My parents rock, and move rocks

Alternate title: Dad loves Altus, a whole lot

My dad had to attend a work conference in San Antonio last week and my mom decided to travel along with him. This brought them within about seven hours of Altus so, naturally, they decided to take a road trip out to see Eric and me! On Thursday evening, I met them at the Wichita Falls Municipal Airport, scooped them up in my little car, and drove them back to Altus. By the time we arrived in town, the sun had already begun to set, which means that they were treated to one of our big, beautiful sky sunsets on their first night. A real treat, as it truly is a beautiful sight to see.

Altus also looks pretty big and exciting at night, you know, with all of the lights lighting all of the nothing. Needless to say, my dad was smitten with Altus before he even got to see it in the light of day. I heard statements, such as, and I quote, "This is just like Tampa, don't you think, Jan?" and "really, what does Columbia have that this place does not?" This put me in the position to bash Altus even more than I like to bash it just to prove that it is not an easy place to live. Truth be told, it's really okay here, we live a nice, comfortable life, and are quite capable of having a good time. But when someone comes to your sleepy town and tries to tell you how awesome it is, it puts you on the defensive, seriously!

Okay, now that THAT rant is out of the way, on with the rest of the visit! We got to our house, gave them the grand tour, and chowed down on some delicious pizza that Eric made while he awaited our arrival. After dinner, everyone was pretty sleepy and my dad had arrived with a cold he caught at the meetings. We decided to hit they hay a little early that night, but only after my dad downed a nightcap of cough syrup like a 21 year old on St. Patty's Day.  

On Friday, Eric had to work. My parents had graciously offered their help with various projects going on around the house. Some projects, such as the flooring project, were off the table due to the amount of labor and mess involved, but I was more than eager to tap into their vast knowledge of gardening. I was determined to try and rub some of the green off their thumbs and on to mine. After taking a beating during the hailstorm and then living through one of the driest summers in Altus history, our flower beds were looking rough. And that's putting it nicely! I suggested that we take a trip to a nursery on the side of the highway on the way to Blair. We arrived there and found that they offer a nice selection of all kinds of plants. We chose a combination of ornamental cabbages, mums, and pansies and returned home.

The flower beds were surrounded by this horrible, black, plastic liner, which we promptly removed. We had the idea to re-line the flower beds with the many scalloped-edged concrete blocks that the previous owner had left behind. However, instead of placing them scalloped-edge up, we placed them scalloped-edge down. This created a more sleek and modern line around the bed AND we didn't have to shovel out more money to buy brick/stone/rock. My parents also taught me a lot about how to incorporate natural rocks, stepping stones (again, left by the previous owner), pots, and plants into a garden to create depth and interest. We moved some bushes (rose and other types) to different parts of the garden in order to consolidate plants so that we only have to regularly water certain parts of our yard during drought. Really helpful advice, especially for this area of the country! We had so much fun and after about one and half full days of hard work and sweat, the gardens were looking like they belonged to a different house!

We still have to mulch the gardens and put in a few more plants, but I feel a lot more confident about moving forward. Before my parents visited, I felt so bogged down with all of the other projects that the gardens just felt overwhelming. Now I have the tools (literally and figuratively) to move forward in my gardening endeavors. I also now understand why people enjoy it so much. Thanks, mom and dad!

When Eric got home on Friday night, the four of us went to the restaurant at Quartz Mountain, which we had heard was pretty good, but hadn't yet tried. Overall, I have to say it was a strangely enjoyable experience. We were seated next to a table of women who were having a loud conversation about country line dancing complete with demonstrations from the percieved "expert" at the table. We were ignored by all of the wait-staff for about 15 minutes, which probably contributed to the rocky start we got with our waitress.

When she came to the table to take our drink orders, we asked whether they had a drink menu. She gave us the look, you know, the one that makes you feel like a heathen in a restaurant that doesn't serve alcohol. After an awkward pause, she informed us that they have a full bar and that the bartenders would be happy to make us anything we wanted. We then played twenty questions to try and figure out what kind of beers they had in stock. By the time this ordeal was over, we had the distinct feeling that she wasn't too fond of us. Luckily we were able to charm her as the night went on and she eventually warmed to us. As for the food, pretty impressive! All of us enjoyed our dishes. And the restaurant actually had a little charm including beautiful views of the lake and a great outdoor dining area that would have been really enjoyable had the weather not been so chilly. Another good find brought on by houseguests. This just goes to show that Altus gets more awesome with each set of visitors!

After a nice, big breakfast on Saturday morning, Eric had to put a little time into work so I showed my parents around Altus. They were interested in seeing the antique shops, which meant I had a good excuse to visit all of my favorites. Never failing to find treasure on these trips, we each came home with some booty. Dad got glass ice cream cups, mom a gravy boat, and I, a candy dish. You can see where our loyalties lie! We were also on the hunt for good steaks for a dinner we had in mind for Sunday night. Earlier that day, my mom had scoured the phone book and discovered a meat shop in town so we found it and checked it out. They sell hormone and antibiotic free beef from cattle that were humanely treated and on vegetarian diets. A conscious carnivore's dream! They were pretty pricey steaks, but we bought them anyway in order to give the place a try and (hopefully) ourselves a treat!

On Saturday afternoon, Eric and I brought my parents to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Reserve. We wanted to take them on the hike we did with Meg and Matt earlier in the fall, but the parking lot at that trail head was overcrowded. Deterred from creating a new parking spot by the park police ticketing other creative patrons, we moved on to a different set of trails. Again, we found the trails to be poorly marked, but the good news was that we got to hike a different part of the park; an experience new to all of us! In the end, whether or not there were trail-markers didn't seem to matter much anyway because we very quickly went from trying to follow the blazes to trying to follow my dad from one crazy nature-inspired pose to another. Here is a bit of what I mean...

Dad and the rock

Dad and the branch

The rock and Dad

As usual, he kept us laughing the whole time and the craziness was contagious...

Wonder Woman

prairie dog

Meriwether Lewis

Irresistible

All this silliness helped us work up a big appetite (we may have just been hiking to "earn" our lunch) so we lead my parents on their pilgrimage to the world famous Meers! The line was really long and Eric had a little trouble seeing the cheeseburger at the end of the tunnel, but we persevered and it was soooooo worth it! I hadn't seen my dad that happy or eat that fast in quite some time. Eric and I, after hearing rave reviews of the peach cobbler and lusting over the ice cream with Meg and Matt, were determined to make it through dessert this time (gross, I know). All I can say is if you ever get the chance to visit Meers, DO THE COBBLER. The warm peaches, gooey breading, and smooth and creamy ice cream did NOT disappoint.

After lunch, we followed the signs and our curiosity to The Holy City. We learned that it is the site of the nation's longest running Easter passion play. Long ago, on a cab ride from the Lawton airport, the driver had told me the same thing. I imagined the "city" to be a small town that also hosted a passion play, but it was more like a large set. It was pretty interesting, but we only drove past it. Perhaps something to explore further down the road. We made our way back to Altus and had a quiet night that did not include dinner.

On Sunday, mom, dad, and I spent a little more time tending to the gardens (Eric had to keep on working) before we all settled in to watch some football. The Redskins playing like, well, the Redskins, got us all a little down, but prepping for our delicious dinner kept all of our hopes alive. We pulled out them fancy steaks, my dad whipped up his famous marinade, and we gathered mushrooms, tomatoes, asparagus, and onions (from Walmart and our fridge) for grilling. My dad also made everyone's favorite rice. Eric and I tried to pay close attention to the process as we are now trying to perfect his recipe on our own. Our friend, Sarah, joined us for dinner and my parents were happy to put a face to a name they hear quite frequently. Dinner was delicious and the fancy steaks were really good. Too expensive to eat regularly, but a nice treat for sure. The guys went to bed pretty early, but my mom and I stayed up late into the night catching up on the Real Housewives of New Jersey. Some things are more important than sleep.

Monday, sadly, was the last day of my parents' visit. We got up, had breakfast, and debated about how to spend the morning all knowing that it would go by too fast. The day ended up being like nothing any of us could have imagined. This portion of the story is best told countdown style...

T-minus three point five hours until we leave for Oklahoma City
Deciding it would be nice to get some fresh air before a long day of travel, we go to the reservoir and enjoy a brisk walk in the beautiful, slightly chilly weather. 

T-minus two point five hours until we leave for OKC
We get back home and get ready to go to lunch at my new favorite Mexican restaurant (discovered by Meg on her visit).

T-minus two hours until we leave for OKC
We pull up to the restaurant to find that it is closed on Mondays. I had been talking it up all weekend. The disappointment was palpable. Dad suggested getting sandwich stuff, but I was looking for more of "an experience." My old favorite Mexican restaurant came to mind so we made our way to Pick Up Taco. We all enjoyed our yummy lunch at the next-to-best Mexican joint in Altus. I also wanted to take my mom and dad to June's Tasty Treats (another fave). After lunch, we pull up at June's only to find that she too is closed on Mondays. We stand at the door, peering in like sad children, when my dad notices movement in the back of the store. He pulls the door and it opens. There is a woman inside (June's daughter, I believe) doing some cleaning. My dad begs, "please, can we have some cookies, my daughter said you have the best cookies in town and we are visiting from Maryland and leaving this afternoon." She responds, "you're in luck! I just baked some" and graciously sells us enough cookies to feed a small army even though the store is closed. There are definitely some really good things about small towns, too.

T-minus 45 minutes until we leave for OKC
We get back home, mom and dad pack their bags, and we pack the car, which includes my glass recyclables since we were making a trip to the big city. Still pretty full from lunch and not looking forward to sitting in the car for a couple of hours, I suggest a walk around our neighborhood. My mom and dad agree that it is a good idea, but decide they want one last look at the painting progress on our house before we go.

T-minus 40 minutes until we leave for OKC
We walk around to the back of the house where the paint crew is hard at work. We are joking and chatting with them and my mom is petting our contractor's dog who, by the way, we know really well at this point. He has been around off and on since spring and everyday since my parents arrival in Altus. My mom has pet him a bunch of times! Our contractor is telling us a story about his dog when all of the sudden I hear growling and yelling and notice that my mom's arm is in the dog's mouth. He attacked her.

T-minus 30 minutes until we leave for OKC
We are standing in the kitchen, my mom is running water over her wound, the contractor is trying to show us the documentation he carries regarding the dog's vaccinations, and I am trying to find out whether my mom's tetanus vaccination is current. We remember that it is because, oh yeah, she got one in July after being  mauled by the Man O' War! Come on, man! Mom starts to feel like she is going to pass out so she lays on the floor. I decide we need to see a doctor.

T-minus 20 minutes until we leave for OKC
Dad, Mom, and I get in the car. Yes, we only have 20 minutes before we have to leave, but her health is more important than making their flights. The bleeding had stopped at this point, and her arm looked painful, but not life-threatening. She gets one of the nurse practitioners she works with on the phone who talks with her about what happened, how we responded, her (and the dog's) vaccinations, and how the wound looks. She clears my mom to clean up the arm and get on the plane. She will take a look at my mom's arm at work on Tuesday. Instead of going to the ER, we go to Walgreens and purchase wound care supplies.

T-minus five minutes until we leave for OKC
We are back in my kitchen, doctoring up mom's arm. We get her all cleaned up and make her arm acceptable to be seen in public. By this time she is feeling better and we are all cracking jokes.

T-minus 10 minutes after we were supposed to leave for OKC
We leave for OKC.

Considering how the day unfolded, I'd say a departure only delayed by ten minutes was pretty impressive. Luckily, the trip to the city was smooth-sailing and we arrived with enough time for them to get to their gates without having to run or beg and plead for favors and exceptions. Phew! 

All in all, we had a wonderful, fun-filled weekend. The only problem was that, like all good things, it was over far too quickly. Well, that and the animal attack, but for my mom this type of event is starting to seem, for lack of a better phrase, par for the course... Let's hope this was the end of her personal series of When Animals Attack.

Come again, mom and dad! It was a great time, we love you, AND Eric didn't even have to visit this establishment after you left...

Home sweet house

As many of you already know, 3517 is enduring a major face lift both inside and out. We are excited to say that we're finally ready to share some "before" and "after" pictures of the outside of our lovely little home!

before...

AFTER!!

Behold our new house numbers and light fixture! The crew who worked on our roof and paint were awesome and paid close attention to every last detail. The light fixture was updated simply by removing it from the wall and spraying it with a black satin paint.

The numbers were a gift from our contractor, which were also painted black to match all of the other finishes. 

before...

Here you can see a close up of the decisions we made about the color scheme for our trim. We chose to paint the shutters and all vertical trim (ie columns, bay window trim, etc) black.

All horizontal trim was painted green. I especially love the green ceilings of the front and back porches. I think it makes for a very relaxing and inviting environment.

We also installed a new outdoor ceiling fan.

AFTER!!

The bench and papasan chair belonged to the former owner so she took them with her when she moved. We ordered these Adirondack chairs from hayneedle.com. and they arrived partially assembled. We completed the assembly and sealed them to protect them from the elements.

You can also see how we changed the edge of the gardens in these pictures. The scalloped edge is facing up in the "before" picture and down in the "after."

before...

In these photos, you get a good view of the gables. This is one of my favorite details of the new paint job. I think that having two colors rather than one on the gables better defines the area and really makes it pop!

Be brave when working with color! Let me tell you, the green really looked scary going up! One problem was that the brown paint was still showing through the first coat of green making it appear yellowish in tone. Another problem was that at one point, there was brown, black, and green paint up all at the same time. That was just too much for anyone's brain to process!

AFTER!!

AFTER!!

Finally, here is the view of the whole house from the curb. We are thrilled with the end result of this project! Of course, everyone's taste differs, but we feel like we accomplished everything we we set out to do. We've modernized the exterior of our home (making it appear younger and more lively), better incorporated our funky brick, and highlighted the architectural features of our house.

before...

The "before" picture of the curbside view already has the new black roof, but you get the idea...

AFTER!!

Thanks for following along! We have really appreciated the advice, feedback, sympathetic ears, and encouragement from many of you. Until next time, happy homemaking!

p.s. a lengthy synopsis of my parents' visit is in progress. Stay tuned!

Project progress & lessons learned

I'll admit it. I love alliteration.

moldy carpet = confirmation that new floors are an awesome idea

This week, Eric and I "broke ground" on our huge floor-laying project. We hauled a ton of the flooring in from the garage so the wood could acclimate to the temperature of the house and got to work ripping up carpet in one of the guest rooms. Side note: per our modus operandi, we started this huge project with only three days to work before my parents come to town. This is important not because my parents can't see past a home improvement project, trust me, they can. It is important because they need to sleep in the room that is housing all of the furniture from the room we are currently working in. We started a different huge project in the days before Matt and Meg visited and consequently were working into twilight in order to get the house ready for visitors. I'm not complaining, though, I actually like it! I've always worked better this way. For some reason, I thrive on the feeling of last-minute-ness.

Okay, back to the project. A couple of lessons. First, when laying a floating laminate floor, the beginning is infinitely harder than the rest of it. In the beginning, we were convinced that we were royally screwing up and that we had definitely bitten of more than we could chew. Fortunately, with each subsequent row, the process became easier and we worked faster. Pictures sometimes tell a story better than words, so let's put it this way:

Here is our progress after night one (approximately 4-5 hours of work)

And we were proud of this! It took a lot of work, sweat, near-tears, and a few spousal spats to get to this point.










Here is our progress after night two (approximately 4-5 hours of work)

Talk about progress! By the end of this night, we were exhausted, but feeling pretty good about ourselves and our ability to carry this project to fruition.

The second big lesson learned, is that things are never as easy as they appear to be on TV, where floor clicks into place with the push of a thumb and time-lapse film is used to show progress. Patience is key and sometimes you break things.

 

holy green bean!

The outside of the house is being worked on, too. We wanted to add a pop of color to the house. I'm not sure this is what we had in mind...but it is hard to tell during this phase of the project. It doesn't help that I can hear the guys painting it talking about how they feel like they're taking a "trip to Willy Wonka Land." Or that the color reminds them of their favorite childhood move, The Wizard of Oz, because it's the same color as the witch's face. But I have faith that it will look good in the end. This isn't the first time that color has been scary initially only to come out looking nice. Anyway, if it's a complete disaster, there's always more paint!

So far, DIY house projects have been tons work, stressful at times, and a lot of fun. There is nothing like seeing the progress of your own hard work. It's also a great opportunity to learn more about yourself and your partner. Eric's a rockstar partner when it comes to this stuff and hopefully he can say the same about me.

Banana Bread and Revelations

In Altus, one has a lot of time on one's hands to dedicate to thinking. My friend, Sarah, and I have started calling the "epiphanies" one my have during these thinking periods, "revelations." We tell ourselves to be mindful of (and in) these moments and that we should record and document these fleeting thoughts. After all, not everyone has this kind of reflective time available to them. Be appreciative. Right?

banana bread batter

Well, this afternoon I baked banana bread (actually it looks more like cake because I don't have a bread pan). Sometime during the gentle folding of walnuts into the banana mixture, it dawned on me that this time last year, I was walking out after a day of work in a world-renowned pediatric hospital. I had spent the day working with (and learning from) a team of some of the smartest and most dedicated people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I had enjoyed, been saddened by, and been inspired by my time spent with patients and their families. All in a day's work.

Things have changed. Just a bit.

Today I made banana bread. It smells good and likely tastes delicious. I'm not sure that this treat will have the impact on the world that my time in the hospital had, but I enjoyed it. It is even likely that several of the people in Eric's office will enjoy it tomorrow as well. Is the activity of baking bread any less significant or meaningful than putting in a full day's work at a dynamic workplace? Probably. But who is to say that it should be any less valued? I added a skill to my toolbox, I made a few people's tummies pretty happy (mine included), and I didn't waste the bananas that had become overripe. That aint' nothin'!

Who knows how the rest of my days in this new home of mine will be spent. I surely don't. But the lesson is that it doesn't matter that I don't know the answer to this question today. The answer will unfold itself with each passing day. And at least I have another day of happiness and health to be thankful for.

Saturday morning musings

Days when you (both) don't have to wake up to an alarm are awesome.
When your husband makes you a vegetable frittata for breakfast, you are one lucky woman.

This is what happens when, after washing his car, your husband dumps the remaining soapy water into the flower bed. He "watered" the garden with this concoction back in June. Now it's October and still bubbly.
 

This is what happens when you have three TONS of flooring in your garage and you know that it is your job to do something with it. 

It is finally raining in Altus, America! And when it rains, it pours.

Hergs host houseguests!

Waiting in line at Meers and the ONLY picture of the four of us from the trip.

You can't find better friends than Matt and Meg. About a month ago, they called to let us know they were planning a trip to Altus. Eric and I were beside ourselves with excitement and could hardly believe they were coming until they were here, standing in our living room. Their visit began last Wednesday morning, when I made the two hour trip to the Will Rogers Airport to pick up Meg. I think I drove the whole way with an ear-to-ear smile. I couldn't wait to see her! Luckily, I only had to wait a few minutes for her to walk out the doors. After a big hug, I informed her that our first stop on her Oklahoman adventure would be a to a recycling plant to drop off about four month's worth of glass containers (woo hoo!). You see, Altus AFB has a recycling program, which is wonderful because the city itself does not offer recycling service. The problem is that the AFB does not accept any glass at all. Being that I am a born and bred recycler/Earth-saver, I just can't bring myself to throw glass in the trash. The result of this conundrum is that I find myself having to travel ridiculously long distances to recycle glass. Needless to say, my trip to pick up Meg presented a great opportunity to make my first cross-city recycling attempt.

I am truly fortunate to have such an adventuresome friend in Meg. She helped me find the plant and then jumped right in helping to sort the green from the clear to the brown glass. She worked even to the detriment of her own shirt (let's just say I had not been very diligent about rinsing certain beverage receptacles...eww).  After we finished that task, we got back into the car and started exploring OKC, keeping an eye out for an interesting lunch spot. We stumbled upon a neat block of boutiques and restaurants and decided to dine at the Pachinko Parlor. This little restaurant has an interesting Asian inspired menu and a lot of personality. We sat at a table on an outdoor patio, which sits almost directly next to a railroad crossing. We elected to split some sushi and a sandwich and really enjoyed our food. We enjoyed our conversation even more, despite the fact that it was regularly interrupted by an odd waiter and the deafening blow of a train whistle.

After finishing lunch, we got comfortable for the long trip back to Altus. We got to talking so much that I missed the ONE turn I have to make between the city and our house. I woke up 45 miles from Wichita Falls and on country roads, such as the one we were on, you have no idea how far away the next exit will be. Calmly, I pulled my best, "I'm an Oklahoman so I can drive on the grass" maneuver to cross the median and get back to moving in the right direction. I think I only ended up adding about thirty minutes to the trip, but we were pretty happy to see Altus when we finally found it. I avoided driving through the main part of town to get home because I was saving the Tour d' Altus for the next day. We got home, I gave Meg a tour of our house and only a few minutes later, Eric came home from work! The three of us spent the rest of the evening making dinner, visiting, and catching up. It was just like old days, oh, how we needed that.

On Thursday morning, Eric went off to work and Meg and I enjoyed a leisurely morning, chatting and having breakfast. On the agenda for that day was a tour of Altus and checking out some antique stores (proportionally, there are a lot of them here). We grabbed a map so Meg could keep track of where we were going and where we had been, and she saw Altus from corner to corner (or field to field). Meg also got to check touring a base off her bucket list. We visited the BX and stopped to see Eric in his legal office habitat. We started to get hungry, and again, Meg being the adventurer she is, she suggested that we try a restaurant that was new to me as well. Earlier in the day, she had spotted a Taqueria on the Main square so we decided to check it out. It was delicious! The best Mexican food I've had since moving to Altus (and we have more Mexican restaurants than antique stores). After lunch, we hit the antique stores and a couple boutiques on the square and around town.

Meg and I each returned home with a handful of treasures we'd found among the junk, but the best was definitely a memoir written by an Altoosian, which covers a time span from the late fifties through the present in Altus. I purchased the book from the author's wife, the couple owns a printing shop/art gallery. It would be hard to explain how wonderful this book is in this entry so let's just say it will keep us entertained for a long time to come. In all seriousness, though, it is the most information I've found about this town since I learned of it's existence. Meg and I shopped that afternoon until Altus shut down (circa 5pm). We hadn't yet made it to all the antique/collectibles/junk hot spots, and there were still a few that we definitely wanted to see. We decided to put it on our schedule for the next day as well.

We went home and met up with Eric who by this point was home from work. The three of us made a trip to a liquor store/bait shop that we had heard about from a friend. It was a small store and we were the only customers there. The shop owner was a neat older woman who worked with the assistance of her cat who became cranky if you stopped petting him. She was a self-proclaimed beer-disliker and lover of Crown Royal. She let us know that she would be willing to special order things we wanted AND that if we were lovers of German bier gardens, we should absolutely make the trip to Fredericksburg, TX. Good to know!

We returned home, worked on dinner, and tuned into the X Factor while we waited to hear from Matt about the progress of his trip. We were expecting him to arrive in OKC at around 11pm that night (Thursday), which meant we would leave Altus to pick him up at around 9:30pm. The last Meg had heard from him was a call around 4:30 letting us know that his plane out of Raleigh  (Rolly) was delayed. We were expecting to hear from him again while he waited for his connecting flight in Dallas. We looked at the clock at around 8:45pm, and realizing that we hadn't heard from Matt, we became concerned that he had or would miss his connection in Dallas. The three of us start to brainstorm, "well, we could just pick him up in Dallas (only an additional hour or so driving time), how about having him try to find a flight to Lawton?" Meg started texting Matt all of these alternative options when she received a text from him. Matt says, "you won't believe this, but I just landed in OKC, and I'm not sure they're going to let me get off the plane." Finally, we found out that the airport was going to send send a van out to the tarmac to retrieve Matt and the other six or so passengers who were also supposed to end their trip in OKC. Meg and I told him, "great, be there in a jiffy!" and, like chickens with our heads cut off, we left for OKC. We ended up picking Matt up at 11:30pm anyway. Ultimately, his change in travel plans did not shorten his travel time; however, I'm pretty sure he was the first person in history to take a direct flight from Raleigh to OKC.

On Friday morning, Eric went to work, Matt worked from home, and Meg and I woke up early to hike in the Quartz Mountain Range. The mountain are only about 20 minutes from our house. We decided to hike the New Horizon Trail, which goes up the face of Quartz Mountain and reaches her summit. I had downloaded a trail map from the park's website, which we used to find the trail head. Meg and I got out of the car and began walking. Almost immediately, we were going straight up. Early on, we saw a total of two blazes marking the trail and then nothing. It is important to know that the trail map classified this hike as "moderate to difficult." However, when you look at these pictures, I think you will agree with us that it was, in fact, not-so-moderate.

We had to reach deep down to tap into our inner-ninjas to scramble our way up AND avoid tumbling down. It was extremely windy up there toward the peak and we were 100% forging our own trail in an area completely unknown to either of us. In the end, the view from the summit did not disappoint and we were proud of ourselves for persevering. It was a great challenge and so much fun! Out of curiosity, Meg suggested that we stop at the Ranger's Station to inquire about the disappearing trail blazes. The woman we met there informed us that over the years, people have ignored the markers and made their own trails. The blazes have simply worn off over time. She also educated us that, here, they call them, "kiosks" not "blazes." Noted. Only somewhat satisfied with her answer, we made out way home.

We cleaned up, grabbed Matt, and went to meet Eric and a few friends for lunch at the Grapevine Cafe. This restaurant offers hit-or-miss cuisine with a good serving of character. Additionally, it is probably the closest we get to healthy food in an Altoosian establishment. We had a fun lunch, which featured an epic "pot pie"/"Popeye" miscommunication. Short story (because obviously I'm all about being concise), there was a Popeye salad special, Eric heard pot pie and very clearly ordered "poT pie." A friend also ordered the same, making sure to enunciate, "poT pie, I'll have the poT pie, ma'am."  The waitress returned with two Popeye specials: strawberries and chicken on a bed of fresh spinach. Umm, oh well.

After lunch, Meg, Matt, and I stopped for dessert at June's Tasty Treats. I only recently was introduced to this place, but June makes the best chocolate chip cookie I've ever had (sorry, mom). This place is now a must-try for any Altoosian visitor of ours. The treats were so enticing that Meg and Matt left knowing what their orders would be the next time we stopped at June's. Unfortunately we never made it back (at least not on this trip). We dropped Matt back at home to finish his work day and Meg and I hit the antique trail again. We even ventured out to the neighboring town of Blair to check out a few stores we'd seen on our way to the mountains that morning. We were not as successful as we'd been on the previous day's trip; however, I did find a few stores worth checking out again in the future.

We met up with Eric and Matt back at the house and had a fierce corn hole showdown. Meg/Eric v. Matt/I. Very clearly, Meg and Eric are superior corn hole athletes than Matt and I. Though I have to say, we did have one "close" game. We kind of scared them, almost. We grilled some chicken and a couple of friends from Eric's office joined in on the fun. Meg found a new use for the over sized marshmallows featured in an earlier entry. She created a Willy Wonka-esque digestif. The recipe will remain a secret, but it was actually pretty delicious and mind-blowingly creative.

On Saturday morning, the four of us got up and hopped in the car. We stopped to grab a quick breakfast for the road at Happy Donuts then made the hour-long drive to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge. We entered the park shortly after pulling off of highway 62. Almost immediately, we started seeing Bison and Texas Longhorn. They were all over the place just dozing, munching on grass, and crossing the street. There were signs abound warning us to keep our distance, and we heeded the warnings, but I would be remiss to say that buffalo look anything other than sweet and cuddly. I love them. 

We stopped at the welcome center to speak with a ranger about the best hikes in the park. He suggested a six mile trail, but there was not much elevation change in that one and we were hoping for more of a climb. Our solution was to attempt two hikes: a 2 mile round trip hike that promised great views of most of the refuge and the six mile hike that was recommended by the ranger. The weather was beautiful, but we hiked the shorter one first as we believed it would be more challenging and we thought it better not to push ourselves during the hottest part of the day. The picture to the left is of Eric, Matt, and Meg at the highest point of the hike. There were some really beautiful views from the top! By the time we finished the hike, we had worked up quite an appetite. We got back in the car and went in search of the world famous Meersburger.

After getting turned around a bit, we finally arrived at Meers- Store & Restaurant in the nearby tiiiiny little town of Meers, OK. To our credit, here are the directions from their website: "Take I-44 to Hwy 49. Travel West about 4 miles, to Hwy 58. Turn to the North for about 5 miles to the turn-off to Meers (follow the signs). Now turn to the West for 4 miles and you're there." We got into the line that already stretched out the door and patiently waited for our turn to eat. The food was well worth the wait! The burgers were huge and heavenly and we wouldn't have been able to live with ourselves if we didn't sample the spicy wedges, onion rings, and frickles! Meers makes homemade ice cream as well, and it looked like the most beautifully smooth and creamy ice cream we'd ever seen. We had all been eyeing it, but we were thoroughly stuffed by the time we finished lunch and could not bring ourselves to order dessert. Next time... 

Still having another hike on our agenda, we made out way back to the Refuge. We were all so full and the weather was so completely perfect that all any of us could think about was taking long naps on a blanket in the sun. Before starting our second hike, we paid a visit to the Prairie Dog Village. There are prairie dogs all over the park, but there is one area where they and their homes are visible in abundance. They were so cute to watch as they busily popped in and out of their homes. Some of them even appeared to be standing together, enjoying an early afternoon conversation (and maybe a cupa tea?). Their town looked like a giant game of Whack-A-Mole!

Our second hike was supposed to be a six mile adventure, but I lead us astray and we ended up at the wrong trail head. Luckily, there were many other trails so we opted to do some parts of two other hikes. We were lead to believe that these routes would be clearly marked by various symbols. However, we again ran into the problem of a clear lack of kiosks (not blazes). We had difficulty knowing which trail we were on or where we were going. At any given point, there appeared to be several trails, but no signs. We chose just to hike alongside the river and by doing so were able to see some neat sites. The Wildlife Refuge made for a great day and Eric and I (being the lovers of outdoors that we are) are lucky to have it so close to home.

Saturday night in Altus was pretty low key. Still craving ice cream from earlier in the day, the four of us decided to go to Braums to have sundae's for dinner. This made me happy because I love ice cream, but also because my grandfather took my sister and I to Braums for ice cream for dinner when we were little girls, which officially secured his spot as coolest dude I knew. After our very nutritious dinner, we drove around a little to see Altus at night and stopped in the parking lot of the Altus Speedway to check out the scene. It was the last race of the season and there was a pretty decent crowd. We chose not to go in to watch the remainder of the race, but I definitely think Eric and I will give it a try next season!

On Sunday morning, we got up, packed up the car and drove to OKC. Meg and Matt were to fly out early evening and we wanted to try to catch the Redskins game (since we wouldn't be able to see it in Altus). On our way to OKC, I started calling bars and asking (1) if they had Sunday Ticket and (2) if they were willing to put the Skins game on a TV for us. We finally found a guy who said he could work that out. So we went to a place called Republic Gastro Pub, a chic sports bar, which had a great atmosphere and a very interesting menu. We sat right next to a TV with the Redskins game on and got to see most of the game before we had to leave to take them to the airport. Luckily, when we left, we were pretty sure the Redskins were going to win. If it were a close game, I think Matt may have been willing to miss his flight to see the end (of course, we wouldn't have minded).

We took them to the airport and said our goodbyes. We are so thankful to them for making the trip. It's not an easy trip and it isn't the most exciting destination, but it is the people that really matter. The four of us together is always sure to be a good time. This combination has never failed.  We watched them walk through the airport doors and we drove in the direction of Altus. As we walked into our house, we got a text from Meg, "We're in Dallas, wishing we were still in Altus!" (Oh, how we wish they were still in Altus). They had made it to Dallas in the time that we made it home. Priceless.