A Foray Into The Hills of Oklahoma

After spending a week in the car lot, I need to do something. I'm so tired of just sitting around – time to do the tourist thang.

Saturday, I head over into Oklahoma – I'm only a couple of miles from the border, so it isn't that long of a journey. I drive about an hour and a half to Tahlequah which is the Cherokee National Capitol. There was a lot of interesting things about this place, but they became very near and dear to my heart when they told me that they were dog-friendly – not just the grounds, but Miko could come into the museum also. How cool is that? Or as my mechanic in the car lot where I am living now said to me – 'Cooler than a pocket on a shirt'. The museum itself told the story of the Trail of Tears, where the Cherokee and many other First Nation tribes were driven off their land in the eastern United States and forced to travel to Oklahoma 'Indian Territory'. It is one of the saddest stories of our nation's history. I wandered over to the Cherokee village which they have built. It is representative of a typical Cherokee village in the early 1700's. I took the tour which was fascinating as they talked a lot about the Cherokee culture and how they lived.

Miko in the museum

A Cherokee winter house made out of clay and river reeds

Major take-aways – the Cherokee were a Mater-lineal group where all property and children belonged to the women. They were not nomadic and built villages with stockade walls. Education was highly valued and they were often more literate than their white neighbors. There have been many notable Cherokee but Andrew Hartley Payne captured my imagination. He was the winner of the International Trans-Continental Footrace in 1928. He ran 3,423.5 mile route from Los Angeles to New York City from March or 1928 until May of 1928. Just a little over two months it took him to run across the United States. Amazing. There were so many amazing facts – I highly recommend checking out Tahlequah and the Cherokee National Museum. Alas, they have partnered with the National Park Service, but their Junior Ranger program has not been completely set up yet, so no Junior Ranger for me.

Sunday was a lovely day, temperatures were in the low sixties. Miko and I wandered over to Oklahoma again to go to Natural Falls State Park, home of one of the tallest waterfalls in Oklahoma. My first waterfall of the year – how wonderful it this? Everything is pretty brown - I suppose that is to be expected with it being January and all.  I think Miko really had a good time – she has been sort of cooped up at the car lot for the last week and it was really nice to get out and do some hiking. I spent quite a bit of time at the bottom of the falls, just sitting and becoming one with nature. I've always wanted to use that 'becoming one with nature' in a sentence about me.

This park had multiple different ways to view the falls - high, low and in between

I was just so thrilled to see green in the month of January I had to take this picture

I also did a bit of shopping, replenishing some supplies.  I bought a beaded placemat to hang on my wall - I think it is pretty.  So far I have not really put any personal touches in the RV.  It's a start.