Oklahoma? Been there, done that. 

But hold-up. It’s not really over until there’s a recap. Normally I’d take this day by day, but now that I’m home, I’ve quickly slid into a position where I don’t have time and my desire to rehash wanes. So friends, this rapid fire set of highlights is gonna be it.

Day 2 (Tuesday): Lots of exploring the area by car and getting our bearings as well as a 2nd and final trip to the store for supplies. These “supplies” were mostly to satisfy my sudden craving for mimosas to have at breakfast and Jim wanting to find a place that sells test strips to test the hot tub water chemical balance. As it turns out champagne and OJ are much easier to find than pool supplies in the middle of Nowhere Oklahoma.

I took a few snaps of cool places we hiked but most of the day was unremarkable. We retreated to our cabin relatively early for frozen pizza, margaritas, hot tub time, and just messing around. I was pretty tipsy by the time it was time to tune into an event via zoom where my friend T was reading from a story of hers. And I don’t remember much after that except that it was a good time.

Day 3 (Wednesday): We were up early and the sunrise was unremarkable. I made us breakfast and poured myself a lovely mimosa which was a great way to start our Backroad Adventure day.

We rented a Jeep for the day and went deep into the forest on roads not legal for most vehicles. January is off season so there were no other souls on the trails. And once we got the hang of driving the terrain, which was rocket and muddy and riddled with giant puddles, it was a ton of fun. The Jeep quickly became covered in mud and we began to hit the puddles at a pretty good clip to see how big of a splash we could make.

One of the trails led up to the top of a mountain that overlooks Broken Bow Lake. The view was incredible and pictures don’t do it justice.

The second trail we selected was farther south and went almost all the way down to the lake so we were able to stop there, have our packed lunch, and hike down to the lake. The view was not as good from that angle but it was great for hunting rocks.

After returning the Jeep, our evening was pretty much a repeat of the previous night. Dinner, drinks, hot tub, etc etc.

Dinner was takeout from a restaurant called The Hochatown Saloon. I had a cheeseburger of course which I would rate as a 4.25 but the fries were terrible. Jim’s food was excellent and we both agreed it was the best takeout we’ve had the entire pandemic.

That night we attempted a campfire but it was too cold and the wood was too wet. It burned just long enough for me to roast 3 marshmallows. The night was more tame than the previous one because my notes say that we settled in and watched a movie, Two Popes. I would not have remembered that if I hadn’t taken notes, but it was a good movie. Ha!

Day 4 (Thursday): Another “free” day with no scheduled activities planned. We once again drove Beavers Bend State Park loop looking for places to get out and hike and found a few excellent spots.

We ended up on a road that led back to the main road we had just left and felt like we were stuck in a time loop, crossing the same bridge multiple times. Or perhaps it was just too much mimosa.

It’s a little sad how fast time slipped away. Before we knew it, sun was going down again. The sunsets were pretty unremarkable on the trip, but this one was the best yet, with a bit of pink in the sky, which we saw from the car as we were getting takeout for dinner.

I had a cheeseburger from a different place in Hochatown, Abendigo’s. It was a solid 4.0 and the fries were really quite good for a takeout situation.

It was another chill evening with a little hot tub time and a movie. This time it was “Catch Me if You Can.” I think we both were over the repeating evening routine and missing home and began making plans for leaving on Friday instead of Saturday.

Day 5 (Friday): The morning activity became packing to leave. We planned to take off just after the horse trail ride we had booked for early afternoon.

That was a two hour ride where we explored the wilderness again from both high and low vantage points and had a new Miss SugarCookie first.. Crossing a river on a horse! When our guide ahead went into the river I was like “whelp, I guess this is happening.” All terror of crossing a moving body of water aside, it was neat. Yeah “neat” is the best word I can find. Both of our horses were on the short side so our feet got soaked and were subsequently a bit chilly.

As I said, our plan was to skip town after that so as soon as we got back, we had a quick bite to eat, a final walk of the grounds, and then loaded up the car.

We selected Pittsburg Kansas as our stopping point for the night. And that was it. After that it was all just driving. 

We arrived home on Saturday about 2pm and the cats were happy to see us. 

I think we were both glad to be home and have most of the rest of the weekend to relax and enjoy just being at home with nothing that needed doing. 

There’s not a lot more I want to write about for highlights but I think that that there were one or two other noteworthy items… despite the area being more beautiful than I expected, there was a huge trash problem. The amount of garbage on the side of the road everywhere we went was disturbing. We went through 6 states on the trip and Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Arkansas didn’t seem to have a problem but rural Missouri was not good and Oklahoma was the worst. 

Jim was somewhat smitten with the area and said he would be inclined to return again sometime but I just could not look past the trash. With as many cool places as there are to visit in the world, I can’t see ever going back.

Oklahoma? Ok… NOW I can finally say I’ve been there and done that.

On to the Next Thing, 💃💃💃

~Miss SugarCookie