Yesterday we did putt putt. It was really fun. we didn’t keep score, but I think Zach won. I was in front of everyone. On the last hole it sucked up our ball.  Zach lost his ball in the lake on number 17 so when Logan got to #18 (the last one) we clogged it up just enough so Zach could use it. It was awesome!

By Zoe

So… We left before kids woke up and drive till 6ish.  Kids got out of the car at a Flying J for about 10 min total.  We were super excited to get to the awesome RV park in Oklahoma City because it has a pool AND hot tub!  And we drove forever because we get to stay for 2 nights!  Our welcome was much less than welcoming…  Our spot that was supposed to be held for the second night was not.  The pool and hot tub are empty.  And they were QUITE clear that kids couldn’t do ANYTHING if not attended directly by a grown up. Damnit.  I was sad and wanted to just leave.  Did I mention it was raining??  Anyway, while I was bummed about my fail the kids were thrilled to play on the playground in the rain.  Then they wanted to play Putt putt (in the rain).  I was afraid the witch in the office wouldn’t let them play alone even though our site overlooks the course so I went in with them.  They allowed it!  And when I can back our awning was up and my husband had poured prosecco!  We watched them play putt putt then went in and played ping pong and giant checkers before dinner.  Dinner was sous vide steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli.  Sous vide is the bomb!!   (Thank you Kevin & Mo). Now we are watching The Great Outdoors with our kids.  It is rated PG, but I think it is closer to R in current standards 😁. Between the swearing and sexual references in holding my breath and Zoe just said “I think this movie should really be at least PG-13.”  Anyway… I’ve come around and I think we will stay tomorrow night too.  We can play pool and ping pong and do something touristy in Oklahoma City…    

         

This morning we wanted to sneak out while kids were still sleeping again, but we had to dump out. 😁😁. Luckily we managed to do it without a shower of sadness!!

 

As we were finishing up our new buddy came over and asked why we were leaving so early!  I just said we had a long driving day so we needed to get moving.  

(If you haven’t seen the movie RV with Robin Williams you need to see it!  Our references will make way more sense 😃)

Every time driving gets stressful (like parking or navigating tight roads) Lucky gets on Jason’s lap.  It cracks us up. 

       

After a beautiful hike and a few episodes of Different Strokes everyone was exhausted.  Kids slept in while Jason and I got up early and prepped the RV to head out.  The first hour was pretty wild driving!  We were supposed to be on a state route, but with a posted weight limit of 6 tons and construction we were forced to drive local roads.  Tight turns, Brinks trucks, and narrow lanes without shoulders all added to the anxiety, I mean excitement.  It was all smooth sailing from there, though.  We got to Onondaga Cave State Park earlier than expected despite our stops (thank you time change!).  The cave tour was awesome and nearly private.  There was only 1 other couple in there with us.  It was by far and away the most impressive cave we have ever seen!  We got a bunch of great pics but they don’t even come close to doing it justice.  Kids were quite entertained to hear that the carbonic acid is what forms the stalagmites and stalactites since they just saw that the same stuff created the sink holes in Indiana.  After the tour we went to our campsite and settled in.  Almost immediately the kids ran into other kids about their same ages and were fast friends.  Zoe told me that the parents wanted to meet us so we walked across and said hello.  It was at that point that Jason discovered a tick on my neck!  It freaked me out more than a little bit so I went to our bin and sprayed all kinds of natural, earth friendly spray on all of us.  The Gornikees (our new friends) wanted to hang out that night but we were tired and wanted to be away from the bugs.  We all came in and showered and locked up.  I found 4 more ticks on me!  Now I really was freaked out.  I’m done with the earth friendly stuff!!  I’m buying Deet.  There was one on J but none on kids 😳. Even with a hearty dose of Bourbon we didn’t sleep well… 

             

Yesterday we went on an amazing cave hike.  I loved it.   We learned about stalagmites and stalactites.  A stalactite is on a ceiling of a cave,and it looks like a misshaped ice cream cone. A stalagmite sits on the bottom of a cave it’s shaped like a misshaped 

  

  

  

  upside down ice cream cone.  A soda straw is transparent, and it’s shaped just like a straw. All of these things take hundreds of years to grow. It was amazing!

By: Zoe

We went into a room before the cave that had a small salamander.  There were crystals called soda straws.  At one point she told us a real but sort of creepy.  There was a collage group in the old tour that you took a boat in.  A girl named Lucy fell out and drowned.  You can still see the boat.  It’s creepy.  After that we went to our camp site we met a kid named Logan he was 11.  My sister met a girl named destany.  I was going along on some roller blades I got from Joey.  I fell and hurt my knee it hurt for longer than I hoped.  My mom got 7 ticks.  No one else got any.

It was a great hike.  We got to cross rivers, up rocks, down hills, and of course up hills. We went to wolf cave.  There is a legend that there was a women selling eggs to the people on the river.  When she walked past the cave a pack of wolves emerged and chased her she through her gloves and her bonet to distract them she made it home safely.  There we’re sink holes created by weak carbonic acid and lime stone it created the twin bridges but only one is left.    My mom and sister might say I was scared but I wasn’t!

By, Zach

 
   

    

On our first hike we went down hill, into a cave, across rivers ,then up hills.  I think the cave was awesome,but my older brother Zach was scared to go in the cave. My legs got a little achy when we went up hills, but not that bad.  The hike was amazing!  We read some cool signs about limestone and saw the twin bridges but it wasn’t twin bridges anymore!  Only 1/2 of the twins were still there!

By:Zoe

Day 1 was a success!  It may have taken 3 stops to successfully get fuel and the coffee pot may have rejected our attempt to make coffee, BUT we survived crazy wind and rain and managed to squeeze our Rv into a 25 foot space with a foot to spare!  We did a beautiful hike after dinner and met the Gornickies (or their besties) on the playground.  We skipped the camp fire and watched Different Strokes in the AC instead. All in, a pretty great day!