The Accidental Hometown Tourist
A by ALLISON ELDREDGE Every summer, most Americans take some type of vacation. Families will take trips to all the favorite spots like Walt Disney World, Branson, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and so many more. Last summer, I helped my mom watch and entertain my daughter and her four cousins. We tried to fill their time with lots and lots of free and low cost events and activities. The local libraries and splash pads were the most common adventures for our crew. I’m sure all libraries are great, but we hit the closest Creek County locations: Sapulpa, Bristow and Mannford. They all have the same theme for the Summer Reading programs; however, each library is so unique in how it presents the program, crafts, and rewards. The kids read and listened to many books and received some great prizes. The week before school started, I loaded up all five kids without any other parental help and we started our accidental tourist adventure. I had made a list of places that we needed to visit OKLAHO MA CORRID OR M AGAZI NE / J U NE 2 0 2 2 14
PHOTOS by ALLISON ELDREDGE based on their uniqueness, historical relevance, and fun photo shoot spots. Day 1: Bristow, Oklahoma: my hometown. We started with the oldest church, St. George’s built in 1903. Of course, the building wasn’t open, but we took pictures with the front doors. We walked down to the city building and took pictures with a bull. Yep, a bronzed bull. In front of the building by the sidewalk, we found a historical marker that I had never seen before. Picture time! Walking across the street, we sat down and took pictures with the bronze statues of children having story time. A memorial to our summer spent in the library. Then, we went to someplace off the beaten path of local tourism; the local bank lobby. Partly because I needed to handle some bank business, and partly because it was a cool place to rest. The kids sat down with suckers and behaved as well as five kids can with sugar. Our next stop was the Bristow Depot and Museum. We took pictures with the caboose and the water tower.
