The last two days we met really interesting people and were swamped with new impressions and ideas. One was a young guy who was attending gunsmithing school, the other a country music singer with taste and money and finally an action toy figure collector and artist. And we calmed down considerably by driving through the countryside of Oklahoma, straight dusty backroads, wide open land, sparsely populated.
After we left our floating cabin on Lake Murray on sunday morning after a leasurely breakfast on the porch at sunrise, we circled the lake and admired all the solid rock buildings the CCC/WPA built in the 1930ies, when the area became a State Park. One of them was the Tucker Tower (see pic) with an instructive museum adjacent.
At noon we arrived at the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur, a large complex of buildings (museum/library/theater/restaurant/shop...) with an open-air indian village. Have been here before, but would always come back for another visit, because it's probably the best indian cultural center in the U.S.A. We were fortunate that it was a sunday, since on weekends presentations take place in the Indian village. We got a chance to watch a dance presentation: stomp dance is the dance style the Chickasaw are practicing and it has nothing to do with all the fancy dances you'll see at powwows.
After a late lunch in the museum's café with indian tacos (see pic) and grape dumplings (another indian speciality), we were treated with another soothing massage in the Artesian Hotel in town – a new Chickasaw owned casino-hotel with a really state-of-the-art spa. Didn't have much time to relax afterwards, still had to drive for another hour to reach our final destination on this day: Tishomingo.
There is not much to see in Tishomingo, a dusty hicktown with a main street, a couple of shops and galleries and a Bed & Breakfast called "Ladysmith". This B&B with eight guestrooms opened in September, in an old, restored office building. The place was like nothing else we've seen before. We had expected one of these classical, stuffed, old-fashioned B&Bs with small rooms, but this one was spectacular: a medley of "shabby chic", with retro/vintage/artsy stuff and antiques arranged in a very tasteful way in large rooms. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, one reason may be that it's owned by a famous country music singer – Miranda Lambert – and/or that she doesn't need/want any promotion. Absolutely worth being experienced! Right now construction for a new concert hall in a neighboring building is about to be accomplished and, across the street, is the fancy shop of Miranda, the "Pink Pistol", with a historic soda fountain. Since the shop and, later, the hotel opened, more shops came up and economy seems to pick up.
Unfortunately there is still no real restaurant in town and since we didn't want to drive around again, we skipped dinner and just enjoyed a beer in the guest bar in the house and munched on chips. In the bar we chatted with Chris, the barkeeper, a symbol for American down-to-earth mentality and positive thinking: Coming from Wisconsin and having been a marine in 29 Palms/CA for a couple of years, he decided that he wanted to make a profession out of his hobby and applied for admission at Murray State College Gunsmithing School. He was accepted and he and his wife (who is working full-time in the hotel to allow him to attend school) moved to Tishamonga, bought an old farmhouse, which they are restaurating now, and both are happy though they work long hours both. We learned a lot about weapons, hunting and American mentality on this evening.
After a delicious 3-course-breakfast in the B&B and political discussions with guests from Kansas, we left for Pauls Valley, another undistinct hicktown, wouldn't there be be an exceptional museum on main street: the Toy Action Figure Museum. This unique collection of action figures of all kinds (Spiderman, Superman, Starwars etc.) was initiated by an interesting person: an famous action figure designer, turned artist/musician/cartoonist/writer and entrepreneur by name Kevin Stark. He gave us a tour himself and introduced us to his fantastic toy collection and his art gallery. We wished we would have had more time to admire all the figures and to chat some more with this interesting gentleman.
On to Oklahoma City, where we arrived early afternoon, but that's another story... stay tuned...
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