Oklahoma's Route 66 Pops: 500+ Flavors of Soda Pop!

Sometimes, the days weigh heavy on the kids. Yesterday, I decided to take them up to the grocery store to get a 35 cent soda pop out of the vending machine. But, as I pulled out of the driveway and on to our street, I decided instead to take them Pops on Route 66 in Arcadia, Oklahoma.

Pops is a spot in the road that features an iconic soda pop bottle and more than 500 flavors of soda. I can't even begin to do justice to the excitement Sully expressed when he saw all his favorite colors in the form of soda pop. In this complicated world there is no match under the stars for little boy wonder.

The Super Bridgy was another story. She grabbed up her bottle of apple-green soda and held onto it like a member of the NRA holds onto his guns.

Juliette, who is such a little lady and so mature for her age, reminded me that she is in fact a tween. She selected a soda called Dog Drool.

My father would have really loved this place, and I couldn't help but think of him when I reached my hand inside the refrigerator filled with dozens of selections and pulled out a bottle of Snake River Sarsaparilla bottled by Jackson Hole Soda Company. My father loved sarsaparilla and sassafras. One day in 1980, he came home from some rural jaunt with pieces of a sassafras tree. We boiled the bark and made sassafras tea.

As I drove back to Oklahoma City, I felt sad that my father can no longer be with me on little adventures like this, and that he never really got to know my little ones. My dad was not just my family, he was my best-family, and he was my friend. But, I felt something wonderful today! I felt a resolve to live these moments to their fullest despite his absence. This is how he would have wanted my trip to Pops to be. Someday, when he passes on, I think he'll look down on us from heaven and see everything he can't see now, including these good times.