Journey Through My State | Oklahoma

We tend to travel to other states or countries to see new sights and explore new places, don’t we? After becoming empty-nesters, Wilagene and her husband decided to take the time to explore Oklahoma where they had lived for years. Keep reading to learn about their journey of finding hidden gems within a few hours of their home, along with taking this opportunity to build their relationship during this new stage of life.

I’m a planner; I just think life generally goes better with a plan. My husband is more on the spontaneous side. I am a homebody. My husband likes to explore. I’m an introvert to his extrovert. Despite our differences, God paired us perfectly to make a great team.

Our children have been out of the house and on their own for a few years now, and through our ups and downs transitioning to the empty nest life we have figured out some ways to balance our differences and have fun together. Because he likes to explore and I like to plan, I had an idea to spend 2019 exploring Oklahoma. I somewhat jokingly said we were planning these trips to give us something to talk about. It was a source of so many great conversations with each other and our friends and co-workers.

We had lived in Oklahoma for 29 years but rarely made it beyond Tulsa and OKC. I had no idea what our great state had to offer!

Did you know that mile for mile, Oklahoma offers the nation’s most diverse terrain? It’s one of only four states with more than 10 ecoregions which include everything from Rocky Mountain foothills to cypress swamps, tallgrass prairies, and hardwood forests to pine-covered mountains (info is from travelok.com). Oklahoma is a big state - you could drive for over 9 hours and still be in Oklahoma…from Broken Bow to Black Mesa!

*Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Pawhuska*

Once the idea of exploring Oklahoma took root, I reached out on Facebook to get ideas from native Oklahomans of the best places in the state to explore, looking primarily for nature options. I received some good feedback, the most helpful of which was a website called www.onlyinyourstate.com. It is available for any state, so I subscribed right away for the daily email option for Oklahoma. From all the feedback I received friends and information on the website, I created a list of ten areas I wanted to visit all over the state, with the idea to have an adventure almost every month of 2019. As the daily emails came in, I would add to the list of things I wanted to do in each area. Then I mapped out a tentative month for each trip. (Side note: As I prepared for this trip and talked to a lot of people about our plans, I was astonished to learn how many people have lived in Oklahoma all their lives and never gone to most of these places!)

*Elk Mountain Trail in Wichita Mountains*

Many of our choices were state parks, and some of them have great cabins or a lodge to stay in. These required a bit more planning and directed our dates somewhat because a lot of Oklahomans are already aware of these great, affordable options and book very far in advance! Our schedule allowed for weekday trips, so that worked out well for us and the state parks were generally less crowded those days. Some of our trips were day trips, but most were 2-3 days. I kept a notebook with the list of places and tried to journal my experiences along the way. I took a lot of selfies (we had Oklahoma t-shirts that we wore on our adventure days) and photos of the places we visited and I created an ‘Explore OK!’ album on Facebook where I documented the highlights of our adventures. I loved seeing comments from people of childhood memories when we visited places familiar to them.

This was our top 10 list (with links):

1. Bartlesville/Woolaroc (January)

2. Oklahoma City area/Capitol (March)

3. Great Salt Plains State Park/Gloss Mountain State Park/Roman Nose State Park (April)

4. Medicine Park/Wichita Mountains (May)

5. Poteau/Spiro/Heavener (June)

6. Broken Bow (August)

7. Tallgrass Prairie Preserve/Pawhuska (September)

8. Lake Murray State Park/Turner Falls (September)

9. Little Sahara State Park/Alabaster Cavern/Boiling Springs State Park (November)

10. Black Mesa State Park (November)

We had a few bonus trips in the year to Tulsa Botanic Garden (the tulips in early April were breathtaking), center of the universe in downtown Tulsa (so cool, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t done this before!), Sand Springs Ancient Forest, and Hefner Lake Lighthouse in OKC (followed by dinner at Hefner Grill where I had the best fish tacos). All of these make for great local adventures!

The only thing on our top ten list that we didn’t get to do was Spiro Mounds. Because of the flooding that Oklahoma experienced in late spring 2019, it was still closed when we were in that area. On another trip we made it to Little Sahara State Park but were disappointed to not get to ride on the sand dunes because it was just too cold that day. Other than those two minor snags, the rest of the trips were more than we could have imagined. I have highlights from each trip, but I’ll share just a few of my favorites.

Driving to Great Salt Plains in April, just outside of Enid, we saw a bright yellow field that stretched as far as we could see in the distance. When we got to it, we had to pull off on the side of the road and take it in. I think this was one of my husband’s favorite moments of the year, just seeing the childlike wonder on my face at discovering canola fields. A co-worker who grew up in that area shared her words to describe it: “The wind ripples through the canola fields… almost like water… a sea of yellow.” That summed it up perfectly. I later found out that two weeks later they were plowed up, ready for the next crop. I was so grateful we got to experience that. (Check out this fun fact: https://weather.com/news/news/2018-07-12-canola-cooking-oil-seen-on-satellite)

*A Canola Field on the way to Great Salt Plains*

Later that same day, we experienced more perfect timing, We climbed to the top of Gloss Mountain…we were the only ones there…and a storm blew in. We could literally watch the storm coming and going. The wind was so strong it was hard to step forward or hear each other. It passed quickly and we were able to see a double rainbow from end to end from our spot atop Gloss Mountain. It was a glorious day!

*Double Rainbow from top of Gloss Mountain*

Another perfectly timed trip was to Wichita Mountains near Lawton in mid-May. The hiking there is excellent, but even better was witnessing the spring wildflowers in peak bloom. They were stunning, filling the fields as far as the eye could see. (The Oklahoma state wildflower is Indian Paintbrush… imagine a field filled with thousands of them!) I think I logged 20,000 steps that day trying to take it all in with the brief time we had there.

*Indian Paintbrush in Wichita Mountains*

Finally, my favorite overall trip was the one to Lake Murray State Park. They have an amazing lodge with restaurant that was completed in the last year or two. Every room has a balcony that faces the lake. We were there on a full moon, so we delighted in the reflection of the full moon on the water at night and were treated to the sunrise and reflection on the lake in the mornings. Trust me, that was worth getting up early for!

Another great treat was on the drive down when we found a little-known phenomenon that I had read about – Magnetic Hill in Springer, OK (exit 42 between Davis and Ardmore). It is in the middle of nowhere, a road between two pastures, and doesn’t even look like much of a hill. But once we got to the right spot, we put the car in neutral and it rolled backwards uphill! The childlike wonder that I found in the canola fields is what my husband experienced here. He did the backwards uphill adventure 4 times, getting up to 7.1 mph and 4/10 of a mile in distance. His delight in this experience just made my day.

Our yearlong adventure through Oklahoma had a few disappointments and unmet expectations, but mostly it was an amazing experience that I’m so glad we made the time for. It opened my eyes to incredible things that God placed right within our view; we just had to take the time to look. It was a lot of travel for one year, but most of the trips were within a three-hour drive of Tulsa.

I’d encourage everyone to look around them and make the time to explore their state; those hidden delights are just waiting to be discovered. The time my husband and I spent together planning, driving, and exploring was so worth it. Nature has such a calming effect on our busy, rushed lives, and I think this year brought us closer together in ways we wouldn’t have guessed. So many shared experiences and having time to just enjoy each other and the glory of God’s creation made this such a memorable year.

What we didn’t know when we embarked on our adventure was that it would also be our farewell tour of Oklahoma. At the end of 2019 we purchased a home in Arkansas to move closer to our daughter. It hadn’t really occurred to me until I typed this that perhaps all that time in the great outdoors of Oklahoma cleared our hearts and minds to be more receptive to what God had in store for us next. We certainly weren’t anticipating such a big move so soon, but with the way 2020 has turned out, we have been so happy to be near family.

When we announced our move to Arkansas, a common response was, “Are you going to explore Arkansas next?” Why, yes, I think we will. And we won’t wait 29 years to do it!

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