The Bunch Leave the Animals and Go Camping.

We had looked forward to all the hiking and fun outdoor activities that McCurtain County, OK, offered since we were sucked in to their tv commercial. We looked at several you tube videos that showed not only beautiful scenery, but also a lot of outdoor activities that included train rides, trail rides, fishing, paddle boating and lots of other options. We were assured that while you would have cell reception that you would be to busy to use it. It sounded perfect. As a bonus, a friend of D's highly recommended this place. Now this friend is a more rough it outdoors type in a bare bones tent while we are a full hook up kind of family, but we do enjoy great hikes and plenty of outdoor activities. I made sure to book a site that did indeed have full hook ups so no need to worry about showering in the bathhouse since we had unlimited gray water availability now.

D is walking Iris for some exercise and Gwen just follows along. Pretty cute.

This was our first trip leaving the horses with the chicken sitters, who were very excited we have equine now. Apparently, like most girls, they LOVE horses. I wasn't too worried about the chickens since they are molting and not really needing a whole lot of attention. They don't lay eggs while they molt and we were only going to be gone 3 nights so they probably would have been fine without a sitter. We left so much hay out for the horses you would have thought we would be gone for a month. Of course, the horses deemed most of it not up to their standards and spread it all over the pasture. I think after this trip, I realized that the horses are definitely fine by themselves for 2 nights, possibly 3, so I think unless the chickens are laying anytime we are gone 2 nights or less I am not going to worry about hiring a sitter. For 3 nights or more I will hire them because it brings peace of mind that someone is checking on them everyday. The horses were very excited to see us when we got home, but I am pretty sure it is just because they wanted food.

The trip to Beavers Bend State Park in McCurtain County was about 200 miles away. It took us about 4 hours to get there towing the trailer. It was nice to leave around 10am and not be in a hurry. The park was REALLY busy when we arrived. The amount of kids and adults that were there was unexpected. Usually when we go somewhere during an off time in the season and during the week, we pretty much have the place to ourselves, but here almost every spot was taken. Upon our arrival I learned that I had somehow managed to reserve a handicap site. There are only 3 and are the only ones with full hook ups. Oops. However, it was nice to have the full hook ups. Contrary to what everyone had said our cell phones, in fact, did NOT work at all, not only in the park, but also in the town. We had to drive about 30 minutes out to get about one bar of service. It made me nervous not having service because I wanted the animal sitter to be able to get hold of us if she needed to and I also like family being able to reach us if needed. On two previous trips, family members have passed away so we just feel better if we are able to be reached. However, this time we were pretty much off grid the entire trip except for a couple of times we went into town.

It was a soggy mess.

We arrived at our lovely handicap site at about 2:30pm. After we set up the trailer, we decided to drive around and plan out our next day. We decided to hike in the morning and do the museum in the afternoon, along with a train ride and maybe a hay ride. Unfortunately, the 40% chance of rain meant that it started pouring about 2am that night and spent the next 24 hours either drizzling or pouring. Basically, we stayed in the camper the ENTIRE day watching Duck Dynasty except when we ventured out to go to town to get lunch. We found a neat little farm to market takery that we ordered lunch from. It was pretty good for the meal, but their desserts were horrible. Luckily, the weather cleared off and we enjoyed a great last day. The hike was amazing. I have been suffering from hip bursitis so we did a rather short hike for us (only 1.5 miles) and then went to the museum, where we learned that the train rides and trail rides only run on the weekends so we wouldn't be doing that this afternoon. We decided to go make a fire and roast some hot dogs and marshmallows instead. The kids played UNO outside . D and I just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful weather. It made for a better day than the day before, but we still prefer our favorite Branson. At least when the weather is bad there, there is a lot of other options. We miss not being able to make our annual pilgrimage to Branson this year.

Our crazy dog had to have her eyes covered to avoid completely freaking out over the deer. Yes, we had a lot of "looks".

Enjoying our one nice day. It was wonderful.

Cute covered bridge on our hike.

It was so peaceful next to the babbling brook.

T had fun exploring

It was a little steep in some areas...my hip wasn't crazy about that.

Just in case you had any ideas

So sweet, but not the norm.

More the norm. Maisy has to be with mommy ALL the time...really annoying sometimes.

It has got to be done. Thanks Dear!

Waiting for our food at the farm to table restaurant.

He loves cute babbling brooks!

Amazingly this store was open 8-8 everyday. We didn't eat there, but it always had people at it.

A literally didn't leave the trailer for 2 days so she isn't in most of the pics. She wasn't feeling too hot so it was just us and the other 2 for most of the outings.