Quick T R I P 2017 (aka: how to see and do it all in 30 hours!

Mike's birthday was on the 14th, which we celebrated with family, but we drew it out a little longer by taking a quick trip to the Broken Bow area of Oklahoma this past week. The trip had a two-fold purpose: 1) celebrate his birthday by getting him out of his own woods and into woods owned by others (so he would truly relax and not WORK) and 2) stay in a small cabin and see how we stack up compared to others.

This was the first time we've taken the pups with us on a trip, but this place advertised "pet friendly," "bring your dogs," "fun for the whole family," so we loaded up the truck and moved to....Wait not THAT.

Instead, we loaded up and then spent a good 10 minutes trying to coerce Thoreau that it would be FUN to go for a car ride. He's always up for sitting in the front seat of the pick up for a quick trip to the feed store or hardware store; show him his bed in the back of the car and he knows it's going to take him either to the vet or somewhere else equally evil.

Finally, we were ALL in and on our way. Fortunately, our drive was just a little over an hour and passed really quickly, with Mike and I chatting and the pups mainly sleeping. Upon arrival at the cabin, we all clambered out, stretched, looked around...I kid you not, Thoreau looked at us like, "You brought me here for THIS?"

The cabin itself was great, super charming and nestled against trees that could almost pass as woods. But scarcely a half a football field away ran a BUSY road and - just barely beyond that - construction on a new strip mall. Party in the back, business in the front. Which also translates, keep the pups out of the front...

We did manage to have a great first evening, enjoyed good food from The Grateful Head, and enjoyed relaxing and an early bedtime. It's never a good thing, though, when the first thing out of both your mouths the next morning is, "Ohhhh....my back..." Mike may have even said something along the lines of "We paid for this?"

Still, determined to have a good time and - RELAX - we persevered on and truly did enjoy some shops and restaurants, and playing frisbee with the pups outside (in the BACK). The lesson I learned that day is that you can take the man away from his work, but you can take the work out of the man. Pretty sure his mind stayed on HIS LAND the entire time.

Why do I think this?

Just as we finished a (TRULY) great dinner at The Blue Rooster and were strolling back to the car he casually tosses out, "Wanna drive home tonight so we can sleep in our own bed?"

To make a short story even longer, we did just that. We could be legit escape artists the way we packed up, cleaned, loaded the car, and this time...

Thoreau was more than ready to hop in and head home!

And THAT is how you take a quick trip and see and do it ALL in 30 hours!

Happy birthday, babe! Next year we'll just out to our own back deck to relax, throw the Frisbee in ANY DIRECTION we want with the dogs, and end the day by climbing into our own amazing bed!

 - Staci

ps. We did have some phenomenal fried green tomatoes though! More on that in a few days!