Some of my favorite vacations have been around the state of Oklahoma. All of my childhood vacations were at different lakes around the state. I would spend a week here and there with my parents and grandparents at Canton Lake. I can still remember eating watermelon and my grandpa's fried zucchini cooked in a travel skillet. Then there were the times we went to Fort Cobb. I liked this lake better at the time, but I'm not really sure why. I'll take a stab at guessing that it was better camping grounds and public bathroom/shower facilities. When I was in junior high my parents bought a lake house at Eufaula. We went to the lake every weekend during the summers of my junior high and high school years. My friend Rhys and I would ride four-wheelers and swim on the boat ramp just down the street from my house. We ate fresh tomatoes from a road side stand at every meal. Even though my allergies are super delicate and I get sick every time I spend more than a few hours outside, I thouroughly enjoy an Oklahoma summer.
This may sound like some pretty boring vacations to you world travelers, but I have to admit I really don't look back at any of it and wish that my parents had done anything differently. During college, I began traveling more, mainly because of school music groups that would tour in the spring and summer. It made me want to travel more and go on numerous road trips. This summer, because of summer school and various other reasons (like the Las Vegas trip in the spring), we are not going to go on a huge summer vacation. Instead, we took Monday and Tuesday off and went to Sheldon's parents' in Oktaha, Oklahoma on Thursday night. Getting to spend five days with his family was definitely a treat! I'm an only child and he has two brothers and a sister. Bring in the other various relatives, in-laws, and family friends and you have quite the party!
This local vacation is definitely the highlight of my summer. Saturday was Sheldon's dad's birthday. The girls all went and bought the fireworks and we let the boys set them off. I think they were pretty pleased with our purchases. It was so humid outside, that my camera never adjusted so I didn't get any pictures. On Sunday we loaded up our coolers with tons of Pabst Blue Ribbon and floated down the Illinois River. This was my first float trip experience, and I have to say it will not be the last. We had so much fun and the weather was perfect!
Monday everyone came to Oklahoma City and we went to a Redhawks game. Sheldon's sister-in-law Christina loves baseball so it was a perfect event to share with her. I had homework to do so I brought it along. Nothing like reading about librarar user studies while watching a ball game. Yesterday was the Cowboy Hall of Fame. Ok so it has a new name, but I'm too lazy to remember what that is. In my 26 years in Oklahoma, I had never been to this museum, so it was a great day!
I must say that spending so much time with so many people is definitely something I'll have to get used to. I'm an only child...enough said. But everyone is so loving and there is never a dull moment. I can definitely get used to that!
I started writing this post on Wednesday, and now it is Friday. I'm still exhausted. I wanted to tell you all about the wonderful things I found at the antique stores in Muskogee and show you pretty pictures of the farm. But really... I can't even bring myself to load pictures on the computer. So I'll just throw this out there for you all to read. I know I get just as annoyed when there are no pictures in a blog post. I'm like a three-year-old that way. Oh and we're going back this weeked as well has hitting up Vinita, OK for a wedding. Maybe you'll get a better post on Monday... Maybe.
