Spring break mini-vacation

This week we took a mini-vacation with the Thomases, our frequent travel buddies, to Beavers Bend State Park in Oklahoma. I don’t think I realized until we were there how much I needed some quiet time with nature. We:

• rented some cabins by the river
• sat by the fire late into the night
• ate all our meals outside
• roasted marshmallows
• listened to birdsong and soothing froggy sounds (and other less pleasant sounds — see the video at the end of this post)
• enjoyed lovely sunshine, and warm but not hot weather
• griped at the teenagers for always having their phones out
• hiked a little
• drove out to the yurts (disappointing) and hydropower plant and dam (kinda cool)
• attempted to operate a hammock (I don’t know what I was doing wrong)
• and discovered one of the weirder roadside attractions I have ever seen.

Here are some trip photos! Hover over them for captions!

Our “cabin” which was basically an entire house with the river in the front yard

The view from the front deck

First campfire, nice and smoky to convince the wasps to go away

You’d think a hammock would be relaxing, but apparently I don’t know how to properly operate one

Katy and Doc

Jamie and Doc

Katy and Jamie

Photobomb #1

Photobomb #2

Friends!

Pretty sure Jamie’s favorite part of camping was his phone

I liken this lichen

Annoyed Sasquatch

Sunrise, day 2

Sunrise, day 3

A nearly full moon over our camp site

Broken Bow hydropower plant

The world’s biggest ruler

Broken Bow dam

One of the weirder roadside attractions I have ever seen

Don’t touch the gas pump!

Our “cabin” which was basically an entire house with the river in the front yard

The view from the front deck

First campfire, nice and smoky to convince the wasps to go away

You’d think a hammock would be relaxing, but apparently I don’t know how to properly operate one

Katy and Doc

Jamie and Doc

Katy and Jamie

Photobomb #1

Photobomb #2

Friends!

Pretty sure Jamie’s favorite part of camping was his phone

I liken this lichen

Annoyed Sasquatch

Sunrise, day 2

Sunrise, day 3

A nearly full moon over our camp site

Broken Bow hydropower plant

The world’s biggest ruler

Broken Bow dam

One of the weirder roadside attractions I have ever seen

Don’t touch the gas pump!

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An unexpected point of interest was the dam-release alarm horn (watch the video below with the sound on), which blared eerily to alert people on the river when extra water was being released from Broken Bow dam upstream. The alarm consisted of a very loud static tone from the east coupled with a classic tornado warning siren from the west. It sounded in four bursts one minute apart, with the final burst being twice as long as what you hear in the video.

And that pattern repeated three times each day, including at 5:44 each morning! THAT was fun! It’s always great to be woken up to that much adrenaline suddenly coursing through your system!