Over dinner on Valentine's Day, Andy looked up at me and said, "We really need to go somewhere for spring break." I heartily agreed, since he and I have never traveled anywhere just for us. We've driven to see family in state and out-of-state, and we've been back-seat passengers on family vacations, but we have never planned a trip together, in all our eight-plus years. So, without any prompting or supervision from me, because I get crazy busy with work and my photography and beading hobbies [read: obsessions] Andy planned our road trip across western Oklahoma to the Alabaster Caverns near Freedom, Oklahoma. He even called ahead to make sure we'd get in! Maybe that's vacation planning 101 for most, but that's totally something I would overlook, especially with a simple daytrip, because my planning ability can be sketchy. And if my planning ability has historically been sketchy, Andy's has been a black hole. I say that with love.
Here is a long photo-tour of our St. Patrick's Day (not planned that way, just happened to be the prettiest and warmest weather day in the forecast - more planning ahead on Andy's part) road trip to the Alabaster Caverns!
Here is a long photo-tour of our St. Patrick's Day (not planned that way, just happened to be the prettiest and warmest weather day in the forecast - more planning ahead on Andy's part) road trip to the Alabaster Caverns!
You will discover I have a fascination with Oklahoma's enormous open skies and crazy-looking dead trees.
Right now many counties in Oklahoma are under fire danger warnings. We saw what looked like controlled burn patches on some farmland, but this black patch didn't look controlled. Fortunately, we didn't see any fires today, something we were worried about.
Stopped for lunch at La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant in Enid.
We occupied ourselves during some of the trip by listening to a stack of CDs and making a list of music we want played at our wedding ceremony and reception. Multitasking.
Are we there yet?
Just in case you're not familiar with Oklahoma, a lot of it is pretty flat. So when we see hills, or flat-top mesas, what you see above, it's kind of a big deal. These are some of the Gloss Mountains (sometimes Glass, depending who you talk to), about as mountainous as it gets around here. Actually, we also have the Ozarks to the east, which are more hilly and forested, and the Wichita Mountains to the south, which are part of the grassland and prairies. Oklahoma really is a beautiful state if you stop and look around.
And finally, after three surprisingly short hours...
Yay, we made it!
Just in case you can't read the bottom of the sign on the right, it says, "All others will be in deep guano." hahahaha
As I expected, my cave pictures didn't turn out very well. I salvaged just a few, but they're still pretty bad. There was no warning at any time during the tour about flash photography, but I didn't feel comfortable with it anyway. Besides, as dark as it was, I didn't want to momentarily blind anyone else on the tour and be responsible for cave injuries.
After we got out of the cave, we took a tractor back to the front of the park. Clearly Andy enjoyed himself. He can be a little dramatic at times. Obviously. -sarcasm- He's really the most even-tempered person I know. A very calming influence for me. The little smirk on his face means he's probably thinking of something ironic about cows and people and tractors. Who knows?
After the cave tour, and the tractor ride, I took something like my tenth potty break of the day, and we wandered toward a sign that said, "Scenic Overlook." We're down for anything scenic. We weren't disappointed.
I was so moved that I decided to try to hug the sky. I'm a cornball like that. Or in Andy's words, I'm a "sap".
But then Andy hugged the sky too. I guess he's also a sap.
What's this? A trail? We love trails! Let's take the one with the coyote!
Famous last words.
I'll explain here, because it got a little too rough and tumble for me to stop and take pictures, so I have none. We went down the trail, leading down into the canyon and along a small stream in the woods at the bottom. Very nice and picturesque. Somewhere along the way, we thought we were still on the trail, heading back up the canyon. We didn't realize we'd gone off the trail. At one point Andy turned to me and said, "This is basically what climbing a fourteener is like." Nice. I wouldn't have minded at all, but I had my purse with me and not the best shoes for gripping onto rocks. Plus, I have zero upper body strength, and there was some vertical terrain, if you will. Otherwise, it would have been a lot of fun, and less scary. Oh, did I mention there was cactus?
Here are the shots I got before the impromptu fourteener training course.
Can you tell I'm looking up? That was our view for a while trying to get back up.
Nice, easy trail on the way down.
The entire trip was truly beautiful. And it didn't cost any more than what we paid in gas, lunch and dinner, and admission to the park which was $8 for adults. I really hope Andy and I get to have more outings like this in the future, where we hit the great outdoors and soak up the world's beauty. It was a great time, being in each other's company all day, enjoying the quiet, sharing conversations and lots of laughs. I've said this before and I'll say it again - I want to hold on to these moments together because we won't get them forever. If we're lucky, we'll be able to look back on all this many years from now as the good old days.
Just a couple of lovebirdy saps.
