My Top 10 Spring Break OK Trip List

Last year Jen and I had the kids make a Top 10 list for the spring break trip...it's interesting to see what the kids wrote and how they ranked their favorite activities. Jen, Bethany and I did one last year with our spring break blog and we think it turned out well. The boys will be posting their Top 10 list for this spring break too (stay tuned). In the meantime, here's my Top 10 list....

10. Introducing the boys to Sonic and Which 'Wich?



9. Driving the open Oklahoma road with the boys! (which includes seeing the great OK windfarms!)




8. Seeing all of the great people in Okalhoma who work tireless to educate and teach about Oklahoma history and culture: Lauren, Chris, Shelley, Kathryn, Minoma, Joel, Crystal, Eugene, Gary, and Nathan.

7. Reading the boys' blogs and seeing what they decided to write about.

6. Meers Cafe with the boys--and our day in the Wichita Mountains---the bison and prairie dogs were awesome!



5. Having lunch with Kiera and Najah---in OKLAHOMA!!!!

4. All of the special presentations that everyone did for the boys--from collecting water at Chickasaw, talking to Bruce (while he was on vacation!), to the special presentation at Washita with the phenomenal artifacts---I couldn't have asked for a better experience for my students!

3. Being in uniform again! (complete with badge and hat!!!) and with Lauren in uniform at Chickasaw!

2. The presentation by the students to each other about their respective National Parks--that's what STAMPS is all about!!!

1. Sharing my spring break with the boys in Oklahoma and seeing the National Parks in another part of the country with them.

Flying Home

We made it home safely.

The boys were terrific about getting up....especially considering their wake up call was at 5:00 a.m. We were packed, loaded in the car, and driving to the gas station to fill up at 5:50 a.m. Outstanding!

As we drove to the airport we watched lightening in the still dark sky.

We made it to the airport in good time and even returned the car without any glitches. Phew!

Check in went quickly as did security and before we knew it we were sitting in the boarding area. The flight before ours was still at the boarding area so we camped out on the floor.


Some of the boys continued their souvenir shopping and eventually all found breakfast. For some, it was the last chance to have more Sonic!

Despite the thunderstorm that rolled through from 6:45-7:15, our flight departed on time at 8:15 a.m. We were home by noon EST.

Thanks to all for a wonderful and safe spring break trip! Now, it's time for sleep! :)

Our Last Day in Oklahoma

Today was our last day in Oklahoma for spring break. :( We have visited all of the National Parks in Oklahoma so this was our day to visit other sites that were nearby.

We first went to the Toy and Action Figure Museum in Paul's Valley. This was my third time going---once with Mark, once with Jon (although it was closed the day that we went and so we only saw pictures outside), and today (makes three!). The boys were a little sleepy on our 45 minute drive there, but after a few minutes in the museum they perked up!


I think they were overwhelmed by all of the toys in there! It is truly eye candy when you first see it.

We spent an hour there and then were off to a site that was even new to me: the Wichita Mountains.



CJ was my front seat co-pilot of the day. :)

All last summer I heard about it and was told I should go but I just never did. I'm glad that we had today to explore there---it was definitely a treat!

We first had lunch in Meers at the Meers Cafe--another place I was told was a must see. Meers has long horn burgers and is a total local joint. I had Texas Toothpicks (fried onions and peppers) and potato wedges and drinks were served in mason jars....the boys all seemed pretty happy with their selections. The ambiance was fun too.

We hopped in the car after lunch and entered the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge.

Contrary to what I thought, it's NOT a state park, but rather run by the Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service. The park is unique in that it has free ranging bison, longhorn, antelope, and prairie dogs. I'm sure it has much more than that even....

Within minutes of being in the park we saw bison


and the longhorn cattle.


After a stop at the visitor center we drove to prairie dog town and spent almost 40 minutes there just watching the little guys. It was very fun.




We drove up the road some more and saw bison that were quite close to the road.




And we continued on, up to Mt. Scott that I was also told all last summer about. It has a 360 degree view from the top. It was awesome. It was also very, very windy!








We had a great time and the boys seemed to really enjoy the day.

Of course, we had an afternoon Sonic stop (our last for the trip) and drove back to Norman.

Dinner was with Lauren and Chris at Chipotle. Yum! :) So excited that Lauren and Chris decided to spend the night at the Norman hotel with us! It was great to catch up!


We have an early, early flight back to DC tomorrow.

OKCI

Today was our third and final National Park visit in Oklahoma. But we didn't start the day at a National Park. We actually started with a tour of the University of Oklahoma (OU).


We arrived and were greeted by our tour guide John Paul. He is from Elk City which we passed yesterday on our way to Washita. John Paul gave us a great tour....even showing the boys the famous football field!




He was lively and kept the boys moving. I think their favorite part was walking down the center of campus as students got out of class.

OU has 20,000 students (undergrad and grad) on that campus and it seemed so big compared to where we've been the last few days! As one of the boys said, "Campus seems like a mini DC!"





After our tour we went to the Oklahoma Alliance for Geography Education office on campus to see Eugene again. This summer I met Eugene while I worked at the Park and since I've seen him two other times--at the NCSS conference in Atlanta and in DC when he came for an alliance meeting about a month ago. Eugene and Gary have been able to connect with Lauren and had a really successful spring conference at Chickasaw National Recreation Area last weekend and are hosting a week long teacher workshop this summer about the National Parks. As a member of the DC Geographic Alliance and a National Park enthusiast it's great to see all of it coming together!


Eugene met the boys when we first arrived (thank you for the parking pass Eugene!) and greeted them warmly and gave them OKAGE hats and shirts! It was so wonderful! We returned to visit with him for a few minutes.




After our visit we had a little time to kill before lunch so we stopped at two stores that sold OU paraphernalia---one of them being the OU bookstore.

Our lunch was a real treat--for two big reasons! First, lunch was at Which 'Wich? A personal fave of mine. I think the boys really liked it too. We ate outside under a tree with a warm breeze and the temperature in the mid 80s.



But the real excitement? Kiera Grant and Najah Musa, two of my former 8th graders who now attend OU, joined us for lunch!!!! Leg kick! Leg kick! It was very exciting!!!! Our visit wasn't very long, but it was super! What a cool thing! :)




We were next off to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.


The boys were not alive when the bombing took place so this was a new piece of history for them as well.


We arrived and looked around on the grounds and then sat to hear Ranger Nathan give an interpretive talk about the site. I think it was pretty informative for the boys.



We then went inside to the museum and spent almost an hour looking at the artifacts and hearing the oral histories of survivors. It was really powerful for all of us.

Of course, we got our Passport stamp as well.



We were pretty fried by this point--emotionally and physically--it was near 90. So, I decided to switch up our itinerary bit and we made a Sonic stop at the headquarters. We all got something refreshing to drink and then headed out to the Land Run Monument.


I think it's such a cool monument. The boys seemed content to look at it from a distance, but were impressed by the size and scope of it.



We headed to Chileno's for dinner and even put our name on the wait list (which I was shocked they even had) but decided to nix it. There' s a Taylor Swift concert a few blocks away tonight and there were Taylor Swift groupies EVERYWHERE! I don't think the guys knew what to make of it.

We got stuck by a train so I decided to go back and try to get on the interstate another way---and was unsuccessful. But I was successful in showing the boys the state capitol building. They were amazed how we could drive right up to it and leave the car there while we shot a picture. (Jen, we thought of you!)

So, we decided to come home and blog first and now we're headed to dinner, with free time to follow. Another great day.