5th Anniversary Vacation - Part 1

Our 5th wedding anniversary was July 19th! We decided that we should take a get away with just the two of us. I was thinking about it and realized that we hadn't taken a trip with just the two of us in four years. It was definitely time for a good vacation. 

We dreamed about going to a Caribbean Island. Too expensive. We considered going to the beach. Too far to drive. We finally decided on Sulphur, Oklahoma.  It was only about a 2 hour drive for us which was nice...of course when you add in dropping off Eva, stopping in Denton to get gas and put air in my tires, and stopping for lunch it was more like a 4 hour drive. Our lunch date was at the Prairie Kitchen in Ardmore, OK. This place is delicious! I am making a point to include this just in case you happen to be traveling on 35 this summer and need a good place for any meal. Breakfast, lunch, dinner - they have it all and the food there is good! 

We stayed at the Echo Canyon Spa and Resort. It was located right by the Chickasaw National Park. Our room was so big and beautiful!  I happened to look at their facebook page and found a great special they were running so we ended up with a much nicer room than we originally planned, plus a massage and dinner at their restaurant (although I'm sure all of their rooms are beauitful). I really liked this place because it wasn't as obsessively floral as some bed and breakfast places. You know those places where the "Blue Room" means that every square inch will be decorate in blue flowered wall paper, complete with blue linens, and blue bath towels? This wasn't like that. The resort was perfect for a romantic get away but would also be nice for a women's retreat or similar trip.

We also had a long private balcony. It overlooked a really pretty area where deer would walk through and from our balcony we couldn't see anybody else. We had some good conversations in those rocking chairs while enjoying wildlife or looking at the stars.

After checking in our Thursday we wanted to go hiking and swimming at the Chickasaw National Park. We saw the signs for "Little Niagara" and thought it might be amazing. Well....maybe not . It was quite little. We were laughing at our failed expectations. But hey, we got to splash around in the natural spring water with only 100 other people. Then we hiked around....most of our "let's hike over there" moments ended up in dead ends, a campsite trail, or tiny loops. After picking up a map at the park center we found a better trial and hiked .6 miles. Yeah, we are adventurous. But it was perfect for us.

Friday was our most relaxed day. We were only 15 minutes from Turner Falls and chose to drive up to the overlook for the falls instead of hiking around in the park (based on our hiking experience the previous day). I had been there before and while it wasn't quite as big as I remembered, it was scenic and peaceful up on the overlook. We were reminded that when traveling with only each other you are mostly able to take photos of only one of you at a time.

 Then we drove down the road to the Bedre chocolate factory. We missed the speaking tour for the day but were able to watch a lady packaging wrapped chocolates into a box. Yeah, that is pretty much all we could see through the window. Haha, maybe our expectations for things were generally too high?! Really though, we were just enjoying time together and weren't disappointed although we did laugh at our selves a lot. We also purchased some chocolates which were all consumed within a few hours.

Friday afternoon we enjoyed a nice couple's massage that was part of our resort package. I love getting a good massage! The entrance to the spa was literally right across the path from our room so they told us to walk over in our robes. {Spoiler: I staged this photo after the massage. I promise I am dressed underneath my robe.} Our spa experience was so nice and relaxing. Perfect for our anniversary day.

Finally on Friday evening we had dinner at the resort's fancy restaurant. Wow. This was probably the best meal I've ever eaten.  Our entree included filet mignon, duck, and halibut. They also serve their "famous" peach hibiscus drink which was so much better than I had imagined. For dessert we got chocolate mousse cake and cheesecake. Did I mention this meal was amazing? Thankfully you can take home leftovers and my food was my lunch AND  my dinner the next day as well.

Friday was such a wonderful, relaxing day. I love this man! I'm so glad that he asked me to marry him.