This past Memorial Day weekend we decided to take our annual anniversary trip. Each year we honor our anniversary by getting out of town and spending quality time with each other. Well this year (seeing Izzy is only 10 weeks away from her debut) we hit the road a little closer to home.
We decided to go on an Oklahoma road trip. And by the way, we brought a guest along...Bernie! He was so excited when we told him about our special adventure. I have to say he was the best dog on this trip.
We left town after work on Friday and our first stop was Amber, Oklahoma. Our good friend Rick Franklin told us about a steak house in Amber. It's called Ken's and it couldn't have been more "Oklahoma." Our waitress was Amber from Amber. There were no menus, no prices, and only meat served with Texas toast and honey.
"Only in Oklahoma" was common phrase Scott and I used a lot this past weekend. For example, a sweet man in Ken's parking lot stopped us to ask about Bernie. We ended up talking to him telling him of our unknown adventures...and our weekend was an open book. He told us to head to Medicine Park Resort. So that's exactly what we did.
This lodge in MP was completely booked, but with a little Dawkins magic, we got a room. Scott is gifted with the power of persuasion. Even though the contract said "no pets" we explained how Bernie was a little boy not a dog. He laughed and let us head to our room!
Medicine Park was filled with fun food, nice people, and unique shops. We ended up stopping in a few stores to buy Izzy dresses and bows. We ate at the Old Plantation Restaurant and walked around the streams and lake.
Our journey on Saturday afternoon led us to Mount Scott and the Wichita Wildlife Refuge.
Another phrase commonly used was "do you feel like you are in Oklahoma?" Most places we stopped felt like a different state.
This was a breathtaking view from the top. We walked around for a while on the big rocks. My mother will die when she sees some of these pictures. She hates heights!
When we were driving through the refuge there would be all sorts of animals to our right and left. This Texas longhorn was lost. I had to yell "Go Sooners!"
The rest of the afternoon was full of hikes and driving around Lake Murry. We headed to Ardmore for the evening and got a pet friendly hotel for Bernie. We ordered pizza and called it a night.
The next day we headed to Turner Falls near Davis, Oklahoma. This was one of the coolest places we saw. I can't wait to take Izzy there one day. It had slides, rafts for floating the streams, and yummy snow cones! It was packed for the holiday weekend.
One of my favorite pictures of the weekend. Bernie was always alert and ready to see what stop was next. We decided the land of animals at Arbuckle Wilderness should be our next stop. It was exciting to be on a safari ride. It reminded us of Jurassic Park...okay not quite, but we still had a great time seeing and feeding animals.
When we would get closer to taller animals we would roll the windows up since we didn't know exactly how Bernie and the zebras, horses, and giraffes would react.
These last two pictures are from our hiking adventures. At 29 weeks pregnant we did a mile and a half hike through the refuge. Bernie and I needed shade and water every 30 minutes, but we made it. Scott also invested in a walking stick.
Our third anniversary trip was a great Oklahoma adventure. Living here for so long and just seeing some of these beautiful places for the first time was well worth our long weekend. Cheers to the great people we met including the Mayor of Medicine Park, shop owners, and parking lot advice givers. We have always wanted to have an OKIE road trip...someday...and that's exactly what we did.
