Pawnee Celebration, Buffaloes, Horses and more

I've taken a few days off but wanted to write a little about this past Saturday. My wife, son and I were invited by a tribal member of the Kitkehahki Band of The Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma to a Spring ceremony that they are trying to get activated again. We drove from Tulsa to Pawnee which is about an hours drive away from here. The ceremony was held in a park and started off with a meal that reminded me of Peruvian Pachamanca. The meat was very tender like roast beef, there were potatoes, a corn based soup and of course frybread. If you've never had frybread you have no idea just what you're missing. I chose to eat my lunch the traditional way by doing away with utensils and used my fingers instead. There was enough food for seconds and thirds however I saved mine to take home for dinner. Afterwards a dance ceremony was held but since it was a ceremony no pictures or video were allowed to be taken or else I would have certainly included some here. My son who is only a few weeks away from his third birthday was entranced by the dancing and drumming. He was nodding his head and moving his feat to the drums. I almost thought he was to ready to go join in the dancing.



We were only able to stay through half of the dancing before we had to leave so that we could visit the Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum. Pawnee Bill was a showman who merged his show with the one ran by Wild Bill Hickok. There is a museum, his mansion as well as a playground and a Wild West Show area. Additionally, there is a small pasture area that you can drive through that has bison and draft horses grazing. We left the pasture to go over to the small lake and after a brief disagreement my wife and I made up and played with our son on the playground before making our way back to the car. We never did tour the mansion but that was okay, it was better to be outside enjoying the day.



Afterwards we started our drive back home during which my son fell deeply asleep as soon as we hit the highway and was followed shortly thereafter by my wife. My rest would have to wait until the journey was complete and we were safely home. At that point I joined my still slumbering son in a lengthy and much needed nap. Not a bad way to end such a busy day.