After a long week of single parenting (the husband gets home today, folks!), I treated myself and the boy to a movie this afternoon.
In my humble opinion, this might be the cutest kid's movie I've seen. (Or at least it's a tie with my other favorite that I have seen probably 20 times -- Charlotte's Web (with Dakota Fanning).) Seriously, I loved every single minute of it and would watch it over and over and over. You'd better believe we'll be buying the DVD when it comes out!
Based on a great kids book - CHECK
John Corbett - CHECK
Adorable kid actors - CHECK
Sandra Oh, Bridget Moynahan, and Ginnifer Goodwin (need I say more?) - CHECK
Mr. Eye Candy, JOSH DUHAMEL - CHECK
Great movie soundtrack - CHECK
Fluffy cat - CHECK
Takes place in Oregon (be still, my heart) - CHECK
All the makings of a great movie, folks. Go see it!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Roadtrippin'....again (Part One)
And the little summer adventures continue. For those keeping track, we have crossed off exactly 19 items on our summer bucket list so far, with 31 still to go. Yes, I added more things to it since I first showed you the picture of the list, and I do actually think we might be able to cross most, if not all of them, off by the end of the summer. We've still got a little over one month left in our household until a certain little someone has to report for kindergarten duty. {Insert big mama crocodile tears here.} By golly, we will be making the most of the time that is left!
So this past Wednesday, we went on another roadtrip adventure. And in true Valerie fashion, it spontaneously expanded into a bigger adventure that enabled us to cross three items off our list instead of just one. Ah, multi-tasking...
First off, I have to offer up thanks to the fabulous Jonni Baloney who tipped me off to this first destination. I'd never heard hide nor hair of this place, but it was briefly mentioned on her blog, and after a little bit of googling, I was sold. I told my cousin's wife about it and my mom and my aunt, and soon enough, we had a nice little group of almost 20 ready for some summertime fun.
But shame on you, my friends who already knew of this wondrous place, for not ever telling me about it! I can see how you'd want to keep it to yourselves as it is rather awesome, but come on...
Okay, back to the story...
Wednesday we packed it up and caravanned almost an hour and a half northeast of town. Right before we arrived, the drive got awful pretty, and I swear, you'd have thought you were in New England instead of Oklahoma. Beautiful green rolling hills, soft pastures full of cattle, brilliant blue skies -- it was quite idyllic. And when we turned into our final destination, it was even prettier. Talk about a perfect destination for a hot summer day!
We arrived at the infamous Blue Hole, paid our $5 per carload (hello, bargain), and found a good spot to park.
For those of you not in the know as I previously was, the Blue Hole is a hidden gem in Oklahoma, but it's been around a long while. It's a bonafide swimmin' hole, just like you might find in some Norman Rockwell painting. A creek runs through this patch of private property, and the owners dammed up a section of it for a large swimmin' hole. The water is clear, clear, clear like a swimming pool -- this is the most wonderful thing about the Blue Hole to me, since there is no way you will find this gal dippin' her toes in any of those brown Oklahoma lakes where who knows what could be lurking beneath. It was so clear with no murky grass or nastiness, no snakes to be seen, and the deep part of the "pool" is a gorgeous dark blue/turquoise color. It is a rock-bottomed creek, so that was all sorts of fun for the gaggles of little boys in our group. There are also several spots where the creek is flowing and super shallow, where you can walk across, where there are little natural waterfalls, etc.
I'm not lyin', ya'll. It was nothing short of a little Eden in Oklahoma.
Now, be warned. The water is ice cold year-round, which, of course, was perfect for us since Wednesday found us with the heat-index near 113 degrees. You also need to know that if you need to go to the bathroom and you are female, you might want to go ahead and take your own roll of toilet paper. There is a bathroom, but because some other nincompoops decided to be rude and flush rolls down their toilet and stop it up in the past, you have to trek up to the office to borrow some paper and then trek out to the bathroom, and then trek back to the office to return the paper. Good times. So take your own toilet paper when you go. If you're a male, you could probably just find a hidden spot in the trees and be good to go. Much easier.
There is also a concession stand which was great! My cheeseburger was delish, and my boy enjoyed his corndog and sno-cone. Plus, it's not expensive. And actually, the office/concession stand has several hummingbird feeders hanging off the end that were teeming with hummingbirds! The kids especially enjoyed that. And I forgot to actually write down the hours of operation for the Blue Hole, but I remember right, it was something like 9-6 most weekdays and 9-9 on the weekends, maybe?
(Can you see the minnow swimming in the picture above?)
I made a checklist of other things to keep in mind for future trips there --
*Take your own inner tubes or rafts or whatever. I had thought ahead enough to grab the two inner tubes we had in our pool, but they were cheapo $2 ones from Wal-mart, and they didn't last more than an hour or two with those boys and all of those rocks. So I need to invest in the thicker, more expensive ones.
*Take some camping chairs with you. It is heaven to pop one in at the edge of the water and dangle your feet. If I had taken a good book with me to read, well, I would have been set!
*If you happen to have little dollar-store nets for your kids, that would be fun, too. There are little schools of minnow swimming everywhere, and it would be so fun to try and catch them.
*Next time I go I will also take a giant safety pin and pin my car keys to my swimsuit. It'd be so much easier than constantly having to remember where I set them.
*By all means, wear your watershoes. Thankfully I found a pair for my boy, but now I'm thinking I might go back and buy myself a pair (I can wear the largest size in girls, lucky me). The rest of us were constantly losing our flipflops in the current and having to chase them downstream (ouch!).
*Most importantly, stick lifejackets on all of the kiddos. Even if your kid can swim really well. There are lots of places with little currents, and so many pockets to explore, so you'd be worrying less if everyone was wearing one.
*I also had bandaids, etc. on hand, with all of those rocks, etc., and all of those little boys meant surely someone was going to get a scratch or two, which they did.
*Oh yeah, remember what I said: don't forget the Charmin Ultra. You can thank me later.
*And if you're white as the driven snow like this Indian princess, you grab your favorite big floppy sunhat to wear with your most Ellie Mae lookin' dress, and you don't give a hoot about what you look like, especially if you look like you just walked off the set of Eclipse and especially if standing next to your gorgeous brown son might make you look even more pasty white than you already are, but you forget all that and just enjoy the day...
See? I'm such a nice gal, not only sharing this little secret gem with you, but also telling you what you should take with you to make your experience the best. If you really wanted to keep the whole thing on the thrifty side, you could pack a cooler with drinks, snacks, lunch, etc., and all you'd have to pay for would be the $5/car entry fee and the gas to drive out there.
It was a fantastic place, a place that will now be a part of our annual summer traditions for sure. We were there for a good four hours or so before we packed it up to head home...or so we thought...
(To be continued...)
So this past Wednesday, we went on another roadtrip adventure. And in true Valerie fashion, it spontaneously expanded into a bigger adventure that enabled us to cross three items off our list instead of just one. Ah, multi-tasking...
First off, I have to offer up thanks to the fabulous Jonni Baloney who tipped me off to this first destination. I'd never heard hide nor hair of this place, but it was briefly mentioned on her blog, and after a little bit of googling, I was sold. I told my cousin's wife about it and my mom and my aunt, and soon enough, we had a nice little group of almost 20 ready for some summertime fun.
But shame on you, my friends who already knew of this wondrous place, for not ever telling me about it! I can see how you'd want to keep it to yourselves as it is rather awesome, but come on...
Okay, back to the story...
Wednesday we packed it up and caravanned almost an hour and a half northeast of town. Right before we arrived, the drive got awful pretty, and I swear, you'd have thought you were in New England instead of Oklahoma. Beautiful green rolling hills, soft pastures full of cattle, brilliant blue skies -- it was quite idyllic. And when we turned into our final destination, it was even prettier. Talk about a perfect destination for a hot summer day!
We arrived at the infamous Blue Hole, paid our $5 per carload (hello, bargain), and found a good spot to park.
For those of you not in the know as I previously was, the Blue Hole is a hidden gem in Oklahoma, but it's been around a long while. It's a bonafide swimmin' hole, just like you might find in some Norman Rockwell painting. A creek runs through this patch of private property, and the owners dammed up a section of it for a large swimmin' hole. The water is clear, clear, clear like a swimming pool -- this is the most wonderful thing about the Blue Hole to me, since there is no way you will find this gal dippin' her toes in any of those brown Oklahoma lakes where who knows what could be lurking beneath. It was so clear with no murky grass or nastiness, no snakes to be seen, and the deep part of the "pool" is a gorgeous dark blue/turquoise color. It is a rock-bottomed creek, so that was all sorts of fun for the gaggles of little boys in our group. There are also several spots where the creek is flowing and super shallow, where you can walk across, where there are little natural waterfalls, etc.
I'm not lyin', ya'll. It was nothing short of a little Eden in Oklahoma.
Now, be warned. The water is ice cold year-round, which, of course, was perfect for us since Wednesday found us with the heat-index near 113 degrees. You also need to know that if you need to go to the bathroom and you are female, you might want to go ahead and take your own roll of toilet paper. There is a bathroom, but because some other nincompoops decided to be rude and flush rolls down their toilet and stop it up in the past, you have to trek up to the office to borrow some paper and then trek out to the bathroom, and then trek back to the office to return the paper. Good times. So take your own toilet paper when you go. If you're a male, you could probably just find a hidden spot in the trees and be good to go. Much easier.
There is also a concession stand which was great! My cheeseburger was delish, and my boy enjoyed his corndog and sno-cone. Plus, it's not expensive. And actually, the office/concession stand has several hummingbird feeders hanging off the end that were teeming with hummingbirds! The kids especially enjoyed that. And I forgot to actually write down the hours of operation for the Blue Hole, but I remember right, it was something like 9-6 most weekdays and 9-9 on the weekends, maybe?
(Can you see the minnow swimming in the picture above?)
I made a checklist of other things to keep in mind for future trips there --
*Take your own inner tubes or rafts or whatever. I had thought ahead enough to grab the two inner tubes we had in our pool, but they were cheapo $2 ones from Wal-mart, and they didn't last more than an hour or two with those boys and all of those rocks. So I need to invest in the thicker, more expensive ones.
*Take some camping chairs with you. It is heaven to pop one in at the edge of the water and dangle your feet. If I had taken a good book with me to read, well, I would have been set!
*If you happen to have little dollar-store nets for your kids, that would be fun, too. There are little schools of minnow swimming everywhere, and it would be so fun to try and catch them.
*Next time I go I will also take a giant safety pin and pin my car keys to my swimsuit. It'd be so much easier than constantly having to remember where I set them.
*By all means, wear your watershoes. Thankfully I found a pair for my boy, but now I'm thinking I might go back and buy myself a pair (I can wear the largest size in girls, lucky me). The rest of us were constantly losing our flipflops in the current and having to chase them downstream (ouch!).
*Most importantly, stick lifejackets on all of the kiddos. Even if your kid can swim really well. There are lots of places with little currents, and so many pockets to explore, so you'd be worrying less if everyone was wearing one.
*I also had bandaids, etc. on hand, with all of those rocks, etc., and all of those little boys meant surely someone was going to get a scratch or two, which they did.
*Oh yeah, remember what I said: don't forget the Charmin Ultra. You can thank me later.
*And if you're white as the driven snow like this Indian princess, you grab your favorite big floppy sunhat to wear with your most Ellie Mae lookin' dress, and you don't give a hoot about what you look like, especially if you look like you just walked off the set of Eclipse and especially if standing next to your gorgeous brown son might make you look even more pasty white than you already are, but you forget all that and just enjoy the day...
See? I'm such a nice gal, not only sharing this little secret gem with you, but also telling you what you should take with you to make your experience the best. If you really wanted to keep the whole thing on the thrifty side, you could pack a cooler with drinks, snacks, lunch, etc., and all you'd have to pay for would be the $5/car entry fee and the gas to drive out there.
It was a fantastic place, a place that will now be a part of our annual summer traditions for sure. We were there for a good four hours or so before we packed it up to head home...or so we thought...
(To be continued...)
Monday, July 12, 2010
Thrifty.
(And I don't mean the car rental company.)
Over the last year or so, my husband and I have made some drastic changes to our lifestyle in order to become much, much smarter with our money.
We've done the cash envelope thing for at least a year now, a la Dave Ramsey -- I have this awesome plastic coupon organizer that holds my cash in all its categories. I cook so much more than I used to; actually I guess I can now say that I cook the majority of our meals. And you know what? McDonald's now tastes that much better when we get it every once in a while, as opposed to every couple of days like we used to. Our food budget has been drastically reduced while our health has dramatically improved due to the home-cooked meals we've been consuming. Not too shabby. We also grocery shop now like Europeans -- small amounts and more frequently. This way we've cut down on the food being wasted and thrown away. We also drink only water or milk about 95% of the time, and sometimes orange juice. No pop. I only drink pop on the rare occasion that I want some to go with either pizza or Mexican food.
The thrifty change I'm most proud of? I haven't bought a single item of clothing in at least 90 days. No joke. And remember, I am an Anthroholic -- utterly devoted to all things Anthropologie, of which my wardrobe is at least 75%. Take into consideration that I also received birthday money AND an Anthro gift card for my birthday back in May, and I am still holding out and haven't even spent it! I think one of the last items I bought was a dress from Anthropologie that I made myself salivate over for about a month before taking the plunge. No more spontaneous purchases here. That dress and a pair of jean capris and sandals from Target -- those are the last items I can even think of that I bought last and I'm pretty sure were purchased in March and April. I've been so thrifty that it's almost becoming a game to me -- I figure at this rate I can challenge myself to hold out on any more clothing purchases until the fall. But that's also where the good eating comes in to play. If I want to continue to wear my clothes without having to buy more, I can't exactly put on weight or they won't fit!
And in other areas I'm more thrifty as well: I rip my dryer sheets in half. I never use quite the recommended amount of anything anymore, at least cleaning-wise, as in laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent, etc. I figure half of those recommendations are tied to marketing and making you buy more and more of it. If not, I could be wrong, but regardless, all of my clothes and dishes still seem to be getting just as clean as they used to.
Some areas I'd like to improve in are making my own cleaning supplies, sewing up enough cloth napkins so we don't use paper anymore, ditto for sewing up enough cloth rags so we don't use paper towels anymore, doing some freezer cooking (although not a lot since the only freezer I have is the bottom half of my fridge), and some more refashioning (making new clothing items out of ones in my closet or thrift shops), which I've only tried a couple of times so far. I'll never be a full-on thrifty mama like you read about in the blogs or full-on organic in my cooking, etc., but at least I've made some changes that make me feel like I'm giving it the ol' college try!
So, what about you guys? Any thrifty ideas out there that work for you and your family? I'd love to hear!
Over the last year or so, my husband and I have made some drastic changes to our lifestyle in order to become much, much smarter with our money.
We've done the cash envelope thing for at least a year now, a la Dave Ramsey -- I have this awesome plastic coupon organizer that holds my cash in all its categories. I cook so much more than I used to; actually I guess I can now say that I cook the majority of our meals. And you know what? McDonald's now tastes that much better when we get it every once in a while, as opposed to every couple of days like we used to. Our food budget has been drastically reduced while our health has dramatically improved due to the home-cooked meals we've been consuming. Not too shabby. We also grocery shop now like Europeans -- small amounts and more frequently. This way we've cut down on the food being wasted and thrown away. We also drink only water or milk about 95% of the time, and sometimes orange juice. No pop. I only drink pop on the rare occasion that I want some to go with either pizza or Mexican food.
The thrifty change I'm most proud of? I haven't bought a single item of clothing in at least 90 days. No joke. And remember, I am an Anthroholic -- utterly devoted to all things Anthropologie, of which my wardrobe is at least 75%. Take into consideration that I also received birthday money AND an Anthro gift card for my birthday back in May, and I am still holding out and haven't even spent it! I think one of the last items I bought was a dress from Anthropologie that I made myself salivate over for about a month before taking the plunge. No more spontaneous purchases here. That dress and a pair of jean capris and sandals from Target -- those are the last items I can even think of that I bought last and I'm pretty sure were purchased in March and April. I've been so thrifty that it's almost becoming a game to me -- I figure at this rate I can challenge myself to hold out on any more clothing purchases until the fall. But that's also where the good eating comes in to play. If I want to continue to wear my clothes without having to buy more, I can't exactly put on weight or they won't fit!
And in other areas I'm more thrifty as well: I rip my dryer sheets in half. I never use quite the recommended amount of anything anymore, at least cleaning-wise, as in laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent, etc. I figure half of those recommendations are tied to marketing and making you buy more and more of it. If not, I could be wrong, but regardless, all of my clothes and dishes still seem to be getting just as clean as they used to.
Some areas I'd like to improve in are making my own cleaning supplies, sewing up enough cloth napkins so we don't use paper anymore, ditto for sewing up enough cloth rags so we don't use paper towels anymore, doing some freezer cooking (although not a lot since the only freezer I have is the bottom half of my fridge), and some more refashioning (making new clothing items out of ones in my closet or thrift shops), which I've only tried a couple of times so far. I'll never be a full-on thrifty mama like you read about in the blogs or full-on organic in my cooking, etc., but at least I've made some changes that make me feel like I'm giving it the ol' college try!
So, what about you guys? Any thrifty ideas out there that work for you and your family? I'd love to hear!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
A perfect summer day.
Well, maybe "perfect" isn't actually the perfect word since things didn't go quite like I thought they would, but yesterday was one of those days that will be a favorite memory to look back on.
It all started yesterday morning, when I woke up with nothing to do. I say nothing, when in reality there is always laundry to finish, a house to clean (but when isn't there?), emails to catch up on, projects to finish, etc. Like I said, nothing to do. Ha. And I'm normally a homebody, happy to stay at home all day with nowhere in particular to be. Anyway, I guess I must've gotten antsy or something because the next thing I know, I was planning a small roadtrip.
I'm nothing if not occasionally spontaneous.
I mean, seriously, you should see how much we already have crossed off our summer bucket list.
This week the weather is supposed to be pretty wet around these parts, which is pretty unusual for an Oklahoma summer. It should be nice and hot and sticky right about now, but not really wet. Well, although this week finds us knee deep in rainfall, yesterday's forecast looked pretty darn clear for the most part. And I figured it was the perfect least-rainy-looking day (out of the other 4 weekdays) to go on a little adventure. You'd think after living pretty much 90% of my life in Oklahoma I'd know better than to assume such a thing about our always unpredictable weather, but oh well. And besides, I'll take rainy and 75 glorious degrees over a scorching hot 100 degree, 99% humidity day ANYDAY.
So around 10:30am, my mom, my mom's friend, my little man and I hopped into the car and headed north. Er, I guess more northwest actually. We were heading to the prairie!
Right off the bat in the first part of the hour and a half drive I made a directional mistake. Let me tell you something, for an experienced driver such as myself, this is a rarity. I'm known for my unbelievable navigational skills -- you could drop me in a cornfield in Nebraska and I would find my way home. This trip was only an hour and a half up there, max, and I am used to driving up to 12 hours a day on our usual roadtrips. So I am one experienced trucker, I can definitely brag on this. But this morning, while pointing out something to my mom and her friend, I forgot to turn right.
No biggie. In today's day and age, technology is my friend. I dialed up my husband working at home, had him Google the directions on his laptop, and he was able to tell me where to turn five miles ahead. Turns out my mistake was really more of just an alternate route that was equally right, so we lost no time. This is how we fell upon the little town of Hominy, Oklahoma.
That little town's been around a while, probably since the days of Indian Territory, but there's not a whole lot going on since it's a teeny little town. I did see an Indian art gallery, and there were numerous Indian murals all around the town worth seeing. I liked it right off the bat with it's old buildings made of local sandstone bricks, and especially since there was a guy riding his horse on the side of the road right there in town. Doesn't get much more Oklahoman than that! Of course, the five-year-old in the backseat piped up enough to argue with his mama about whether or not it was really a cowboy since he was wearing a baseball cap. I ended it right there -- son, a man riding his horse in town? Definitely a cowboy. I mean, how often are you gonna see that?! It's moments like this that make me proud to be an Oklahoman. Oh yeah. (Don't make me break into song for ya'...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain....)
Oh sorry. Where was I? Oh yes,...
We saw a historical marker and followed it down two blocks to find this:
The Historic Drummond Home.
Ring any bells? Yep, this house is tied to the family history of the beloved Pioneer Woman, part of her husband's family. In fact, the whole county is, really, but who's counting? (And just so you know, it's the largest county in our state, larger than all of Rhode Island or Delaware even!)
But seriously, doesn't it totally look like it could be a stand-in for Villa Villekulla, Pippi Longstocking's home? I loved it and wished we could have gone in for a quick tour, but alas, it was closed and we had other places to be.
We hopped back on the road and headed north to our intended destination, the great metropolis of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. If you're a Pioneer Woman fan, you'll also recognize Pawhuska as a town near and dear to her heart. She lives pretty close to there. Anyway, Pawhuska happens to be the "Gateway to the Tallgrass Prairie", and that, folks, is where we were planning to end up. (Not to mention, Pawhuska is also the home of the very first Boy Scouts in America. For reals. Betcha didn't know that.)
When we got to Pawhuska, we were hungry, so we asked around to find out a good spot to eat. We were quickly pointed to the most ramshackle-looking little house in town -- seriously, there was a huge gaping hole in the roof on the porch. Inside there was a little lunch counter with stools, assorted tables and chairs, and no A/C. But friends, I am here to tell you, I ate the most delicious cheeseburger I have had in a loooooong time. Maybe ever. If you're ever up in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, as I know you will be since it's surely on the Top Ten Most Fascinating Places in the World list somewhere, you need to grab a burger at Greek's. You can thank me later. Looks like they also serve a mean breakfast. Maybe we'll have to do that on our next trip up, okay?
The kind lady that had pointed us to that burger joint had also pressed a brochure in my hand all about the Osage Nation area (that's a real bonafide Indian, I mean, Native American nation, for all of you not in the know) and its attractions. Sure, out in New York they've got amazing sights to see like the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, but dude, we've got our own amazing attractions here in Oklahoma. I kid you not. They're just not as well, um, yeah, not as well heard of, that's all....
On this list was some Catholic church my mom had been going on and on about in the car. (It was either that or check out yet another casino since there seems to be one on every corner nowadays. What's up with that, Oklahoma?! Someone's gotta put a stop to the stupid casino epidemic around here. Anyways, sorry, I'll get off my soapbox.) This particular Catholic church made the "attractions" list because somehow they had acquired these two large stained glass windows in it that were made in Munich, Germany specifically for this church and then flown over after World War I and installed. Not only that, but these two windows had to be approved by the Pope since they had Osage Indians depicted in them. So off we went, driving around the town (it took all of two minutes since this isn't a big city) searching for the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, also known as the Cathedral of the Osage.
We got there, and from the outside, you couldn't really tell the windows apart because it was dark inside and no light was shining through the beautifully colored panes. My mom haggled me until I finally gave in and whipped out my cell phone and dialed the number on the brochure. Sure enough, the lady at the parish office said to come on in and she'd give us the keys to let ourselves in and look around.
You know you must be in Oklahoma when people are so trusting that they hand perfect strangers the keys to a Catholic church! Especially to a couple of Baptists! Haha. My own little funny joke. But really, I bet if you go to see a cathedral in New York City and it's closed and you ask nicely, they are not going to hand over the keys to let yerself on in. Just sayin'.
But oh, my friends, those windows are gorgeous. The two windows that depict the Osage Indians are 9 ft. by 36 ft. each. The rest of the church was beautiful as well, but those windows especially were unbelievable. And the fact that we had this beautiful quiet sanctuary all to ourselves for a few minutes? So cool.
(My apologies for the slew of pictures of all the statues and icons as well. That's what happens when you let a camera-totin' Baptist in your Catholic cathedral. You won't find such relics in our churches unfortunately, so I eat it up when I get to see 'em.)
By 1:30 we knew we'd better get the show on the road if we were going to make it up to that prairie. So we handed the keys back over with a hearty thankyouverymuch and headed north.
About 15 or 20 miles north of Pawhuska is the mighty Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. It is over 38,000 acres of breathtakingly beautiful scenery. I'm tellin' you, usually I think that scenery like the Rocky Mountains or the majestic ocean or other such dramatic landscapes are the most gorgeous work God has created on our planet, but honestly, the Tallgrass Prairie has a beauty all it's own. And on this tallgrass prairie are almost 3,000 free-roaming bison. Sounds like a lot, but I guess the Tallgrass Prairie used to be a part of 14 states and over 142 million acres and at one point in history there were probably hundreds of thousands of bison roaming around. Thank goodness someone out there was smart enough to save a small sliver of it all for us to see, huh? It was really interesting reading about the tallgrass prairie and how its ecosystem was restored.
Sure enough, the clouds had begun to darken and it started to sprinkle. Just great. About ten minutes into our drive through the prairie (on gravel roads, mind you, and no fences, so those bison could always come outta nowhere and thunder across the road if they'dve had a mind to) and we had seen NO bison.
Let me just tell you, I wasn't going to be too happy if we drove all that way and saw not a one. And that little man in the backseat, clutching his two stuffed Beanie Baby bisons in each hand certainly wasn't going to be too happy if we didn't see a single one!
Thank goodness as we came 'round the next bend, we looked over and saw part of a herd of about 50. They were so far away from the road that I only got a couple of shots (and these were with my telephoto lens, keep in mind, so they were really far away), but dang it, we saw some bison. I think you can barely see a baby bison in one of those shots -- it's the lighter brown colored speck. You have to click on the pictures to see them closer.
Then we continued on around the bend to the headquarters where we got out of the car to stretch our legs just before the monsoons came and the prairie was soaked.
At the bunkhouse headquarters the docents were so friendly. By the way, the bunkhouse was built in 1940 or so and has seen the likes of John Wayne which means I might have stood yesterday where John Wayne once stood! They had a tiny little museum setup on one side of the gift shop with all sort of bones and skeletons and artifacts of animals and bugs and birds and snakes and other critters that live on the prairie. My boy was in heaven. He and I looked over so many little carcasses and oohed and ahhed. Who cares that we only saw a few bison and from far away?! Dead bug carcasses was where it is at if you are five years old. The docents also pointed out that some people drive up there and never see a single bison (boy, would that ever suck) while sometimes you can drive up there and see 500 in a herd, many times up close and personal right in the road! That's probably what Erin got to see. Check out her pictures if you want a better visual in your head. No, really, do it. They're a million times better than my sad little waterlogged several-football-fields-away-and-it's-so-obvious shots I got.
Regardless, check it off the list, because we did, in fact, see the bison. Woot! By this time, the rain (that wasn't supposed to be there all stinkin' day long) was not about to let up, so we bolted back to the car and drove back south through the prairie. Heavy rain + gravel roads + the remote but ever-present possibility that you could turn the bend and find your car doing the tango with a thousand-or-two-pound bison = no fun. Just in case you were wondering. We were soon headed back to Pawhuska, not only the "Gateway to the Tallgrass Prairie" but also our gateway to the road home. You'd have thought that our time in the thriving metropolis of Pawhuska was complete already, what with our fun little lunch and private cathedral tour, but no, there was one other quirky thing on that attraction list that we hadn't checked off. And you know how I love me some quirky!
Unfortunately for us, this "attraction" was outdoors, and at the moment, it was raining cats and dogs and bison outside. So we used our cunning Oklahoma wits and drove down the street to Sonic where we could lure the carhops into bringing us our drinks to our car without us having to step foot outside. Us Okies, we're nothing if not brilliant. If you weren't aware of that, it's only because we like to keep that to ourselves so the rest of the world doesn't get too jealous. Yeah, that's it.
Anyway, now hopped up on syrupy-sweet goodness (and for half-price since it was Happy Hour so add "resourcefulness" to your ever-growing list of Okie attributes), we headed back to the "attraction" in mind, although it was still raining quite hard. At this point, I wasn't about to give in to the stormclouds after having driven all the way up there, so I got out of the car, camera in one hand, umbrella in another, and trudged over to.......
a suspension footbridge!
Ha!
You never know what yer' gonna find in Oklahoma, I tell you what.
Seriously, how hilarious is that?! There was this quirky little suspension footbridge, dangling quite high over Bird Creek just a couple of blocks south of the little downtown. Don't laugh, it was pretty high up, and with all that rain, that nasty brown creek was really raging down below.
The best part about this bridge, that we read about in our little brochure, was the fact that it is a mover and a shaker. Oh yeah, peeps, take a couple of steps on it and you're either going to love it or be terrified! It bounces and swings when you take any steps. It seemed pretty secure, especially since it had high sides of chain-link fencing so you couldn't easily fall over. I personally did not make it all the way across because I admit it, I was too chicken, but I did at least make it halfway across, which is pretty impressive since I am generally quite afraid of heights. My mom and my mom's friend and my boy scurried across, laughing and squealing all the way. In fact, my boy LOVED it. When I asked him his favorite part of the day, he didn't skip a beat when he answered, "the BWIDGE, Mama!!!" Out of the mouths of babes. If you ever find yourself in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, don't miss the bwidge.
So there you have it. We went out as adventurers; we came home drowned rats.
But happy drowned rats.
And the moral of the story is, you never know what you're missing until you get out there and find it. Even in a place like Oklahoma, there are so many adventures to be had!
Hmmm, where will our adventures take us next??? Stay tuned...
It all started yesterday morning, when I woke up with nothing to do. I say nothing, when in reality there is always laundry to finish, a house to clean (but when isn't there?), emails to catch up on, projects to finish, etc. Like I said, nothing to do. Ha. And I'm normally a homebody, happy to stay at home all day with nowhere in particular to be. Anyway, I guess I must've gotten antsy or something because the next thing I know, I was planning a small roadtrip.
I'm nothing if not occasionally spontaneous.
I mean, seriously, you should see how much we already have crossed off our summer bucket list.
This week the weather is supposed to be pretty wet around these parts, which is pretty unusual for an Oklahoma summer. It should be nice and hot and sticky right about now, but not really wet. Well, although this week finds us knee deep in rainfall, yesterday's forecast looked pretty darn clear for the most part. And I figured it was the perfect least-rainy-looking day (out of the other 4 weekdays) to go on a little adventure. You'd think after living pretty much 90% of my life in Oklahoma I'd know better than to assume such a thing about our always unpredictable weather, but oh well. And besides, I'll take rainy and 75 glorious degrees over a scorching hot 100 degree, 99% humidity day ANYDAY.
So around 10:30am, my mom, my mom's friend, my little man and I hopped into the car and headed north. Er, I guess more northwest actually. We were heading to the prairie!
Right off the bat in the first part of the hour and a half drive I made a directional mistake. Let me tell you something, for an experienced driver such as myself, this is a rarity. I'm known for my unbelievable navigational skills -- you could drop me in a cornfield in Nebraska and I would find my way home. This trip was only an hour and a half up there, max, and I am used to driving up to 12 hours a day on our usual roadtrips. So I am one experienced trucker, I can definitely brag on this. But this morning, while pointing out something to my mom and her friend, I forgot to turn right.
No biggie. In today's day and age, technology is my friend. I dialed up my husband working at home, had him Google the directions on his laptop, and he was able to tell me where to turn five miles ahead. Turns out my mistake was really more of just an alternate route that was equally right, so we lost no time. This is how we fell upon the little town of Hominy, Oklahoma.
That little town's been around a while, probably since the days of Indian Territory, but there's not a whole lot going on since it's a teeny little town. I did see an Indian art gallery, and there were numerous Indian murals all around the town worth seeing. I liked it right off the bat with it's old buildings made of local sandstone bricks, and especially since there was a guy riding his horse on the side of the road right there in town. Doesn't get much more Oklahoman than that! Of course, the five-year-old in the backseat piped up enough to argue with his mama about whether or not it was really a cowboy since he was wearing a baseball cap. I ended it right there -- son, a man riding his horse in town? Definitely a cowboy. I mean, how often are you gonna see that?! It's moments like this that make me proud to be an Oklahoman. Oh yeah. (Don't make me break into song for ya'...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain....)
Oh sorry. Where was I? Oh yes,...
We saw a historical marker and followed it down two blocks to find this:
The Historic Drummond Home.
Ring any bells? Yep, this house is tied to the family history of the beloved Pioneer Woman, part of her husband's family. In fact, the whole county is, really, but who's counting? (And just so you know, it's the largest county in our state, larger than all of Rhode Island or Delaware even!)
But seriously, doesn't it totally look like it could be a stand-in for Villa Villekulla, Pippi Longstocking's home? I loved it and wished we could have gone in for a quick tour, but alas, it was closed and we had other places to be.
We hopped back on the road and headed north to our intended destination, the great metropolis of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. If you're a Pioneer Woman fan, you'll also recognize Pawhuska as a town near and dear to her heart. She lives pretty close to there. Anyway, Pawhuska happens to be the "Gateway to the Tallgrass Prairie", and that, folks, is where we were planning to end up. (Not to mention, Pawhuska is also the home of the very first Boy Scouts in America. For reals. Betcha didn't know that.)
When we got to Pawhuska, we were hungry, so we asked around to find out a good spot to eat. We were quickly pointed to the most ramshackle-looking little house in town -- seriously, there was a huge gaping hole in the roof on the porch. Inside there was a little lunch counter with stools, assorted tables and chairs, and no A/C. But friends, I am here to tell you, I ate the most delicious cheeseburger I have had in a loooooong time. Maybe ever. If you're ever up in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, as I know you will be since it's surely on the Top Ten Most Fascinating Places in the World list somewhere, you need to grab a burger at Greek's. You can thank me later. Looks like they also serve a mean breakfast. Maybe we'll have to do that on our next trip up, okay?
The kind lady that had pointed us to that burger joint had also pressed a brochure in my hand all about the Osage Nation area (that's a real bonafide Indian, I mean, Native American nation, for all of you not in the know) and its attractions. Sure, out in New York they've got amazing sights to see like the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, but dude, we've got our own amazing attractions here in Oklahoma. I kid you not. They're just not as well, um, yeah, not as well heard of, that's all....
On this list was some Catholic church my mom had been going on and on about in the car. (It was either that or check out yet another casino since there seems to be one on every corner nowadays. What's up with that, Oklahoma?! Someone's gotta put a stop to the stupid casino epidemic around here. Anyways, sorry, I'll get off my soapbox.) This particular Catholic church made the "attractions" list because somehow they had acquired these two large stained glass windows in it that were made in Munich, Germany specifically for this church and then flown over after World War I and installed. Not only that, but these two windows had to be approved by the Pope since they had Osage Indians depicted in them. So off we went, driving around the town (it took all of two minutes since this isn't a big city) searching for the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, also known as the Cathedral of the Osage.
We got there, and from the outside, you couldn't really tell the windows apart because it was dark inside and no light was shining through the beautifully colored panes. My mom haggled me until I finally gave in and whipped out my cell phone and dialed the number on the brochure. Sure enough, the lady at the parish office said to come on in and she'd give us the keys to let ourselves in and look around.
You know you must be in Oklahoma when people are so trusting that they hand perfect strangers the keys to a Catholic church! Especially to a couple of Baptists! Haha. My own little funny joke. But really, I bet if you go to see a cathedral in New York City and it's closed and you ask nicely, they are not going to hand over the keys to let yerself on in. Just sayin'.
But oh, my friends, those windows are gorgeous. The two windows that depict the Osage Indians are 9 ft. by 36 ft. each. The rest of the church was beautiful as well, but those windows especially were unbelievable. And the fact that we had this beautiful quiet sanctuary all to ourselves for a few minutes? So cool.
(My apologies for the slew of pictures of all the statues and icons as well. That's what happens when you let a camera-totin' Baptist in your Catholic cathedral. You won't find such relics in our churches unfortunately, so I eat it up when I get to see 'em.)
By 1:30 we knew we'd better get the show on the road if we were going to make it up to that prairie. So we handed the keys back over with a hearty thankyouverymuch and headed north.
About 15 or 20 miles north of Pawhuska is the mighty Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. It is over 38,000 acres of breathtakingly beautiful scenery. I'm tellin' you, usually I think that scenery like the Rocky Mountains or the majestic ocean or other such dramatic landscapes are the most gorgeous work God has created on our planet, but honestly, the Tallgrass Prairie has a beauty all it's own. And on this tallgrass prairie are almost 3,000 free-roaming bison. Sounds like a lot, but I guess the Tallgrass Prairie used to be a part of 14 states and over 142 million acres and at one point in history there were probably hundreds of thousands of bison roaming around. Thank goodness someone out there was smart enough to save a small sliver of it all for us to see, huh? It was really interesting reading about the tallgrass prairie and how its ecosystem was restored.
Sure enough, the clouds had begun to darken and it started to sprinkle. Just great. About ten minutes into our drive through the prairie (on gravel roads, mind you, and no fences, so those bison could always come outta nowhere and thunder across the road if they'dve had a mind to) and we had seen NO bison.
Let me just tell you, I wasn't going to be too happy if we drove all that way and saw not a one. And that little man in the backseat, clutching his two stuffed Beanie Baby bisons in each hand certainly wasn't going to be too happy if we didn't see a single one!
Thank goodness as we came 'round the next bend, we looked over and saw part of a herd of about 50. They were so far away from the road that I only got a couple of shots (and these were with my telephoto lens, keep in mind, so they were really far away), but dang it, we saw some bison. I think you can barely see a baby bison in one of those shots -- it's the lighter brown colored speck. You have to click on the pictures to see them closer.
Then we continued on around the bend to the headquarters where we got out of the car to stretch our legs just before the monsoons came and the prairie was soaked.
At the bunkhouse headquarters the docents were so friendly. By the way, the bunkhouse was built in 1940 or so and has seen the likes of John Wayne which means I might have stood yesterday where John Wayne once stood! They had a tiny little museum setup on one side of the gift shop with all sort of bones and skeletons and artifacts of animals and bugs and birds and snakes and other critters that live on the prairie. My boy was in heaven. He and I looked over so many little carcasses and oohed and ahhed. Who cares that we only saw a few bison and from far away?! Dead bug carcasses was where it is at if you are five years old. The docents also pointed out that some people drive up there and never see a single bison (boy, would that ever suck) while sometimes you can drive up there and see 500 in a herd, many times up close and personal right in the road! That's probably what Erin got to see. Check out her pictures if you want a better visual in your head. No, really, do it. They're a million times better than my sad little waterlogged several-football-fields-away-and-it's-so-obvious shots I got.
Regardless, check it off the list, because we did, in fact, see the bison. Woot! By this time, the rain (that wasn't supposed to be there all stinkin' day long) was not about to let up, so we bolted back to the car and drove back south through the prairie. Heavy rain + gravel roads + the remote but ever-present possibility that you could turn the bend and find your car doing the tango with a thousand-or-two-pound bison = no fun. Just in case you were wondering. We were soon headed back to Pawhuska, not only the "Gateway to the Tallgrass Prairie" but also our gateway to the road home. You'd have thought that our time in the thriving metropolis of Pawhuska was complete already, what with our fun little lunch and private cathedral tour, but no, there was one other quirky thing on that attraction list that we hadn't checked off. And you know how I love me some quirky!
Unfortunately for us, this "attraction" was outdoors, and at the moment, it was raining cats and dogs and bison outside. So we used our cunning Oklahoma wits and drove down the street to Sonic where we could lure the carhops into bringing us our drinks to our car without us having to step foot outside. Us Okies, we're nothing if not brilliant. If you weren't aware of that, it's only because we like to keep that to ourselves so the rest of the world doesn't get too jealous. Yeah, that's it.
Anyway, now hopped up on syrupy-sweet goodness (and for half-price since it was Happy Hour so add "resourcefulness" to your ever-growing list of Okie attributes), we headed back to the "attraction" in mind, although it was still raining quite hard. At this point, I wasn't about to give in to the stormclouds after having driven all the way up there, so I got out of the car, camera in one hand, umbrella in another, and trudged over to.......
a suspension footbridge!
Ha!
You never know what yer' gonna find in Oklahoma, I tell you what.
Seriously, how hilarious is that?! There was this quirky little suspension footbridge, dangling quite high over Bird Creek just a couple of blocks south of the little downtown. Don't laugh, it was pretty high up, and with all that rain, that nasty brown creek was really raging down below.
The best part about this bridge, that we read about in our little brochure, was the fact that it is a mover and a shaker. Oh yeah, peeps, take a couple of steps on it and you're either going to love it or be terrified! It bounces and swings when you take any steps. It seemed pretty secure, especially since it had high sides of chain-link fencing so you couldn't easily fall over. I personally did not make it all the way across because I admit it, I was too chicken, but I did at least make it halfway across, which is pretty impressive since I am generally quite afraid of heights. My mom and my mom's friend and my boy scurried across, laughing and squealing all the way. In fact, my boy LOVED it. When I asked him his favorite part of the day, he didn't skip a beat when he answered, "the BWIDGE, Mama!!!" Out of the mouths of babes. If you ever find yourself in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, don't miss the bwidge.
So there you have it. We went out as adventurers; we came home drowned rats.
But happy drowned rats.
And the moral of the story is, you never know what you're missing until you get out there and find it. Even in a place like Oklahoma, there are so many adventures to be had!
Hmmm, where will our adventures take us next??? Stay tuned...
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Happy Independence Day.
Here's my favorite version of America the Beautiful.
Ever.
Take it away, Ray...
Ever.
Take it away, Ray...
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The random is back.
***
My mom offered to babysit for us so we could go see "Eclipse" this weekend. Or rather, my husband told me yesterday that he was going to go see it by himself (while I was home with the boy), and after a "Say, WHAT?!" moment, I asked my mom if she would babysit. I mean, really, what kind of husband does that? Dude, don't you remember that I am the one that has read all the books?! The person going to see the movie should be me, punk, not you. And what kind of harebrained idea was that, us going to see it separately so we wouldn't have to get a babysitter?
Seriously. Men.
The most hilarious part is after the movie when he asked me to tell him how the whole thing goes down at the end of the last book. I am personally not a lover of the ending and found the last book to be super-cheesy, dumb, and way too unrealistic in its ending (although, yes, I realize that expecting realistic out of a book about virtuous vampires and werewolves is a bit far-fetched), but I told him what is to come anyway, and he loved it.
Ha.
So consider us a house divided.
***
It's a rainy 4th weekend here.
Not that I am complaining. Sorry to all of you folks that wanted a sunny weekend, but I have to admit, I'm a lover of all days cloudy and rainy. Right up my alley! Not to mention it has been such a refreshing break from the nasty temperatures we were enduring a week or two ago in the high 90's with full-blown humidity. Yuck.
***
The month of June was unbelievably busy here, capped off with a finale of Vacation Bible School.
VBS wears me out.
I was exhausted.
I was in the "Bible story room" where 25 minutes per class is WAY TOO LONG. But we muddled through it, my partner and I. She did the Bible stories, and I threw in the songs and games. I cannot reiterate this enough: sheer EXHAUSTION. But we did have a good time, and so did the little kidlets.
So I rewarded myself with sitting down and reading yesterday. I cannot remember the last time I avoided everything else (i.e. housework) to read for hours on end, but in less than 24 hours, I've read almost 500 pages. That, my friends, feels awesome.
***
I'm off to clean the house. And pick up Army "mans". You know, of the little plastic variety.
My boy is all about his Army "mans" 24/7, which means there are always little plastic dudes showing up where you would least expect them. On the back of the toilet. Guarding the windowsills. In my bed. (Oh yeah, I woke up from a nap the other day -- remember the VBS exhaustion, don't hate -- and found I had shared my bed with another fella'. Yipes.) And now our oldest dog has taken to eating them.
Not cool. Not cool at all.
So I am having to constantly be on the lookout for stray militia, to save them from their impending deaths from the four-legged enemy, and to save ourselves from the pricey vet bill that would soon follow if we had to have her stomach pumped.
Awesome, huh?
I know you are jealous.
Now get out there and enjoy your 4th!
My mom offered to babysit for us so we could go see "Eclipse" this weekend. Or rather, my husband told me yesterday that he was going to go see it by himself (while I was home with the boy), and after a "Say, WHAT?!" moment, I asked my mom if she would babysit. I mean, really, what kind of husband does that? Dude, don't you remember that I am the one that has read all the books?! The person going to see the movie should be me, punk, not you. And what kind of harebrained idea was that, us going to see it separately so we wouldn't have to get a babysitter?
Seriously. Men.
The most hilarious part is after the movie when he asked me to tell him how the whole thing goes down at the end of the last book. I am personally not a lover of the ending and found the last book to be super-cheesy, dumb, and way too unrealistic in its ending (although, yes, I realize that expecting realistic out of a book about virtuous vampires and werewolves is a bit far-fetched), but I told him what is to come anyway, and he loved it.
Ha.
So consider us a house divided.
***
It's a rainy 4th weekend here.
Not that I am complaining. Sorry to all of you folks that wanted a sunny weekend, but I have to admit, I'm a lover of all days cloudy and rainy. Right up my alley! Not to mention it has been such a refreshing break from the nasty temperatures we were enduring a week or two ago in the high 90's with full-blown humidity. Yuck.
***
The month of June was unbelievably busy here, capped off with a finale of Vacation Bible School.
VBS wears me out.
I was exhausted.
I was in the "Bible story room" where 25 minutes per class is WAY TOO LONG. But we muddled through it, my partner and I. She did the Bible stories, and I threw in the songs and games. I cannot reiterate this enough: sheer EXHAUSTION. But we did have a good time, and so did the little kidlets.
So I rewarded myself with sitting down and reading yesterday. I cannot remember the last time I avoided everything else (i.e. housework) to read for hours on end, but in less than 24 hours, I've read almost 500 pages. That, my friends, feels awesome.
***
I'm off to clean the house. And pick up Army "mans". You know, of the little plastic variety.
My boy is all about his Army "mans" 24/7, which means there are always little plastic dudes showing up where you would least expect them. On the back of the toilet. Guarding the windowsills. In my bed. (Oh yeah, I woke up from a nap the other day -- remember the VBS exhaustion, don't hate -- and found I had shared my bed with another fella'. Yipes.) And now our oldest dog has taken to eating them.
Not cool. Not cool at all.
So I am having to constantly be on the lookout for stray militia, to save them from their impending deaths from the four-legged enemy, and to save ourselves from the pricey vet bill that would soon follow if we had to have her stomach pumped.
Awesome, huh?
I know you are jealous.
Now get out there and enjoy your 4th!
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