The Platt Family Corps of Discovery: Oklahoma

Oklahoma, once past Tulsa, was flat as we anticipated.  We drove south to Quartz Mountain Nature Park to camp with Andy and Kristyn (My twin sister and her husband).  Driving in the flat land it was surprising to see before us “mountains” pop up. 

We got to Quartz Mountain and found a camping spot right in the middle of a field with more trees than any sight.  The outhouse was filled with stink bugs and mosquitos.  After the first night we hiked up the New Horizon Trail. 

The climb was some tough rock scramble.  The kids did a great job following dad off the main trail.  We were close to the top when Kiley and Emily decided to head back down. 

The beginning of the trail

The twins made it higher than this pic, they did great!

I took them back down and Dad, John and Karli went on to the very top of the trail. 

At the top!

It was a very hot day and they all did very well on the hike.  Afterwards we went back to the campsite and rested under the trees, wash clothes and dishes and hung out with Andy and Kristyn. 

Kiley resting in Andy and Kristyn's hammock

Karli sleeping on Susie in the tent

Washing some clothes

In the afternoon we went to check out the lake.  At first it seemed to be all mucky, but then after getting past the shore it was a great place to swim.  The afternoon was full of swimming. 

The "Lake" (it was actually a reservoir)

Andy and Kristyn, after we showered, took us into the nearest town, Altus, to Applebee’s for dinner. 

This lovely, freaky clown made balloons for all the kids.

It was nice to be in some air conditioning and eat a real meal.  We enjoyed a nice campfire, where Uncle Andy read to us from Chosen Ones (Aedyn Chronicles).  The kids enjoyed his reading around the fire.  He read from the book all three nights and allowed us to take the books with us on our journey to finish. 

The last day together we enjoyed time at the lake and a cookout with hamburgers and watermelon.  It was a great Fourth of July celebration and would not be complete without fireworks, so we went into town and saw them too.  The evenings got really windy, almost knocking out tents over, Jason and Andy had to get up in the middle of the night to secure the tent with extra stakes. 

Our last night was a crazy night.   We put the kids down earlier than us, and enjoyed sometime with Andy and Kristyn which lead to us watching some crazy teenagers almost setting the park on fire.