Last Chance Ranch - Castle, Oklahoma

We finally made it out for our 1st weekender camping of the year 2011!  A family we met a few years ago through an Oklahoma camping rally, had invited us to their daughter's 18th birthday celebration. It just so happened to also be the weekend following their Anniversary, and the weekend of the man of their house's birthday. So it was a weekend worth celebrating. We new we wanted to take the camper all we needed was a good reason. Celebrations are always  worth attending!

The view from our campsite was very nice. It was so very HOT, I think 110 or something so the water looked very nice for swimming. Last Chance Ranch is a very peaceful place to relax, grab your favorite book and just kick the easy chairs back. A hassle free relaxing stay that's for sure!

The view from the ranch house. We went up to the club house to try out Steve's Dutch Oven Lasagna before the birthday party. That guy can make a mean meal in the Dutch Oven. I apologize for not getting any pics of it, it was a hungry crowd! 

The view from the dock. At Last Chance Ranch the paddle boats are free to ride!

While the Lasagna was cooking, I decided to take a stroll over to the barn. I spotted this beautiful carriage. Isn't it just amazing. Oh how I love the look of these old horse carriages. Definitely very pleased to have a camera with me. But a camera is no good if you forget your memory card. Yes I forgot  my memory card in my computer at home. By gosh it was my lucky weekend because our rally friends just so happened to have an extra card that fit my camera! MWAH! Hugs to you Laura!! You are AWESOME!

You know where ever there is a horse carriage around the corner should be horses!  To my delight there were horses!! They were gorgeous and snugly my favorite kind!

Can you fish at Last Chance Ranch you might be wondering. Well YES you can! Besides the many little fishes my husband caught throughout the weekend, on the last morning this BIG guy was the catch of the day!

I never in my life seen a frog so huge! They said he is a bull frog. If your into eating frogs I bet this fella' would have been good eats.

After breakfast we packed up, said our good byes, and off we went North on old Hwy 48 towards Bristow, Oklahoma. 

America's Historic Route 66 runs right through Bristow, Oklahoma! One of these days I am going to drive across the state and see every little town in Oklahoma off of Route 66! I love historical towns.

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I hadn't noticed it on our 1st trip through but one of our favorite Mexican Restaurants is right in Bristow. I wonder if the employees are as wonderful as our local Los Arcos. Good food, tasty Margarita's and GREAT service!

Off we went to the Oklahoma Turnpike and before we knew it we were pulling into the driveway. It was a very nice weekend and I am so pleased we finally started our camping season. As soon as this sunburn heals, I'm ready to go out again! 

1st Camp Out of the Year!

We reserved our first campsite of the year! We were going to go to our local place Lake Arcadia for a weekender, but I think we rescheduled to stay at another place for our camping friends daughter's 18th birthday party. So this weekend I hope to pop up my playhouse (camper) and see what's in it again!

My first Garden

 

 My edible container garden is coming along nicely! I am so tickled! Pictured above you can see!

This is my lavender plant, and if you notice it is flowering! :D Now I just need to research how I get those lavender seeds to make those adorable little lavender pillows that a friend gave me. My husband took it and sleeps with it in his pillow case. He loves it, but I had to resort to growing my own.

While watering my plants I discovered not one but two gardening buddies! The "BIG" boy was spooked as much by me as I was by him so he hopped away then I found this little fella.

Welcome to Nitty Gritty's camping blog!

This is my first post blogging about our camping adventures.  We have had our Pop-Up camper for 4 years now and I still don't feel like we are using it enough. Our oldest 2 boys are adult aged now and our daughter is 17. They are wanting to skip out of the adventures and stay home and "watch" the house. Yea, we know what they really hope to do. This year we have several weekend trips planned and a trip to Colorado, which I am looking so forward to!! 
The photograph above is the Arkansas White River, just below Bull Shoals Dam in the Bull Shoals/White River State Park. The park is very clean, we loved it! The only thing we didn't like was the camping folks from Texas right next to us that had apparently been there for days letting their sewer from their 5th wheel drain out on to the ground and spill over into our camp site. It was the worst stench for about the first 3 days of our week long stay. They were not intending on fixing the problem so we had to complain to the higher ups, by that time they were scheduled to leave the following day. But if that were the only problem, they also allowed their dog to relieve itself #2 in our site and when I tried to shoo it away it growled at me and acted as if it was about to attack. You can imagine how thankful we were when they finally pulled out at 1/4 till check out time, they made their stay last as long as they could. Once they had left it was an awesome trip, the rain helped wash away the odor and the river was awesome with the white fog, which is why it is called the White River. :D I have so many more pics to see from this trip! But for now I will sign off. Thank you for reading my first Nitty Gritty Camping blog. 

First Born Graduates High School!

  

Today has been a great day! My son's Graduation was at 10 AM, and that started my day off perfectly! I woke up at 6 AM put the coffee on for my husband, let my pom poms out and then I got ready to go. By the time I was finished totally figuring out what I was going to wear and what not, it was 7:30 AM. I woke my daughter up so she could take her hour to get ready and when I returned to the master bedroom my husband was awake, well barely. He was bumping into walls you would have thought he was a drunk man. I think he stayed up to late the night before. I didn't mind it brought on the first laughter of the morning. :D He was pleased I had coffee ready! What a good wifie poo! I even ironed my daughter's dress while she got ready. By a quarter till 9 my son lets me know he is actually supposed to be downtown OKC at 9 AM, lining up. We still had to drive 30 minutes out of our way to pick up his girlfriend. We are almost to the Cox Convention Center and my son says uh oh it almost 9:45 we walk in at that time. I am panicked by this time but keeping my cool. We drop my son off at the front of the place and we proceed to get parking all the while I am worrying if my son made it on time. We find our seats, and if it weren't for the brilliant mastermind who thought of the graduates taking a tour around the stadium I would have worried up till they called his name on stage. But I seen him in the line when they walked them all the way around the auditorium and was so relieved. He made it. What a wonderful feeling of overwhelming happiness knowing your first born, one and only son has finally made it through high school. He was so stubborn all the way through. But we finally made it to this point. Thank You!