Tag Archives: travelok

Eagles!

In case you did not know, January and February are the peak eagle watching months in Oklahoma.

You can find out information about that and other things going on in the state at TravelOK.com.

I find it easiest to find cool new things in our state by pretending I am visiting and just a tourist.

You go out of your way to find cool festivals and places when visiting a new place, why not do the same where you live?

tulsapark The first place we checked for eagles was the Keystone Dam because we had seen them there before.

But when we got there the bridge was closed for construction.

I went to the Keystone State Park right next to it and asked at the vistor center if they had any eagle nests(make sure you ask, they keep close tabs on them usually).

She said that the nest that has been there for years fell down!

She also directed us to old 51 between the park and Sand Springs.

eaglesnestSwift Park is right off old 51 and is mostly just a parking area with a ramp, we did see these two nests across the river.

seagullsWe only saw these guys and some Great Blue Heron’s though.

We moved on to her next recommendation, River City Park in Sand Springs.

nestWe saw these guys in the park next to the Soccer fields!

I would think they would pick a quieter place than the soccer field but it made it easy for me!

watchersHere is a list of the top ten places to see an eagle in Oklahoma and some tips from the TravelOK site.

You can actually go right under this nest, we tried to maintain a good distance and were very quiet so as not to disturb them.

flywatchingpathThere is a walking/bike path in this park that goes right by the nest.

ducksAfter searching all morning for eagles we stopped to get some books at the library.

booksI told the boys they needed to read them on the car ride home.

They were in the back quietly reading until they read something interesting and than they would read it out loud to share it.

It was amazing.

Proud Homeschooling Mom moment and the easiest lesson I have ever “taught”.

Appreciate Oklahoma~Grass

I have noticed that many people need a little help seeing the beauty of the place in which they live, so that is what I am going to do. I used to think that Oklahoma had nothing to offer. It was hot, dry, and everything was dead in the winter with no beauty that I could see. I am ashamed that I actually thought that about God’s beautiful earth.

Marrying my husband is what changed my way of seeing everything around me. He loves to hike and to be outside, so while I thought I was right there with him, I was not. It took me a couple of years to start to see how much Oklahoma had to offer!

There is a reason that the state is broken up into different regions such as Green Country, Red Carpet Country, Frontier Country, Kaimichi Country, Arbuckle Country and Great Plains Country. There so many different eco systems to see here! Tallgrass Prairies, forests, sand dunes…you just have to look! A great resource that helped me was  Travelok.com. I started looking up places to hike, festivals, and various other activities.

The more we explored the more hungry I became to find everything that was good and unique about Oklahoma. The thing that I have come to appreciate this past year as a photographer is the grass. While we do not have blankets of perfect white snow in the winter, we do have beautiful tall grass! I can do a photo shoot in my backyard because of this grass! Some of it turns a beautiful burgundy in the fall and stays that way through the winter. When the early morning or late afternoon sunlight hits it my breath is taken away. It looks like my little patch of land is on fire! I just want to sit out in my backyard and take pictures until the sun is gone. I have taken two of my maternity shoots (here and here) in the grass right in my back yard and they are some of my favorites!

If you live in Oklahoma check out the site and see what this beautiful state has to offer! If you live in a different state, find out what your state website is and start exploring the place you live!

My Boys and I

Appreciategrass

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Tallgrass Prairie Pawhuska, OKappreciategrass4