🎶OKLAHOMA!🎶

In a year where nothing, absolutely nothing is normal, we decided to brave a vacation. And I am so glad we did! Not only did we have a ton of fun as a family—lots of laughter—but we got to see some of the most beautiful landscapes. The Oklahoma prairie is stunning.

After arriving at our AirBnB, we immediately drove another 30 minutes to Pawhuska, home of The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. This is my second trip to Pawhuska and her Mercantile and I would do it over and over again! It’s beautiful, fun, and the food is unlike any other.

The next morning we drove back to Pawhuska for breakfast at the Merc.

One thing you can say about PW is that you get your money’s worth when you eat there! No way you can leave hungry or dissatisfied. My favorite is The Spicy Cowgirl-a yummy mocha with a bit of Mexican Mocha. Heaven.

One of the highlights of the trip was also a bucket list item of mine. We got to drive out to the Drummond Ranch and tour the lodge where Ree films her show for Food Network and we met one of the ranch dogs, Yo-yo, who belongs to Cowboy Josh!

A side-note that requires mentioning. My sister-in-law lost one of her Basset Hounds a few months ago. We got her a life-like pillow of him for her birthday and brought Al with us in case we got to meet a ranch dog or, if we were so lucky, Ree. We didn’t meet her but we did let Al have some fun. And did you know that Drummond Ranch is also home to protected wild horses? We saw some of them on our drive, too!

The lodge is beautiful! I wish I was her friend and could stay there.

After we finished the lodge tour we drove through the Tall Grass Prairie Reserve. Unfortunately we didn’t see as many bison as I did on my first trip but we did see from free-roaming cattle and quite a few deer. Still a very pretty drive!

The boys were sort of done with being in the car but it was only 11:30am when we were done with this part of our day so we decided to drive into Stillwater so Donny could see the home of his favorite college football team, OSU.

We decided to have a lazy day and just sort of lounge and enjoy some rest the next day but with the boys that can only last so long so we found a go-kart track for the boys and they had so much fun! They even went back a second time.

The nice man who runs the track recommended a few places for us to try and so we did! That evening for dinner we went to the Painted Horse. Ya’ll. The food.

If you are ever in Bartlesville, OK, you need to go. So good!!

We also drove about three hours south to Turner Falls where we played in a river and got sun burned but had a blast! Very pretty. Lots of fun.

It’s been a great week and I am thankful for the time to recharge and refresh. Very grateful that we can give our kids these experiences and opportunities to see parts of our beautiful nation. So before I end this, let show you two more pictures we captured entering Pawhuska.

As Colby said when he first saw this giant flag, “You don’t get more American than that.”

Happy 4th of July, friends!