Weekend Getaway

I'm a little behind on my blog posts, but I'd like to post a little more regularly in 2013.  My parents visited us for a week in November, coinciding with Thanksgiving break, so Mason and I took advantage of their willingness to play non-stop with Theo to take a quick camping get away alone!

Mason and I knew that we didn't want to go to far away, since we've quickly gotten tired of driving long stretches of time in the same places.  We did a bit of camping in Texas, but Louisiana is so hot for so much of the year, that it's hard to plan a good time to go, plus we've just seen WAY MORE creepy crawlies here which made us a little more nervous about outdoor sleeping.  We also enjoy some of the vacations we've taken in the past where we camp a night or two and spend a night in a hotel a night or two.  It's nice to come back home feeling a little refreshed and clean.  We looked at several different locations in Arkansas.  They have some really nice state parks, but are geared a little more toward water activity, rv camping, or were a little farther then we wanted to drive.  I ended up just looking for green on google maps and came across Beaver's Bend State Park in Oklahoma, and it was only 3 hours North.

Beaver's Bend Lake

The park offered tent camping, rv camping, and cabin rental.  The cabins you had to rent for two or more nights that weekend, but we were lucky and were able to get a cabin for just Saturday night.  We drove up Friday morning and checked out the river that flowed nearby.  The area was supposed to have great river float trips and white water rafting, so we debated bringing kayaks from base, but decided we didn't want to haul them up there.  We also knew that most of the kayaing and canoeing outfitters were closed for the season, but thought we might have been able to persuade someone to rent us some canoes for the day.  In the end, we decided not to go on any water adventures, which I think ended up being just fine, but if were were staying in LA, I'd for sure go back in the warmer weather and test it out . Higher water levels would be needed too.

We were really surprised how many people were there.  Although it was a holiday weekend, it was cold, so we were surprised to find so many Southerners set up to camp.  We checked out all of the different camping areas and choose a spot not too far from the river.  It ended up being a great spot because it wasn't too close to anyone else and it didn't have the wind tunnel that was down by the river.  We set-up camp and then drove around the park.  We stopped and loaded up the car with some fire wood, and then headed to one of the trails to hike around before it got dark.  It was a nice trail along a stream, so it was just perfect before dinner.

Beaver Creek

There was a lodge that we had also talked about staying at, so we decided to go check it out in the town and grab some dinner, even though we had picked up some Subway sandwiches.  The Lodge was nice, but we decided to stick with the cabins for the next night.  The Lodge was near the Beaver's Bend Lake and it was really pretty area.  There were lots of deer just walking around in a field.  We asked for some dinner recommendations and were told there was a restaurant with Chicago Style Pizza.  We had to try it out, although we knew better than to expect real Chicago Pizza.  The restaurant had a small interior and had several outdoor tables with heaters near by.  It was pretty cold at this point, and we wanted to heat up before a night of sleeping outside.  We started outdoors, and then were able to move inside.  The pizza wasn't Chicago-style, but was hot and good.

awesome campsite

After dinner we headed back to our camp site, unloaded our firewood and Mason set-up a large fire!  It was nice to just relax and enjoy our time together.  The next morning we got up, took down camp, and headed down to the river to eat our lunch and hike some trails.  Most of the trails connected so we found a path that we wanted to take, that was a few miles when put together.  There was a longer 8 mile trail, but there were lots of warnings that it was a very strenuous hike.  There were 3 waterfalls on that hike, but we decided not to go for the "strenuous" adventure.  Our hike turned out to be a good hike for me...up and down and up and down a mountain side!

Our view from the cabin

We had checked out which cabin was going to be ours, and it was pretty small and close to others, and we debated camping another night since it wasn't too cold the prior night, but we were able to upgrade to a cabin along the river.  It was really nice, and would have been a great spot for a family reunion or trip.  There were 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, and living room, and you didn't feel like you were on top of the next cabin.  That night we went into a different nearby town for dinner and to see the movie Skyfall.  I thought I wasn't really going to like it, and was so tired I thought I would fall asleep,but it turned out to be really good.

Headed home the next morning.  We had a GREAT trip and are really grateful that my parents watched Theo and that he mostly behaved for them!  We'd definitely go back, and we recommend it to our Shreveport friends.