighting a battle they may not win. But, it's still sad to see. The state of our communities reflect the state of our society. Maybe investing in our communities and actively participating in them would change the world, but I ain't no city-planner or sociologist, so what do I know? 

And, even though, I have seen Walters' experiencing better days, it still has charm and history. Hopefully, there's also hope for better days.

Walters' Main Street (Broadway St) still has a couple of independently owned gyms, a library (that makes me happy), a florist, a bank, a salon, the electric company (if it hadn't been a Saturday, I may have run in and asked about my ever-increasing electric bill and why my bills oddly went up after they switched out the meter...but, I digress) and two great murals. They even got themselves a Dollar General Market which curiosity led me to investigate. I had to know: what makes it different from a regular DG? I'm apparently naive; I was expecting some fruits and veggies... A couple of extra shelves of boxed groceries compared to the other DGs I've seen. But, if you need groceries, then maybe get 'em at the independent grocery store, eh?  I didn't make it down to Walters Hometown Grocery, but at least there's something other than a chain in town!

What's a Walters hidden-gem? I would love to know along with any stories from Walters' happier days. If you have any awesome stories, comment and share them. Oh, and where do you eat???  

Moving on. Quickly, though, 'cause jeez this is gettin' long. I also ran out of time on this trip, so I didn't grab any shots in Comanche. 

I was pleasantly surprised driving through Comanche. It's still tiny, blink three times and you might miss it, but it's definitely changed since I last rode through. I'll have to go back and visit the diner and check out Main Street when I have more time. Cowtown Corner is worth the trip, so if you're in the area, sure you'll find something worth buying. Owners are super friendly, too. 

I'm pretty sure the whole town was at the school (sporting event?) when I drove through. Some cool things I never knew about Comanche, OK:

-It was formerly known as Tucker. As in Mother Tucker, just kidding. It had a post office in 1887. When the Rock Island Railroad came to Indian Territory in 1889, the townsite was moved and eventually renamed Comanche in honor of the Comanche Tribe. Apparently, the annual Comanche Carnival was a big deal from the early 1900s to the 1920 (I'll have to see if the Oklahoma Historical Society has some pictures of this event). I'm talking' up to 25,000 people allegedly came to this event - that's an insane number for me to wrap my mind around. Especially, for the early 1900s. Apparently, Frank James (Jesse James' bro), Geronimo and Quanah Parker had attended the event at some point of its run. Frank James settled down near Cement and Fletcher if my memory serves me right. They've has a newspaper since before the 1900s, and still have one.

-Comancheans include athletes (Alvin Dark & Boyd Franklin Morgan), writers (Clifton Adams, Wynona Morris Nations & Arlene James), artists (Terrence Clark & Shelby Myers, Jr.), singer Hoyt Aston, actor Silver Moon, the oldest known living survivor of the Tulsa race massacre (Viola Fletcher), and a lot of rodeo champions & barrel racers.

Know somethin' cool 'bout Comanche? Share it with me! Anybody been to the diner? Tell me how it was!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stay Curious & Stay Kind, y'all!