Category Archives: Museums/Events

Festivals

Porter Peach Festival 2019 ~Porter, OK

Leave a comment

The Porter Peach Festival has gotten a lot busier than when we first started going! We always make sure to stop by Livesay Orchards to get some peaches before going to the festival! There are booths and some carnival rides and food. It is always crazy hot!!! Nick helped kids cool off… These hats seemed like a fun idea but they were so light that mostly we just added the crazy chaos of kids chasing hats to the already difficult task of keeping track of 6 kids at a busy event.

Ha I feel like having a giant table of funnel cake was not playing fair…

And yes, we did get some.

Mostly the kids were just excited about the parade. It is small but they throw candy and that makes it an awesome parade in my kids book.

Do you go to local festivals?

I like to look up events beforehand and try to go for a specific event!

We have seen Frog and turtle races, wiener dog races, bloodhound trials, gunfights and more!

Camping, Museums/Events, Parks

Plans change again, last stop.

Leave a comment

Okay, last vacation post!

I have been slow in sharing because, well 5 kids but I love to look back on these so I was determined to finish.

Our last stop was also one of the last State Parks we needed to visit to see them all!

We stopped at one more on the way home and now I have officially been to all of the Oklahoma State Parks!

This one was the Great Plains State Park. And it was so beautiful!

The flowers were all in bloom while we were there! I had not planned to camp at this park but learned my lesson from getting turned away from Palo Duro and called ahead to Wichita Mountains(where I wanted to camp).

They were full so we stayed at Great Plains State Park.

There is more to do and see at Wichita Mts. but I enjoyed our stay at this park.

One of the few downsides was that the bathhouse was not open yet at our campground so we had to use porta potties.

 

They also have a pretty large trail system but it is not well kept.

This part of the trail looked promising but was pretty flooded so we ended up not going on it. It is not too far from Wichita Mts. so we drove over there.

I decided to give Nick a driving break and drove.

Which means we took the scenic route and stopped every few miles so I could take pics 😉

I love all of the wildlife in Wichita Mts. Even though we had seen a lot of prairie dogs while out west my kids still loved watching them.

We stopped at the Nature Center/Museum while there. We went ahead and stopped at the Holy City while there.

I guess they hold an Easter Play there every year. It was interesting but not really for me. Next up we went on the short hike to the Jed Johnson Tower.

We had never been before and Little Bit was convinced it was Rapunzel’s tower.It was a bit muddy on the trail.She was so excited.No Rapunzel.Next stop was the Museum of the Great Plains.

It is a part of the Oklahoma Museum Network so we get in on our pass.

I love how kid friendly it is now.So much to see and do.They love the store.They have a fort outside and the people in it love to share their love of history.

We decided to give the trail system another try at Great Plains State Park on our last night there. I was giddy happy to be hiking in a field of flowers. It might have difficult to follow the trail but it was breathtaking and one of my favorite moments of the trip. Thoughtful people had left rock stacks to help you find the trail. Sometimes you are just too short to get through the cactus and yucca without the help of a big brother. Beautiful view from the top.

It was a great way to end our trip!

Museums/Events, Parks, Wildlife Preserve/Reserve

Museums, a storm, and Palo Duro take 2!

Leave a comment

Being in an rv during storms is all at once beautiful(I love the sound on the roof) and terrifying.  A big storm rolled through during our stay at the Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. We drove into Amarillo on our second day in Texas to check out the Don Harrington Discovery Center.

It was another ATSC Passport museum so we got in for free again! It was a great museum but my pictures are a bit deceptive.

It was VERY crowded.

There were several school groups there and it was not a huge place so it was SUPER LOUD! I went in with our four oldest and Nick stayed out with the dog and our youngest who needed a nap. Anyone else feel like they need to go be in the middle of nowhere around no people after visiting a children’s museum? Afterwards I dropped Nick and the girls off at the camper and took the boys to the Palo Duro Canyon to hike and take pics.But because it had rained the night before, they closed the trails!

Our campsite was a good 30mins away so I felt obligated to still go even though I did still have to pay the entrance fee.

At this point it was getting laughably ridiculous.1st they are all booked up, now we cannot even go for a hike there!We still went into the museum and stopped at the lookouts at least.Our last trip to the canyon went a lot better though for sure.When we got back to the wildlife refuge we decided to check out some of the trails.It was a pretty walk.

I had to keep reminding myself that I really did love the Palo Duro Canyon and that this time it was just a flop.

Have you ever had a really bad time at a great place?