Take the Time to be a Tourist! - (The One-Day Vacation Challenge)

Sweet lady that was excited for us to buy and taste her home-made fruit cake.

Dean  (the husband)
Shalane  (the wife  :O)

Jingle and Jangle Candy Shop in Paul's Valley, Oklahoma.

As all of our followers know, Dean and I are on vacation, traveling from Nevada back to the mid-west to visit with family and friends.  Friday night, we arrived here in Noble, Oklahoma to visit with my mom.  (Go Sooners!)  Right away, mom and I started figuring out what we wanted to do the next day and how we were going to make every minute count.  Saturday morning we were ready!  We started by hitting up the Stratford Peach Festival, where we enjoyed a live band, bought homemade fruit

Mom and I decorating a gingerbread house.

cake, had a brunch of smoked brisket and freshly-squeezed lemonade and purchased a beautiful, hand-crafted cedar chest.  Next, without thinking too much about it, we headed to the chocolate factory.  We GLADLY accepted and enjoyed some free samples, then purchased some chocolate covered potato chips and mint melt-aways.  Now, mind you, we planned on spending the entire day out and about, and the temperature 

outside was about 100*.  Inside the car, where the chocolate would sit, while mom and I went in and out a various places, it was about 115*.  Yup, we weren't really being thinkers on that one.  Letting our sweet tooth lead the way, we continued on to the Jingle and Jangle Candy Shop.  Here, you can choose a cookie or ginger- bread house and spend as much time as you like decorating it.  They supply several different kinds of candies and various colors of icing.  Mom and I didn't realize we would have this opportunity, but it sounded like something fun and unique, so we 

The entire activity only cost us $15, and the employees we fun and friendly.

You gotta try the pie!

chose a small gingerbread house and let the creative juices fly.  (That was messy.)  As I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist, the venture took us nearly two hours.  It was fun though, and mom and I made a great memory together.  (Of course, in the midst of making this memory, we were forgetting that we had expensive chocolates turning into soup out in the car.  :O)  Now, looking at the pictures, you would think that the only thing we did yesterday was eat.  And, truth be known, we did eat WAY too much, but, we did other things as well.  After finishing our little house, we drove down to the lake.  We didn't 

My favorite!

really do anything when we were there except enjoy the drive, as we were mostly just soaking up the scenery from the nicely air conditioned car.  :O)  We were headed to Turner Falls, when we came across Arbuckle Mountain Fried Pies.  I couldn't resist such a "touristy" treat.  They were DELICIOUS!  The freshly fried, warm coconut was my favorite!  If you ever have the chance, you should really give these a try!  With full tummies, we made out way down to Turner Falls.  Unfortunately, because of the drought, there wasn't much to see, but the drive was enjoyable anyway, and it was good to spend some time with mom.  Now, believe it or not, by the time we drove all the way back to Noble, we were ready for dinner.  Since we were playing tourist all day, we didn't want fast food.  We wanted something a little more unique, so we went to Cracker Barrel.  The food was good, and we loved the cute little shop, BUT we were EXHAUSTED and ready to head home.  Mom and I had a wonderful day, but what I know is that all of the thousands of people living in this area, that could've had the same kind of day that we had, didn't.  Why, because they weren't on "vacation."  Dean and I have had a few people respond to our blogs, indicating that they can't do all of the wonderful things that we do because they don't have summers off.  But, think about it, anyone can take a day and "play tourist."  I remember one day when my youngest daughter and I went out, bought a disposable camera and went down to the strip in Vegas and played tourist.  We went to places that are most common for tourists, took tourist type pictures and purposely acted excited and amazed by all the lights and entertainment.  It turned out to be one of the funnest days that we have ever had.  Point being, everyone can take a day and be on vacation, even when they're not on vacation!  :O)  So, here's your challenge, this Saturday, take a friend or family member, and make a plan.  Pretend that you're a tourist in your area.  Think about what you would do and where you would go if you had a friend coming in from out of town, and do those things.  Those of you that take the challenge, we would love to hear about your experiences and to share them on our blog.  So what if you don't have any vacation days, don't worry about it!  This weekend, if only for one day, GO ON VACATION!!!  Happy Trails!

Young Man vs. Wild

Dean  (the husband)
Shalane  (the wife  :O)

A young man from Las Vegas finds himself in the mountains.  It is so remote that his cell phone and internet access is non-existent.  What does he do?  Well, if he is visiting us, he goes fishing.   We woke up early so that we could make it to the lake as the sun was coming up over the mountain.  I thought that we would stay for an hour but we were there for over three hours.  We each caught six trout, and the day had just begun.   Michael had actually been ice fishing up here before and was anxious to fish the lake and see the area in warmer weather.   Later in the evening, we went to the lake at Echo Canyon State Park.  This time it was bass, and lots of them.  It was a constant state of casting and reeling in the fish.  We won’t discuss the size of the bass that we were catching, but we did get a few trout that were keepers.

Now, I’m sure that this young man, born and raised in Vegas, has always thought of us as a little unconventional.  However, over the course of the day, I think that he is finally understanding why we do what we do.   No he’s not.  He still thinks we’re nuts.  He says that he understands why we would want to travel around for three months each summer, but he can’t imagine living in an RV year-round.  It’s really hard to convince a person that this is a good idea.  People either get it, or they don’t.  Some people envy us, and some think we’re crazy.  Only one of our three children “gets it."  Hannah understands that our lifestyle is adventurous and liberating.  She keeps talking about doing what we do and wonders how she can do it NOW!    Michael has to leave tomorrow, but we‘ll fish one more time tomorrow morning.  I don’t think he is ready to move into an RV, but I do think that he at least has a better appreciation of why we live in one. 

There are so many fascinating things to see in rural America.  So many TV shows make a big deal out of going to “Vegas.”  I’ve lived there for the past 5 years, and I say, give me Lincoln County, Nevada any day.  Honestly, when we didn’t live in Vegas, we watched every one of those shows.  We lived in small towns and LOVED going to visit the bright lights of the city.    Okay, Las Vegas really is a fun and interesting place to visit.  It’s just that everyone knows about it.  Thank goodness few people know about all those awesome places within 200 miles of that city.  If they did, there might be a big population shift.  We hope to share our love of these hard to find places.  If we have to, we  will do it one person at a time.  One young man from Vegas saw a little of it today.  One down, 1,250,000 to go.  Hey, you gotta start some where!  

There are MANY people that live in the city but love the outdoors and rural America.  Unfortunately, jobs often keep us in the city.  Obviously, just the fact that Dean and I have been in Vegas for the past few years proves that not all people that live in the city are “city people.”  Many of them are reading this blog.  The good news is, that if you decide to, you can always make your way out, even if it’s just for the weekend.  For example, Las Vegas has a lot a great places to go outside the city.  Red Rock Canyon offers great hiking, as does Mt. Charleston.  Cold Creek is within 30 minutes and offers fishing ponds and wild horses roaming freely around the community.  Boulder City is a nice area to visit with its fun little tourist shops,  helicopter rides, Lake Mead and Boulder Dam.  So, you see, we can ALL, city people, or small town folks, take a minute to get away from the daily grind and enjoy the outdoors.  For those of us that live in RVs, we just can’t get enough of it.  Thus, the reason we do what we do.  There is just too much to see and do to be stuffed into a house that doesn't even have wheels on it.  That's just craziness! lol  :O)  Happy Trails!