2023-6-12 Choctaw Cultural Center, Durant OK

 On Monday, several of us went to the Choctaw Cultural Center. If you pass through this area, I definitely recommend a visit. It is really well done and informative.

We had lunch at the center and it was very good as well as very reasonably priced. The large plate is an Indian taco. When I had one in New Mexico, it was much smaller. Since we had no idea it would be so large, we also ordered a piece of fry bread. The bowl was called grape dumplings which was more like blackberries with maybe grape size dumplings and was absolutely delicious. We took half the Indian taco, all the fry bread, and most of the grape dumplings home with us for lunch the next day.

I guess they sometimes do guided tours but it is so well laid out and documented that you can easily do it on your own at your own speed.

The center has a natural flow that you just follow. Right up front were displays of well known area Choctaws. I was surprised by the type of clothing favored by the Choctaw.

The Choctaw originated in Alabama before they were relocated to Oklahoma.

The story is very easy to follow.

There is so much to see inside the center but there are also displays outside.

I was very impressed by the center as well as the whole attitude towards the past and the future of the Choctaw people. they are and have been very pro education and taking care of all their people. 

2023-6-12 Choctaw Casino and RV Park TRR Rally

 I left Schertz about 10:00 AM and headed up 281 to meet Elaine at Coffee Creek RV Resort on 281 just north of I-20. She was coming on I-20 from Abilene. The next morning we were off to the rally in  Durant Oklahoma heading cross country to avoid going through Dallas/Ft Worth with all their toll roads and traffic. The roads were okay but not great so planning a different route home. We missed a turn in Decatur so saw some county roads not on our list. Stopped for a quick lunch break at the Oklahoma Welcome Center.

Our rally destination was the Choctaw RV Park which is part of the Choctaw Casino Complex.

This place is enormous. This is just one corner of it.

We arrived and got all set up. We were there a couple of days early and the weather was great. We spent an hour or so in the nice salt water pool at the RV Park. Then we decided to take a trip through the casino. As I mentioned, it is absolutely enormous. The shuttle picked us up right at our RVs and took us over. Apparently there was a big concert going on because there was only one drop off point. It was pretty smoky inside and we walked about half a mile to get to the non-smoking section. remember how the casino buffets used to be cheap to draw customers inside? Well, we passed on the $45/person buffet but found a great chicken place after much looking.

Needless to say we didn't win this big jackpot on display.

Elaine gave the slots a spin and came out ahead.

One of the Transformers was at the casino. We got a picture of Elaine and me with him. The guy inside the tranformer was huge, must have been 7 feet tall.

The weather was great the first couple of days but we did have quite a bit of rain. We even spent about an hour and a half in the lobby of the park waiting to see where the tornado and hail were going to hit. Harley thought it was great watching all the people and dogs. Fortunately for us but not North Texas, the worst weather went south of us.

We did lots of fun stuff during this rally some of which I included in separate posts. Olivia put on an impromptu fish fry for us. One night we went out for dinner at Roadhouse Bar and Grill and one morning we had breakfast at Magnolia, both in Durant OK. We also had a Blackjack party. Surprisingly, even though I know nothing about playing blackjack, I came in second. It was all due to placing a huge bet at the end (primarily to lose my pot and just watch the rest of the game). Too funny.

This was a very small rally for the Texas Ramblin' Roses but we had a good time and stayed safe from the weather.

Now on to some of the other things we did while in Durant.

2023-6-11 Lake Texoma and Lake Murray State Parks, Oklahoma

 On Sunday, Elaine and I decided to take a drive to see Lake Texoma State Park located on the Oklahoma side of the lake. It was a nice drive. The lake is huge.

There was no gate to go through at the park, They apparently charge for day use so you are supposed to download the permit and put it in your car before you park.

It didn't seem all that busy for a Saturday unlike Texas State Parks.

We saw this whole flock of geese glide take off and glide over the water before taking off.

Lake Texoma State Park is nice but some things look really dated like the cabins.

We drove around and checked out the different areas of the park like the marina.

It was only about 29 miles to Lake Murray State Park near Ardmore. This was our favorite place to camp when we lived in Wichita Falls TX even though it was 100 miles away in Oklahoma and Lake Wichita was only a few miles from us. 

There are about 5 or 6 campgrounds around the lake.....no private campgrounds or cabins on the lake as the lake is inside the state park. We drove and checked out the three or four campgrounds that were our favorites back in the day. They all looked great and were much busier than the other state park. Tucker Tower is a neat place to visit....stone and built by the CCC many years ago as are many things in the park.

There is a museum inside but we didn't check it out on this trip.

The lodge at the park was also built years ago.

I was shocked to see that it had been torn down and replaced by this modern structure. It was kind of disappointing. The lodge has lots of rooms like staying in a hotel but there are also a bunch of new structures in addition to all the old cabins that were there years ago.

The lodge has a pool which is only open to people staying in the lodge or any of the cabins. It used to be open to campers for a fee years ago. there is also miniature golf and lots of lake toys which are available for rent for everyone.

It was nice to see such a familiar and loved place one again. I would enjoy camping there again. As for the pool, why when the lake is so fabulous?