A week without school, soccer, or piano, and my parents
coming to visit: what to do, what to do? I knew we wanted to see more of Oklahoma since we live here now. We're an outdoorsy sort of family (despite the children's protests), so I looked into state parks. There are a number of them with hills, trails and caves, all of which we enjoy.
We had already explored the first - Red Rock Canyon - but felt it was worth a second visit. Unfortunately, we overlooked the spring aspect - water covered half of one of the
trails and mud the other half. The children didn't seem to mind the shorter walk or slogging through water and mud. Mum and Dad were not thrilled with the latter. We did see evidence of beavers, and Mum looked at birds. We stopped at the Cherokee Trading Post on the way home for some window shopping and goofing off.
We drove in a great loop to see the next set of parks. At Boiling Spring State Park, we strolled through a winter skeleton of a woods to the river,
reveling in the sunlight and
checking out the various camp sites for future use.
The children wished the pool was open and the adults admired the stone cabins overlooking the little man-made lake.
Next in the loop, Alabaster Caverns State Park offered a trail and a cave tour. At 9:00 AM, frigid air stung the inside
of our throats and our faces as we snapped pictures at the overlook and hiked a little way down into the narrow ravine. Inside the cave, we meandered through the prescribed tour, craning our necks to spot highlighted deposits of alabaster and gypsum, and getting some shocking nose-to-nose confrontations with members of various bat species.
Driving back down to Oklahoma City,
we passed Gloss (or Glass)
Mountains State Park. The red, flat-topped messas have large deposits of Gypsum (or Selenite), which sparkle like pieces of glass in the sun. While researching this place, I was confused as to whether
this was a state park or not.
According to a sign at the park, volunteers built and maintain its facilities. Technically, it is not a state park. Either way, it is picturesque - a beautiful place to stop for a short hike and picnic.
The last stop on the loop (we had to take a small detour) was the Sod House Museum. I am not a big museum fan. In fact, my back tenses just thinking about going to a museum. However, this was small and manageable. The museum curators built a warehouse-like building around this well-preserved sod house. On the outside, the sod house looks a little like a chief's house in a small Malawian village.
Not on the inside, though! It left me with a very mixed-up impression of early settler life in Oklahoma - was it basic or not? They played the piano inside mud walls... A nice touch was the one-on-one talk with a staff member about the family who lived in the house. She gave us many neat anicdotes about their way of life.
A week without school, soccer, or piano, and my parents 
coming to visit: what to do, what to do? I knew we wanted to see more of Oklahoma since we live here now. We're an outdoorsy sort of family (despite the children's protests), so I looked into state parks. There are a number of them with hills, trails and caves, all of which we enjoy.
We had already explored the first - Red Rock Canyon - but felt it was worth a second visit. Unfortunately, we overlooked the spring aspect - water covered half of one of the 
trails and mud the other half. The children didn't seem to mind the shorter walk or slogging through water and mud. Mum and Dad were not thrilled with the latter. We did see evidence of beavers, and Mum looked at birds. We stopped at the Cherokee Trading Post on the way home for some window shopping and goofing off.
We drove in a great loop to see the next set of parks. At Boiling Spring State Park, we strolled through a winter skeleton of a woods to the river, 
reveling in the sunlight and 
checking out the various camp sites for future use. 
The children wished the pool was open and the adults admired the stone cabins overlooking the little man-made lake.
Next in the loop, Alabaster Caverns State Park offered a trail and a cave tour. At 9:00 AM, frigid air stung the inside 
of our throats and our faces as we snapped pictures at the overlook and hiked a little way down into the narrow ravine. Inside the cave, we meandered through the prescribed tour, craning our necks to spot highlighted deposits of alabaster and gypsum, and getting some shocking nose-to-nose confrontations with members of various bat species.
Driving back down to Oklahoma City, 
we passed Gloss (or Glass) 
Mountains State Park. The red, flat-topped messas have large deposits of Gypsum (or Selenite), which sparkle like pieces of glass in the sun. While researching this place, I was confused as to whether 
this was a state park or not. 
The last stop on the loop (we had to take a small detour) was the Sod House Museum. I am not a big museum fan. In fact, my back tenses just thinking about going to a museum. However, this was small and manageable. The museum curators built a warehouse-like building around this well-preserved sod house. On the outside, the sod house looks a little like a chief's house in a small Malawian village. 
Not on the inside, though! It left me with a very mixed-up impression of early settler life in Oklahoma - was it basic or not? They played the piano inside mud walls... A nice touch was the one-on-one talk with a staff member about the family who lived in the house. She gave us many neat anicdotes about their way of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment