Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

Wichita KS

Beautiful building in downtown Wichita.
Sculpture of Joseph and Mary “with child”.
Chaplain (Captain) Emil Joseph Kapaun was a Korean War POW from Kansas. He died in a prison camp at Pyoktong in 1951. His story is quite interesting. To learn more details of his life, go to this site: https://frkapaun.org/about/

In 1993 The Roman Catholic Church declared him a “Servant of God”, and he is now a candidate for sainthood.
Sister John Patrick (Loretta) in her office.
Sisters reunion.

The Original Pizza Hut Museum

Wichita KS

In 1958, the Carney brothers, then Wichita State University students, had the humble goal of opening a small pizza shop in Wichita. Run with the help of fellow students and family, the pizza joint was a success. This building was moved to the campus of Wichita State University and was made a museum.
Vintage Pizza Hut items.
Evolving menus.
Similar to the cash register used in the original Pizza Hut.
Evolving logos.
Iconic Pizza Hut light.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Allen House

Wichita KS

Another Frank Lloyd Wright house. This one was completed in 1918, for newspaper publisher Henry Allen and his wife, Elsie. It was the last of the architect’s famous prairie houses, which emphasized horizontal lines, earth tones and a continuous blending of interiors with exteriors.

Architectural writers who have visited the house believe its living room is “one of the great rooms of the 20th century”.

The home features more than 30 pieces of Wright-designed furniture, all of its original art glass and several new-for-their-time innovations, such as wall-hung water closets and an attached garage.

Ponca City OK

The Ponca City Refinery was built in 1918, sits on about 2,500 acres, and employs more than 960 employees.

It processes a mixture of light, medium and heavy crude oils. Most of the crude oil processed is received by pipeline from Oklahoma, Texas and Canada.

The refinery is a high-conversion facility that produces a full range of products, including gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels; liquefied petroleum gas (LPG); and anode-grade petroleum coke. Finished petroleum products are shipped by truck, railcar and pipelines to markets throughout the Midcontinent region.
The Pioneer Woman statue honors the legacy of the pioneering women of Oklahoma. This statue, “Confident” was created by Bryant Baker in 1930. The adjacent museum (closed when we were here) was built in 1958.
The “Palace on the Prairie”, the E. W. Marland mansion. Marland discovered oil in Oklahoma in 1911, and gained his wealth via the Marland Oil Company, which later merged with another company that became Conoco.

The Pioneer Woman

Pawhuska OK

This was one of the key stops on our trip – The Pioneer Woman!
We stayed in this renovated office building, now the Frontier Hotel.
Here is the Pioneer Woman Boarding House. We could not get a room here, even months ago – it was all booked.
The Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile.
Drummond Ranch truck photo-op.
The Merc. The expansion of the Pioneer Woman franchise on the Food TV network has enabled Ree Drummond to fully embrace the American Dream. The little town of Pawhuska has been revived because of all the benefits of the Pioneer Woman. The Pioneer Woman employs people in the Merc, the Boarding House, the PW Collection, the Event Center, P-Town Pizza, and Charlie’s Sweet Shop, all in Pawhuska. The increased tourism has also added other businesses to the town, like the Frontier Hotel we stayed in.
Breakfast at the Merc.
For her: Just a Waffle + sausage
For him: Edna Mae’s Breakfast
The store
The bakery
Giant Kitchen Aid mixer
The Drummond Ranch. The Drummond family is the 23rd largest private landowner in the US, with 433,000 acres in Oklahoma and Kansas.
The road to the lodge.
Cowboy
The lodge.
Just like on TV!
View of the ranch from the balcony.