Northwest Oklahoma • Panhandle Area

Here are links to other websites about Northwest Oklahoma and the Panhandle.

When Harold Keith, winner of the coveted Newbery medal for his novel Rifles for Watie, wrote another award-winning book, Brief Garland, he likely never imagined that Brief Garland would someday be made into a movie entitled Believe in Me. The movie is about a girls’ basketball team in Sayer, Oklahoma in 1964.

When people think of a quilt they think of a blanket with ornate stitching. You may remember your mother or grandmother had a quilt spread neatly across the always-made bed. But for many women in early America, quilt making was a labor of love.

As you drive out of the little town of Aline, Oklahoma, heading south on Highway 8, you’ll pass by a nondescript, low-slung building, possibly with several old farm implements strewn about the front. Although it doesn’t look it, this simple structure houses a part of Oklahoma history. In fact, it contains the last intact example of a dwelling common to most of the pioneers of that era. It houses, well, a house! A Sooner homesteader’s sod house, to be precise.

It is sunset, and I am sitting on a blanket-covered stone waiting. My children are not really listening to the park guide. My husband adjusts his digital camera. Suddenly, one black speck flies from a dark spot on the side of the hill. We all lean forward. At that moment, thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats fly from the mouth of the Selman Bat Cave. Darkening the sky, they pour out for several minutes and even my teenagers are in awe. I try to remember the guide's reassurance that the bats will not fly into my hair they don't. The bats are off to eat an estimated ten tons of mosquitoes and other insects during this one evening.

Sometimes opposites, like cold ice cream and hot fudge, are good. Plan a trip to Northwest Oklahoma and enjoy another set of complimentary opposites-a cool, dark cave and hot, white sand. Your itinerary can easily include both Alabaster Cavern State Park and Little Sahara State Park since they are less than an hour away from each other.