On Sunday, after conquering Mount Scott (in our car) and filling our bellies at Meers, Susan and I made our way to Medicine Park. Medicine Park is a small resort town in the Wichita mountains near Lawton, Oklahoma. According to Wikipedia, the population of Medicine Park as of 2010 was 384 people.
The first thing most people notice when entering Medicine Park are these round cobblestones, which are literally everywhere. The cobblestones are naturally formed, made of granite, and unique to Wichita mountains. When we asked a local where they find them, he said “dig six inches and you’ll find one.” The stones are so plentiful that they are commonly used in construction. It is difficult to find a house, building, or wall that doesn’t incorporate them in some way.
At its heart Medicine Park is a tourist resort, and the town’s main street is lined with shops, cafes, and goofy picture opportunities. Unfortunately due to the timing of our visit, most of the shops were closed as we made our way through town. That didn’t stop us from taking pictures outside each one.
After a lap around town, Susan and I found where we were staying. The InnHabit is a tiny home village consisting of small cabins made from shipping containers. Each cabin is two-stories (each story is its own cabin) and contains a rooftop deck accessible by ladder. Each cabin has a unique name and theme (“Knees in the Breeze” has a motorcycle theme; “Hit the Trail” is for hiking and biking enthusiasts) and ours, “Let the Music Play,” had a “music/musician” theme. In the picture above, our cabin was the upstairs gray one.
Despite their relatively small size (it’s a tiny house resort), each cabin has a queen-sized bed with a full-size trundle bed; a kitchenette complete with a dorm-sized refrigerator, sink, microwave, and (most importantly) a coffee machine; a seating area with two chairs and a small end table; and a full bathroom, complete with a toilet, a sink, and a small but usable shower. Each unit has its own air conditioner, which literally had us shivering throughout the night!
In the middle of the resort is a large gazebo which is free to use and furnished with a fire pit, a grill, seating for roughly 20 people, and even a karaoke machine. While there we imagine how fun it would be to get all of our friends to rent cabins on the same weekend and have a big party in the gazebo.
Restaurant pickings were slim at 8pm on a Sunday night, but fortunately a local Mexican restaurant (“Chad’s El Sabores”) was open. The restaurant, which features both indoor and outdoor seating, used to be a local winery. Susan and I had then entire back porch to ourselves and split a big plate of nachos while enjoying the scenery.
Not much was open Monday morning, but we did find one bakery (“Mrs. Chadwick’s Bakery”) that served lattes and pastries. Susan bought me this chocolate and peanut butter cupcake for my birthday, which I cradled like a baby shortly before eating it.
On our way out of town we passed over the Medicine Park Bridge one last time. This bridge was built in 1906, one year before Oklahoma was a state and eight years before World War I. The one-lane bridge wooden can hold 5,000 pounds, which is two average sedans or one full Amazon truck.
Susan and I had a great anniversary/birthday adventure and I’m already looking forward to the next one.
I put some “BigRobsVan” branding on it, but if you would like to see a video of our weekend’s adventures, here it is!
