We wanted to do a trial camping trip with our new puppy but wanted to stay pretty close to home in case it went badly.
Osage Hills State Park was a perfect choice!
It was not very far away from our house and is a favorite hiking spot for us.
In fact my oldest went on his first hike there when he was one month old!
There were only a few other people camping so we had a huge area for the kids to play.
Milo did great on his first camping trip and loved hiking!
We saw so many Armadillo that I didn’t even look anymore when one of the kids yelled they saw one.
Ha
While up that way we went to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.
So many Bison and some beautiful hiking trails!

We went to see Christmas Lights in Bartlesville at Johnstone Park.
And we checked out the Hulah Lake Wildlife Management Area and Wha Sha She Park(used to be state park).
We did not hit the WMA at the best time of day so I did not see much.
And the park was kind of run down with not much there.
They were both in pretty areas though.
We headed home on Christmas Eve after one more hike.
I think if I had a tradition for the holidays it would be hiking and camping.
Now I just need to convince my kids to go on a Christmas hike every year…




We didn’t bring waders…
This one was not a nature trail but most of the others we went on were.



















I get a little crazy about wanting to see everything so I was bummed to realize I missed a few nature trails but the ones we went on were beautiful!
To the left of the boys a deer was just standing there staring at us!
This was the only established place to walk around that we saw there.
It was a beautiful scenic drive though and my kids want to go back when it is warmer to see Alligators.





It is under construction so very small right now, the drawings look amazing of what they are planning though and it was free.
The biggest selling point for us was the state dinosaur!
My dinosaur lover was very excited to get to see “Acro” even if it was just the head!