Animals, Hiking, Parks

Scenic Drives and Sand Dunes ~Freedom, OK

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Since Alabaster Caverns is a pretty small park and I love western Oklahoma, we decided to drive around while there couple of times.

I have a scenic drive map for Oklahoma that we used as a starting off point and it was great!

Not the part where I tried to take us to a WMA after a lot of snow and we almost got stuck…

But everything else was great!

At one point I wondered why I thought trapping 6 kids in a vehicle with me would be relaxing and questioned my vacation choices but then we saw a BOBCAT!!!!

I joked with the kids that I would pay them a dollar for finding me a bobcat since I had never seen one in the wild and I ended up finding one! That made the loud car ride totally worth it! That and lots of beautiful wide open spaces! Right after we saw the bobcat we then saw a badger! Poor guy was terrified, ran to this whole, and began frantically throwing dirt out to get away from us…I get that. We are loud. We also decided to stop by the Little Sahara State Park one day. The kids were not sure about another ride to go see something but ended up loving running down the dunes. You can rent Off Road Vehicles to go out on the main part of the dunes but that is a bit pricey so we stuck to the nature trail and viewing area. The viewing platform is pretty far removed from the main part of the park so can be hard to find but it is worth it. Watching the sand blow off the tops of the dunes was mesmerizing.

Camping, Hiking, Parks

Alabaster Caverns State Park ~Freedom, OK

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On the way to Alabaster Caverns State Park from Pawnee just happened to be Gloss Mountain!

This is one of my favorite spots in Oklahoma so of course I decided that we needed to get out and stretch our legs there!

Quick stair climb to the top and you can see for miles!

That is my idea of a great travel break!

When we got to our spot at the park I was a bit worried.

Although it was nice and close to the bathrooms and playgrounds (a really nice thing for 6 kids), it was also right next to the main park road and visitor center.

This is a very small park so there are not many options but this time it worked out okay since we were the ONLY PEOPLE STAYING AT THE PARK!

Thankfully their were very few visitors also because I felt a bit like we were in a fishbowl when anyone else was there.

I would not want to stay in this spot in the summer when it is filled with people.
Because we were right next to the visitor center it was really easy to go on the first cave tour of the day!

Which means it was only 5 kiddos and me(Nick stayed back with our youngest) with the tour guide.

I was not sure how interesting the tour would be(especially since I DO NOT like caves) but it was actually really fun!

We saw hundreds of bats!

A lot of them were super close also!

One entrance is not open right now so instead of going through the whole cave you go part way and turn back.

But the kids did not seem to mind because we got to see the bats again!

They were definitely the star of the show.

They got more snow than we did so there was still a lot of snow on the trails! There is not very much hiking available here because it is such a small park so keep that in mind.

And some of the trails might be short but they have steep drop offs, which are even more interesting when it is covered in snow and mud.

We had trouble finding one or two of the trails and I am not sure if that is due to poor trail markings or just being harder to see in the snow. These views were worth all the extra work though!

Such a pretty place!

 

The playground was a big hit and really helped keep the kids entertained. It always helps to bring a friend also 😉

 

One of the things I ended up loving about this park was it’s small size.

I felt like I could watch the sunset from this beautiful lookout while still keeping an eye on the kids.

Win win
I walked over to this spot over and over while we were there.

So peaceful(even with my wild kids screaming in the background).

My spot 😉

Western Oklahoma will always have a special place in my heart.

The wide open landscape always brings me peace and a smile.

Camping

Pawnee Lake Campground ~Pawnee, OK

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We tried out the Pawnee Lake Campground for one night on our way to western Oklahoma.
They had porta-potties at the sites and the sites were really close together. Our spot would usually share the same electric pole with the site next to it. So they are very small. We did find a bigger one but the electric did not work for that one. So you might want to check your electric before setting up.
That being said, it was only $15 for electric and the kids really enjoyed playing on the shore of the lake.
Also there were a lot of eagles and other birds to watch and it was close to the Pawnee Bill Ranch!
 
Lots of cute babies at the ranch right now! We only drove through the ranch, did not go into the museum at all but the kids seemed to really enjoy it.
We also checked out the Historic Bathhouse on  Pawnee Lake. They have swimming there in the summer. The kids really liked this old style merry go round.
Not everything is fun and games on our trips. The vehicle needed fixed or we would not be able to continue to Alabaster Caverns the next day!
Nick took our oldest’s to get the part while I stayed with the rest of the kids at our site.
It ended up being a really relaxing evening though and I really enjoyed it. Thankfully he was able to get everything fixed that evening so we did not have to head home also!
If you are wondering why we have 4 girls instead of 3, we brought a friend with us on the trip!

I would not want to stay here when it is crowded at all since the sites are so close and it was a little hard to figure out how to pay.

It ended up being a pay box near the entrance but we got the last envelope!

So you might want to figure that out beforehand.

Ha