Thursday, June 16, 2011

{Insert Wizard of Oz Quote Here}

Day 2 of our Okie-crusted trip was dominated by a visit to the GW Exotic Animal Park near Wynnewood. This was the first day that we really felt the humidity. (We've actually decided that we prefer Phoenix summers to Oklahoma summers.) Addie's poor noggin was sweating after 10 minutes outside. Her hair has never been curlier:


Anyhoo, the park was truly one of a kind. It's mainly a refuge for unwanted exotic animals. You know, those idiots who think a tiger cub is cute until it eats their Maltese. And you get disturbingly close to the wildlife:



This particular guy was enjoying his nap and got a little nasty if you made too much noise:


And here's a little video that gives a little more perspective on how the park is set up, since Mike is moving around a bit, trying to get a tiger to charge the fence. He is successful, but because of the freezing-up nature of the video, you can only see the end of the excitement:



Should you frequent the Wynnewood area of Oklahoma, do check out this place out. There are something like 200 wild cats there, including a couple of Ligers. But I caution against wearing Flame by BK when you go.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Your Okie Roots are Showing

Despite our exotic surname, 2 of the 3 Cupaks have roots in the Great Plain state of Oklahoma (you can't say it without singing, right?). So last Wednesday, we packed up and headed to the formidable Masengale Family Reunion in Sulphur, OK.

Everyone has their own travel woes, so I won't bore you with the 'woke up at 3am, layover in Dallas' part of the story. Miss Thing hasn't been on a plane since she was young enough to sleep through the whole experience, but she did wonderfully. Of course, we had to relax some of our strict pacifier rules.


As everyone who flies out of Phoenix must these days, we flew over the wildfire. My brain clicked in 2 minutes too late to get a good picture, so here's a bad one (that's smoke, not clouds):


We landed in OKC around noon to find my mother already pulling our suitcase and carseat off the carousel. My Aunt Kaye had brought her car JUST for luggage, so she followed my Dad as we drove off to Sonic, Oklahoma's official restaurant. No one really knew where the closest one was, except for Fran, the trusty GPS. Like lemmings, we followed... as she led us in a roundabout circle. Finally it dawned - the closest Sonic was IN the airport. Attempt #2 was more successful, so we dutifully ate our Sonic burgers and drank our frozen lemonades (do try one) before driving 90 minutes southish to Sulphur.


Sulphur is unexpectedly quaint. It's definitely one of those 'can't find it on the map' types of places, but it does have a Walmart and a Sonic (see above), as is proper. There are also several antique homes, including the one we rented in old downtown called the Flower Bluff Mansion. It was built in 1924 by the mayor, which is earlier than 1960, my cutoff date for being unafraid of a house.


We threw down our stuff and attempted to get Addie to take a nap before trapsing off to my 2nd cousin's lake cabin to meet up with the extended fam. Dinner was relatively short, since we were exhausted, so we turned in early. And so ended of the beginning of our trip.

Monday, June 6, 2011

A High Time for Tea

You know me. I love tea. (end of poem)

I had my bridal shower at the Beehive Tea Room in Salt Lake City. I've dragged my family members to overpriced High Teas at the Grand America. I've made my long-suffering husband deign to be the only man in a tea house on multiple occasions. So I've been hankering for a good tea since we've been down in Phoenix, but I didn't know where to scratch the itch.

Enter Kimberly Ann's Tea Room in downtown Glendale. I went with some other med school wives - Emily, Adrianne and Rebekah (L to R):


Sure, it wasn't the most elegant of tea rooms I've been too, but they tried to keep it classy:


It was relaxing and mostly delicious, and an added bonus that we were seated in the aptly named Princess Room because the rest of the house was "booked up" (read: the tables hadn't been cleared). And then we found the dress-up box with the hats:


And I'm pretty sure I may have created a High Tea-sized hole in their hearts that will hunger to be filled on a semi-regular basis, as proved by the dreamy look in Emily's eyes:


This hunger has been temporarily abated, but be forewarned: I will need High Tea again. Some may welcome it; others (Mike) may dread it.