Day Trip to Beaver's Bend, Oklahoma

We have been seriously missing the mountains, rivers, and outdoors in general here in Texas, so for Memorial Day weekend, we decided to check out some wilderness areas near Broken Bow, Oklahoma, in Beaver's Bend State Park. Since everyone and their dogs camp this weekend, we decided not to actually camp, but to check on things for a future campout. Corey heard that this lake and river in southeastern Oklahoma, just over the border from us, had mountains and good camping and fly fishing. We began our 3 hour trek and Zach fell right asleep, which I was hoping would extend through most of the drive. However, 30 minutes later, we hit one of the very few stoplights on the entire route, and he promptly woke up and was in a pretty bad mood until he fell asleep again on the drive home.

The boring drive made me miss home so much. Everything along the way was flat, flat, flat! Zach was so bored he resorted to examining his hands and toes for long periods of time. Then he would suck on them. (I'm pretty sure he learned that from his dad, not his mom.)
The monotony was occasionally broken up by a big factory. We passed our friends Sara Lee, Tyson, and Campbell's along the way. We also drove through a number of flat, blah, towns that all looked pretty much like this:
After 3 hours, we arrived in the tiny town of Broken Bow, but still did not see any mountains. In the distance we could see some slight hills that were maybe 100 feet tall, and even that pitiful change in elevation caused our hearts to leap a little. Beaver's Bend State Park was packed with tents and RVs and I just can't understand how that is enjoyable to people. I like to be outdoors and enjoy nature to be away from all the other people and crowds!

We found a little shack that was renting canoes on the river, and jumped at the chance to get out of the car for awhile. We were a little hesitant to have Zach in a canoe, but the classically redneck owner said it was fine. (I suppose I should've questioned his judgement a little more after he asked if my 18 month old was holding his head up pretty well yet. :) ) We put a small life vest on Zach, boarded this awesome, ancient van, and got dropped at the start of the river run.

There was actually a tiny, very shallow run of rapids at the very beginning, and since there was not really a place for Zach to sit, I had to hold him on my lap for the entire trip and hope that we wouldn't tip over. Therefore, Corey had the job of balancing and paddling us (not rowing, as I was corrected by my astute, Eagle Scout husband!) down the shallow river.

Let me just tell you what a fun experience it is to hold a kicking, screaming, crying child on a tiny canoe for an hour. Dipping his feet in the water and telling him to look for Nemo and sharks helped distract him a bit. Despite Zach's many repeated outbursts, we really enjoyed the gorgeous scenery.

There were one or two dozen turtles perched on this fallen tree.

I absolutely LOVED these beautiful trees shooting out of the water. Delectable!

I don't which I liked more, the trees or their reflection.

My feeble attempt at emulating artist Vladmir Kush. :) I was trying to make an hourglass out of this vista, but it looks more like a Rorschach test!

We were surprised to see this familiar old Indian statue, and thought he had been kidnapped from his dwelling in Idaho Falls. However, we found out the sculptor created one of these in each of the 50 states. Nice to see a familiar face so far from home, though!
Zach had just about HAD IT--and so had I. Luckily the end point was just before that bridge.
Two minutes after we buckled him in, he was out for a couple of hours straight. Bummer that he didn't get a good nap earlier so we could have all enjoyed the canoe trip more. Oh well.

On the way home, I had a brighter perspective of our trip than on the way there. We were even blessed to see this lovely sunset. Here's to more adventurous Texas roadtrips!