Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Last Day...Lake Murray

Sadly, today was our last day at Lake Murray.  So, after breakfast, we set out to make the most of our time.

We started at the

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Tucker Tower Nature Center, which we had seen the other day from

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from across the lake.

Like, I said, we arrived at the tower parking lot and

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made our way up some steps and

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a long path that went up hill all the way.  We stopped to see a few

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pretty flowers and

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a dragonfly.  After all, it is a nature center.

Finally, at the top of the walkway, we reached the

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tower entrance.  Once, we were inside, we had to

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climb lots of steps to finally reach the

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top.  And, from there, we could

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see lots of things...mostly, how beautiful we thought

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Lake Murray is.  We stayed for a little while and just looked around from all sides of the tower enjoying the view.

Then, we made our way down the steps and the trail, stopping by the

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the gardener's gate where we saw a

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beautiful butterfly playing in the morning sun.

We left the tower and headed north on I-35 to take a look at Arbuckle Lake, which was about 35 miles away.  We had been told it was a nice lake, which we guess it was, but, Poppa said the

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the campsites had a little to be desired.  And, they didn't have a place for us to swim.  So, we took a vote, and decided that Elephant Rock was the best!

On the way back, they talked Poppa into a stop at

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where else, but...

Once, we were back to the motor home and all rested from our morning trip, it was time for our

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last swim.  We swam, played in the sand, and swam some more, until it was finally dinner time.  Still not ready to give in, they headed to the playground for a little more time there.

Finally, when the

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geese came home to nest and the sun set, they were finally ready for baths and bed.

What a great last day for our summer "macation" 2011 with Caden and Kourtney.  And,

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they would like to thank all of you for joining them for their stay at Lake Murray State Park.  We hope you can visit here sometime...and maybe we will see you here, because, we will be back.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

A New Adventure

Today, we headed out in search of an adventure.  First, we took a little drive to look at a couple of the other camping loops, but we found nothing better than what we have.  So, it was back to the lodge headquarters where they have a

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water sports rental facility and small water park.  Our intention was to rent a paddle boat.  However, because there was a little wind today, the staff discouraged the paddle boat and suggested a kayak.   This is something Mark has been wanting to try.  I wasn't quite sure how it would work out with the little folks, but was assured they would do just fine.  So,

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we took the boy at his word, boarded our kayaks and off we paddled.

We had a great time and our hour was up before we knew it.

Then there was lunch and nap time for all.  Later this afternoon, we went for

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swim before dinner.

The evening brought some cooler temperatures, so we took a walk through the

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the forest to the next camping loop to the

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big playground.  The kids had fun climbing, playing, and sliding until a pesky bee stung Caden.  So, we headed back to the motor home for a little first aid and some ice cream.

We have had another great day and our new adventure was certainly the highlight and something we will do again.

For now, it is time to say good-night and see you tomorrow.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Lake Murray...Day 2

Well, I have to say that after all of our efforts yesterday of getting a spot here at Elephant Rock Campgrounds, today,

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we pretty much had the park to ourselves.

We started our morning with a

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walk.  A little ways down our main road, we found a

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trail that took us to the lake.  We stopped along the way to

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pose for a picture or two.

Then Poppa saw a trail road that said closed, but we took it anyway.  It looks like they might be getting ready to make

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some more campsites.  While we walked along this road we saw really neat stuff, like

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where ants live.  And, we saw some

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real pretty flowers.  It doesn't take much to entertain a child.

We made our way back around to our swimming beach, and to our surprise, it was

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occupied.  We found a package of feed that someone had left behind, so

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we fed the geese.

By this time, we had walked a little over a mile and decided we needed to cool off...so we gathered our

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swim jackets and noodles and by the time we got back to the beach, the geese were gone and

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we had the lake to ourselves.

And, other than lunch, a nap, a snack, more swimming, dinner, and a little laundry, that just about concludes our day 2 here in Oklahoma.

See you tomorrow for another adventure.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Off To Lake Murray

On Friday and Saturday, while Poppa and I worked at getting the motor home really for travel, Kourtney worked at getting

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the beach toys washed, dried, and

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sorted for her and Caden.

Yes, our summer "macation" 2011 with she and Caden is about to become a reality.  Our destination, Elephant Rock Campground at Lake Murray State Park just out of Ardmore, Oklahoma.

So, this morning after making a plan and

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mapping out a place to meet Scott and Jennifer who would be returning from a wedding in Tulsa, we were ready to pull out.

Kourtney quickly claimed the

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the front seat, telling mom, dad, and Kinley good-bye.  We weren't on the road long until I was serving

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lunch to our first class passenger.

The drive up I-35 to the

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Red River passed pretty fast.  Then, it became a little complicated.  We were told over the phone by the State Park office staff that the park was full for the weekend and that we probably couldn't get a spot until later today.  Since the spaces can't be reserved, we decided we would just take a look for ourselves.  However, we didn't want to drive the motor home there only to be turned away, so we came up with a plan.

We pulled into the parking lot at

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Winstar Casino and parked the motor home, disconnected the Jeep and drove the 20 miles up to

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Lake Murray.  We found a few vacant sites and chose the one we thought would be the best of us.  Then it was off to find the camp host and reserve the site.  I told her we needed to leave and return with the motor home.  She then told me, that we had to leave a vehicle or a person here.  Our tag on the post wasn't sufficient to hold the space.  Okay, next plan...by this time Scott and Jennifer were not too far away, so we had them come

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straight to the campground.  We loaded in their car and it was off to the Winstar to pick up the motor home.

There we said our

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good-byes to them, and we were once again back on the road to the Elephant Rock Campground.  Finally, by mid-afternoon, we were settled

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into our spot and our little travelers were glad to be

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out and off to play at the playground just across the road from our site.   Soon, it was dinner time and tonight's menu as planned by them...grilled hot dogs.

Afterwards, we still had plenty of time for a trip to the

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designated swim area, and a little play time in the

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sand.

Once we were back to the motor home, we took an quick

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outside shower before heading in to take a real shower.  Then it was time for a snack, and time to jump into

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Moppa and Poppa's bed for a bedtime movie.

Wow...what a great first day...can't wait for tomorrow!