TexHOMEa - way from home

A little funny that aptly describes my sentiments about the weather, and kicks off this post about our time at Lake Texoma.

On a more serious note...
Ty and I have traveled quite a bit so far. We have been blessed to have the opportunity to travel to thirteen different countries, and live in two of those countries. Granted, it was over a period of six months, but it was still quite an adventure. In addition to that great period of our lives, we are also fortunate to have family that live in some pretty neat places, Colorado, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, and New Mexico to name a few. I promise I'm not being sarcastic. The Eiffel Tower doesn't have anything on the high plains of Texas, the greenery of Arkansas, the rolling wheat fields of Kansas and the blue mountains of Colorado. Nor, does it have anything on the great time we had visiting Lake Texoma (a first for me) with Ty's Stelting grandparents, his dad, and Kim.

Our first stop of the trip was in Weatherford, Oklahoma. It's a city with a small college in central Oklahoma. It has everything you need, from great food, great company, red dirt, a Walmart, and if you're feeling really adventurous, a the Tom Stafford space museum. (Okay, I was being a little sarcastic about the museum.) We visited with Ty's grandparents while our dog, Papi did his best to drive their dog, Bella, to insanity.

Later on, we left the dogs to settle their differences while we went to Corn, Oklahoma to visit Ty's great grandma Marie. And, yes, there is actually a town named Corn. It's a bit like the towns I'm familiar with, you know, the ones that consist of a gas station, a nursing home, a few paved streets, and more churches than there are residents. I really like Weatherford and Corn, and I thing it would be pretty aMAIZEing if we could settle there one day. ;) Anyway, Grandma Marie proved great to visit as always. We visited and she showed us one of the quilts she was making. I hope one day she'll be able to make a quilt for a future mini-Stelting.

After a brief visit in Corn, we went back to Weatherford in preparation of the trip to come. We woke up early... well early to me, and left to Lake Texoma at around 9:30 in the morning.

Lake Texoma is the bit of water with the big red teardrop on it (thanks, Google), and I circled in red some of the surrounding communities we visited. The black line is the border of Texas, so, as you can see, we were literally a hop a skip and a small swim away from ten gallon hats and larger than normal things.

When we arrived, we quickly learned what real summer-time heat was. We've been fortunate up until about a couple of weeks ago to have fairly mild summer weather. Clearly, Mother Nature had different ideas for our trip. Most of the week, we had heat indices of more than 100 degrees, and the humidity was a shock, even for us Eastern Kansas folks. However, we proved the saying that "you're only bored if you choose to be" saying true. Even though it was too hot to go out on the boat or do almost anything that didn't involve ice cream and air conditioning, we found ways to entertain ourselves.

The first night, we took the golf carts out and drove around the lake, so I could see it for the first time.

Of course, what's a lake view without having your handsome man at your side?... and bug spray. Definitely can't forget about the bug spray.

Ty's dad, David, and David's girlfriend Kim, joined us that night around 7:30, so we got in some good quality time with them on the first day. We know first handedly that nothing brings people closer together than air conditioning, good food, and a game of Mexican Train.

Day 2 at the lake, we decided to see what the lake had to offer. We drove to one area where every childhood dream came true... for a price. There was a band camp going on, girls waving flags around, a huge swimming area complete with lakeside trampolines, slides, and other fun toys, as well as mini golf. Unfortunately, the lake fun area was only there for looks (for us at least) because it would have cost $10 per hour, per person! Can you say extortion? So, we chose the more economical, and actually more fun option of mini golf, another first for me!

Here's Grandma at one of the holes along with all of the men in her family: Ty, David, and Jerald.

So, I'm not going to say that it took me more than five strokes on my first hole, but I'm not going to say that it took me less than six. You figure that one out. Either way, Grandpa Stelting won by a landslide, and me.... well, I just tried to hide the tears.

Later on that day we went swimming at a FREE swimming area, which proved to be a nice, refreshing way to spend the afternoon. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy swimming in lakes up until then and I bothered Ty basically every day to go swimming with me in the evenings. (Final score, me: 2, Ty: 1)

Wednesday morning, I was fortunate to make the acquaintance of both Mike and Phyllis. Phyllis had attended Ty's and my wedding, but in all of the excitement that had ensued, I hadn't really gotten the chance to get to know her. Papi didn't get to know them either, so, our dog proceeded to embarrass us by alerting us to their terribly frightening (sarcasm again!) presence every time we saw them. Papi also showed how smart he is by barking incessantly at a ceramic cat in their house. Thank gosh he warned us, because I don't know if that fake cat would have let us escape alive. It's always the inanimate object you've gotta look out for.

However, Papi definitely didn't get his "intelligence" from his adoptive pet parents, because one of the most enjoyable days we spent, was our day in Tishomingo. (Yes, that is an actual town name.) We spent the bulk of the morning exploring the three museums that the town had to offer, much of it revolving around the Chickesaw indians.

About midway through our walk around one museum, a nice lady came to share more information about the Chickesaw. I could be wrong, but I think she does have native american heritage, and she was really eager to inform us on their history.

The gang's all here!... Too bad the selfie-stick wasn't. ;)

One of the main attractions of Tishomingo is a store named the "Pink Pistol." Miranda Lambert opened it up, because, if I'm not mistaken, Tishomingo is her home town. Personally, the store kind of creeped me out because it was kind of like a Miranda Lambert shrine mixed with a pink explosion mixed with some weird cardboard cutouts of her current ex-husband Blake Shelton. (I think they're taking those out now that the divorce is going through....)

That couch was worth about a million bucks more with Grandpa sitting on it!

The rest of Tishomingo was filled with botiques where you could find anything from hand painted signs to homemade jams. Again, air conditioning was "da real MVP."

We spent a couple of more days going to surrounding towns checking out the local shops, and even watched a movie one day. I think I might have shocked Ty's grandparents by my constant need to be doing something, so I'm sure it was a relief for them when they finally were able to sit down at the end of the day without me asking what we were going to do next!

Unfortunately, our time at Lake Texoma had to end. So we packed up our bags, squeezed them into the back of the car (how is it you always have a harder time leaving a place than you do on your way there?), and headed back to the great town of Weatherford.

We did make one pit stop along the way in Sulfur, Oklahoma. (Yes, also a real town!) It's named for the high amount of sulfur and it's rotten-egg stench. Ty halfway fulfilled some strange childhood dream of drinking the water there... until he spit it back out. Apparently it wasn't very good.

A couple of hours and a bathroom break later, we were in Weatherford for our last night: Sunday night.. aka Pizza night! We ate some Little Ceasers, and fell asleep with full bellies and happy hearts.

The next morning, we were able to visit Ty's faux grandma, Ms. Norma Hale. Her dog, Pippy, and our dog, Papi, ran around until they were sick of each other while Norma made us some iced tea, gifted us with some homemade plum jelly, and showed us around her beautiful garden. We ate some of her homegrown grapes, and said goodbye.

At last, Ty and I were on the road again. With that all-too-familiar feeling of saying goodbye to something wonderful, and wondering what the road ahead had in store for us.

Comic from: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/aa/e0/2c/aae02c986b005285de4e6a38e37087ab.jpg