03 | December | 2013 | Confetti Thoughts

When you live in a city, you need to leave every now and then, travel the quieter spaces of rural areas. Every state and country has them and you need to be there to get a true perspective on what a region is about. You need to put the crazy ways of the city up against the quiet ways of the country and understand the people who inhabit both.

I’d never really been in Southwest Oklahoma, so I went. Staying in Quartz Mountain Resort, in the middle of agricultural and cattle lands, traveling to Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, a national treasure, and driving through the small towns and rural roads was a trip that taught me much more about my state, adding to what I know and love about our country.

I love the county seats, like Cordell, with its beautiful county courthouse in the middle of the plaza. This one is on the national historic register, designed by the same architect who designed the state capitol.

I love the towns that still have their Carnegie libraries, like Lawton.

Lawton has destroyed their historic downtown, replacing it years ago with a mall, but they did keep the lovely home of Mattie Beal, a young telephone operator from Kansas whose name was drawn in the land lottery, giving her the means to become one of the city’s most beloved benefactors.

I love the little touches of the past preserved, like this Phillips station in Altus.

And this stop light in Hobart.

And the little towns that were built on hope and never really went anywhere. Who wouldn’t like to say they are from Indiahoma, Oklahoma? Say what?

Or Gotebo, pronounced Go’-Tee-Bow, where the most going business is dog grooming from the looks of things.

I love the little old movie theaters like the Redskin in Anadarko, a mostly Native American community, where they can get away with politically incorrect things like that,