Back in May of 2010, I took my first epic road trip with the friend group to Sam & Ella's, a delicious pizza place in Tahlequah where Carrie Underwood once worked as a waitress. lol Jeffrey was a new addition to our friend group in those days, and I believe we were celebrating Chet Lee's college graduation, hence the cookiecake...
My 2010 blog recap of that trip: "This weekend was a lot of fun… Friday night, we finally went on our Tahlequah road trip! Chet, Jeff, Nathan, Bobbi, and I piled into Chet’s new car (Marcus, if you’d forgotten his name) and headed to Sam and Ella’s! The pizza was actually better than I expected... and Nathan randomly chimed into the conversation several times to explain his thoughts on exactly why their pizza is the best. :) We walked through downtown Tahlequah and talked about Bobbi’s college memories, then we had our “cookie time in the park,” as Jeff put it! Lol He sounded so much like an enthusiastic preschool teacher when he said that. The cookiecake was awesome, as always! We didn’t have a knife, so we all just used our hands... which made me happy I carry Purell w/me everywhere! ;-) We stayed at the park a while, talking about our most embarrassing moments and lots of other great topics. Then we headed home and got to hear several stories about everywhere Jeff has traveled… and although he said Norway was the most beautiful place he's been, Paris and London are still at the top of my list!"
Three years later, we finally took another road trip to Sam & Ella's to celebrate my 29th birthday in 2013 (bottom photo)...
That was followed by a summer 2013 Tahlequah trip, full of fun pictures and quotes which I blogged in more detail HERE. We had Sam & Ella's pizza and stopped for gelato at the park... all followed by raw cookie dough + watching The Golden Girls at the Wilsons! lol #RIPbettywhite
"Okay, so do you all understand the premise of The Golden Girls?" ~Jeff
"Just that it's four old women living together?" ~Me
"Ding, ding, ding, ding!" ~Chet lol
For three years in a row there, this became a semi-annual tradition. Our first 2014 trip was to celebrate something with Chet... maybe a real estate sale or getting his license? Not sure, but yay Chet, and yay double-doozie cookiecake! There's a cute little park with picnic tables and a playground across the street, so we usually did dessert over there.
"Look at that, Mockey! A waterfall!! You said you'd go...." ~JEM
(After my Vegas birthday extravaganza, I said I would only hike again if there was a pretty waterfall involved. On our way to get a pic by this little waterfall, it literally turned off right as we walked up to it, which was hilarious...)
"God was saving me from hiking again!" ~Me :)
More photos and fun quotes (including the beginning of the North Korean prison line of questions from Jeffrey) are covered HERE. lol
Still 2014... we celebrated Chet's birthday three months later with a fun summer road trip to Tahlequah, followed by a judgment-free night swim and ice cream bar at Gary's! (Full post and epic/random rowing video HERE.)
I snapped a pic of LB ready to cut into her pizza...
Laura: "I look kinda psycho... I like it!" lol
A fun Tahlequah road trip was part 6 of my 10-part birthday celebration in 2015, our first time being seated in the "hen house" or the "chicken coop," which JEM is presenting in the top left photo below. That dinner was followed by cookiecake at the Wilson home, all documented HERE.
We had our only December road trip in 2015, where we visited the Drip Coffee House and played in the park again after our pizza! (Full blog HERE).
On the way back, both cars called each other to sing random songs, starting with their car calling us and belting out "HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIIIIIIDE!" lol Then we sang them some Mariah Carey and a Sound of Music classic! And of course, we rowed past them, then they did the bird wings in front of us. lol
Fun times celebrating Jeffrey's 36th Birthday in 2016... sadly, I was taking a few months off from blogging then, so it's just briefly mentioned in THIS POST. This is why I need to always keep the blog going... who even knows what entertaining questions JEM had for us on that car ride!? lol
We skipped a year, then the last time I've been to Sam & Ella's was to celebrate Tiffany's birthday in 2018, pizza dinner followed by coffee/hot chocolate/cookiecake and games at the coffee place down the street - full post HERE). This means Karli was still pregnant with Tate the last time I was in Tahlequah, which feels crazy that it's been that long!
Playing Would You Rather at the coffee house after Sam n' Ella's:
Kelly: So would you rather always have to speak everything you're thinking OR never be able to speak again??
Chettles, pondering the question: Hmm, I'd have no friends left to talk to, so I guess either one. LOL
I love group road trips and the random conversations they bring... and I love the pizza, gelato, cookiecake, etc. that usually come along with them! I'm well aware that the moment for the semi-annual idea has passed now, but this was such a fun tradition, and I'd love to go one more time! Unless I missed one, I realized while writing this that I've been on exactly nine road trips to Tahlequah (each of them including Jeff and Chet), AND exactly nine trips to Las Vegas (the last one documented HERE).
And I would very much like to make that a "Perfect 10" on both of those sometime in the next year or so!! lol
*One other great thing that came from the above trips: When Mom and I were at PetSmart getting a few things for the Pom puppies I hadn't met yet, I found a cute pink rhinestone collar that I really wanted to get their names put on, but I realized I needed to choose short names for that collar to work (5 letters or less). I was so happy when it occurred to me that I could name them Sam (for Samantha) and Ella after one of my favorite restaurants! lol Of course, the best girlfranz went into diva-mode having something around their fluffy necks, so we quickly got rid of those cute collars, and their names rapidly morphed into a hundred different nicknames -- most prominently Sam-puffins and Ella-Bellsy, but this namesake memory still makes me happy! =)
And on that note, this random FB quiz result also made me smile this week!
Very quick update: Rach and the boys are all improving and feeling better, and no one else has caught it, so that's happy news! And although it's apparently more contagious these days, hooray for the gradual decline in the severity and length of the Covid virus... may it weaken and become more mild and unthreatening with each passing day (or may it totally disappear worldwide, if I'm wishing for things)!!
Okaaaay, that's really all for today! Happy Friday!! Let's plan a trip #10 soon to one of my favorite restaurants... we could make fun reservations for Sam & Ella's or fly out for a delightful fountain-side brunch at Mon Ami Gabi... something to think about!! ;-)
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