Travel Blog – Pawhuska

Where the heck is Pawhuska? Well, if you aren’t familiar with Ree Drummond and the Pioneer Woman franchise, you may not be aware. Pawhuska is in Oklahoma. It has a population of 3,481. Pawhuska is the county seat of Osage County, and is known for its Native American culture. The Osage Nation is prominent in this area. In fact, the town itself is named after the 19th century Osage Chief, Paw-Hiu-Skah, which means White Hair in English.

For a tiny town in Northern Oklahoma it has some big names that have called it home; Ree Drummond being one of them. For those of you who have watched her show, Pioneer Woman, on the Food Network, you will know she lives on a ranch with her husband Ladd, and their four children. Some of the children are now on their way to college and living their best life. But Ree has shared her frontier with all of us, one episode at a time.

She films and cooks out of the The Lodge that is located on their ranch and which is open for tours during the day. There is no cost to visit this location, but the drive can take 20-30 minutes as half of it is on a gravel road, and I highly recommend driving slowly on that. The view from the Lodge is amazing. You can see for miles and all you will see is ranch land. It’s peaceful, quiet, and a great place to enjoy nature. 10/10 recommend you visit.

For me, visiting Pawhuska, I was a little hesitant as I’m not a huge fan of Pioneer Woman, but my sister Jennifer, a friend Vicki, and I all made a weekend out of it. I couldn’t have asked for a more fun filled weekend with some amazing ladies, not to mention the other ladies who joined us from our Facebook Group, Kim, Ronel, her Mother (sorry I don’t remember her name) and Georgia. You ladies rock!

In Pawhuska you will see one of the main attractions, The Mercantile. This is one of several Pioneer Woman owned businesses. She actually has five other businesses all within a block of each other; An event center, boutique, boarding house, sweet shop, and pizza restaurant. The boutique and mercantile do offer similar products, but the boutique has more clothing. The mercantile offers products that range from clothing, to cookware, toys, books, and bath products.

The Mercantile has a restaurant on the ground floor, a bakery and coffee counter upstairs as well. We had breakfast at the Mercantile, and the biscuits and gravy is absolutely fabulous! It was very flavorful and the biscuits were the best I ever had.

As we checked out the bakery, the treat there are amazing, but know that when they are gone, they are gone. The do not bake all day long. But you will find, cookies, truffles, cheesecakes, muffins, croissants, and other sweet yummies. All washed down with a cup of coffee as well.

On the way to the Lodge, as mentioned above, we drove completely past the Drummond Ranch where the family lives and works the land. We did not drive down the road, as we were respectful of their privacy, but as you can see, there isn’t a lot that will clog your view of the natural setting.

For those of you who love pizza, you need to check out P Town Pizza. Do not pass up the chance to get the Not Knots! These little balls of fried dough have garlic and cheese on them and they are so addicting that you will want to order more to go. Don’t be scared, we ordered two orders of them.

And your official pioneer woman tour wouldn’t be complete with out a sweet treat at Charlie’s. Word of caution get one scoop, they are huge!

Would I recommend Pawhuska? Yes I would. The people were very friendly, the Osage heritage is something everyone can appreciate, and even if you aren’t there for the Pioneer Woman, you can enjoy the effort she has put in to keep her town thriving.

Not all those who wander are lost.