Oklahoma Cox Family Reunion - 2016 - FInal Thoughts and Trip Home

I am very slow finishing the last post for this trip.  We have been home over a week.

The four remaining members of the Cole family at Sequoyah Lodge headed home after eating one last heart attack breakfast before driving north to Kansas.  I was delighted that we had Dominic to drop off in Pittsburg.  I always like to see where he lives.  I thought this house was much nicer than the previous one.  There are 4 fellows who live here and there are 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.  Dominic's is actually an add-on to the house.  Not even attached so to get to the kitchen he has to go outside.  It's only about 2 steps but could be cold in winter.  His room is like a small studio minus kitchen.  He has a separate bathroom, a sleeping area, a study area, and an area to relax and watch TV and play video games.  Very nice.  This house is also very close to the campus.  A much better location than the last house.  This is good as his trusty jeep (older than he is) is not quite as trusty as it used to be.

 

After unloading his things, we ate lunch at Jo's Gyros which I thought was really tasty.  Tried to get into Pittsburg's number one eating establishment, The Mall Deli.  There was a line out the door. Maybe next time and I certainly was not disappointed with Jo's.  Food was good, prepared quickly, and reasonably priced.

Then it was on to Lawrence.  Dropped Seth at home.  We unloaded our vehicle and then off to get our dog, Boz.  He is always so glad to see us.  His antics are almost embarrassing but it does make one feel good. 

The Oklahoma trip was good as usual.  Both Seth and Hannah mentioned that this was the best one yet.  I think their kids are just the right age for this environment.  I also believe that the short float trip was the real highlight.  In 2018 that will be arranged so they can float for a longer period of time. Who knows, I might even float along.  

Oklahoma Cox Family Reunion - 2016 - Horse riding, pool time, getting ready to leave

Today is the last day at Sequoyah Lodge.  In the morning all of the kids and grandkids went horseback riding.  This is a ride where the horses know where to go without riders.  The little ones love it.  The older ones complain about getting sore.  One of my grandchildren told me in advance that this was her favorite thing to do at this reunion.  We couldn't miss it.

My daughter-in-law and her two youngest headed to Antioch, Illinois, shortly after the horse ride was complete.  The kids did get a chance to play in the pool while she was packing the car.  I think she was hoping the kids would nap along the way.  She was first heading to St. Louis to visit with a friend and spend the night.  The next morning it would be on to Antioch for another family reunion.  They will head to Lawrence on Sunday.

The rest of the group spent quite a bit of time at the pool and recreation room for board games, shuffle board, pool table, and crafts.  It was nice and cool inside.  Have I mentioned it has been extremely hot and humid since we have arrived? That's the way we want it to be while we are here.  Unfortunately, it looks like we are going home to the same kind of weather.

Hannah and family were leaving after supper.  We headed into Wagoner for an early supper at Les Fuentes Mexican Restaurant.  We eat here every reunion.  Food is excellent and the service is great.  I would highly recommend.

After eating, the Davids headed north and the final four of us headed back to The Lodge for a slow evening.

Oklahoma Cox Family Reunion - 2016 - Tram, Float trip, and dinner at the cabin

Once again, slow start to our day.  Short walk through the woods and back to The Lodge for breakfast.  Afterward, a meeting was held for 2018 reunion when my sister and I will be in charge.  We do have some issues as the state of Oklahoma has decided that no arrangements can be made more than a year in advance.  Well, that makes things tough as we come every other year.  But we have gathered requests for room assignments for everybody. We are hoping that it isn't too difficult to do this over the phone in 2017.  Oklahoma changes its mind every year as to how these things can be done.  Oh well, on to our day.

There were arrangements for our group to have a tram ride through the park.  The main attraction is the stop at the nature center towards the end of the trip.  In the past, the tram would run once or twice every day.  Now they only run Thursday thru Sunday.  Budget cuts.  Here are some snapshots at the nature center.

Petting a goat

Trail head near the center

Grandchildren on the tram

On the tram.  Lodge in the background.

Outside the cabana.  

Our children and grandchildren did a short float trip down the Illinois river this afternoon.  James and I didn't go with them.  I think they really enjoyed it and next reunion we will definitely work this into our activities.  They had to take a very short float trip to return in time for the hot dog and braut supper at my niece and families' cabin.

The next two photos are from the float trip down the Illinois River.

Obvious where the food is.

Dessert

Oklahoma Cox Family Reunion - 2016 Boating and family meal

As is usual with our family vacations, we have a number of things that we always do.  One is boating.  This year we rented a pontoon for an afternoon.  It was big enough so that all of us could join in the fun.  The sun was shining and it was hot.  Perfect day of fun.

Making sure nothing gets caught on the motor.

Enjoying the sun.

Water feels good!

Diving off the side of the boat

All the Ball relatives gather around five each day for happy hour.  Today we met in our room.  We are on the first floor and the room's patio happens to be in the shade at this time of day.  It is nice to be able to visit with everybody.  Even the kids are having a good time.  Not sure our bed will ever be the same.

 If you look carefully, there are 10 of the Ball great grandchildren on the bed.  

Visiting outside our room.

The Ball Sisters

The four Ball grandchildren.

Good time for visiting.

This is also the day that the entire Cox clan gathers for supper.  One of my cousins told me that there are over 100 of us in attendance.  It does seem like a smaller group than usual.  When and if I get a final number, I will post that.  Each branch of the family wears a different color of shirt although the design on the shirt is the same.  The final photo today is the Cole family.

Oklahoma Cox Family Reunion - 2016 - Arrival Day

Once again the Cox clan has landed at The Lodge in Oklahoma Sequoyah State Park.  Of course, the last time we were here The Lodge was named Western Hills Guest Ranch.  Since we were here last there has been a major remodeling.  As we were leaving in 2014, they were starting to tear things out. It is much nicer than before but I am terribly disappointed that the bathtub was not replaced.  Also, there is still no wireless in the lodge rooms.  Only in the main rooms of the lobby area.  Oh well, I did want to spend a lot of time in that pool.

I am delighted that the entire Cole family is here.  I am so glad that our oldest grandson was able to come.  I do worry that he might get bored so we will see how things go.  We were the last to arrive as we timed our departure to pick up pizzas at Pizza Port on our way in.  Ordered 9 pizzas an hour before we were to arrive at the Pizza Port.  Told me it would be two hours.  Decided to chance it.
To our surprise the pizzas were ready 15 minutes after we arrived.  Not bad for what we were told. Pretty good pizzas.  This is the 3rd time we have picked up from the location.  The restaurant at The Lodge has been notoriously slow on Sunday evenings and this solves that problem.  Our family and the Oliver family (23 of us) gathered at Hannah and Jim's cabana for supper.  A great location as we could sit outside (in the extreme heat) and enjoy our meal.

I didn't take very many photos yesterday.  Here are a couple.  Will try to do better today.

The 3-year-olds.

 Relaxing near the pool.

Destin - 2016 Trip home and final thoughts

We have been home since Thursday afternoon.  The trip was fairly uneventful except for the massive number of trucks we encountered.  Not all the time but in spurts.  The route through Montgomery, Alabama, was just fine.  We hit heavy traffic in both Birmingham and Memphis, Tennessee.  I do believe those areas are being worked on.  We actually had to go off of limited access highways in both of those cities.  Once through Memphis we were on I-55 for a while.  That traffic was heading to St. Louis and was heavy with trucks.  I'm glad we don't have to drive with them very often.  As soon as we departed that route, traffic improved.

Things I wanted to say about the trip.  We maybe had too much drive time.  We needed more sightseeing time.  I knew this when I scheduled the trip so my own fault.  I did enjoy the drive through Mississippi and Alabama.  Both were so green.  These states have been hit hard with rain and storms.  We were lucky not to encounter any of those.  The rains have left the area extremely green. It is always nice to see the countryside of states we haven't visited before.

Destin was fantastic.  I would not stay at the Sundestin Beach Resort again.  Getting across Highway 98 was just in the way.  I would definitely choose a different location.  We were at a slow time of the year.  That certainly made things better.  We did have a beautiful view of the gulf which is the reason I chose this location.  We had no people above or on either side of us until the final night.  We then discovered how thin the walls are.  We only had issues when the "neighbors" first checked in.  They stood outside the entrance to our room.  We could hear every word they said.  Once they went in, things definitely improved.  I also wasn't impressed with the condo except for the view.  It was okay for us but if we would have had one more person it would have been crowded.

One of the things I did was forget to take my hairdryer.  I usually forget this item and there is usually one available.  There was in the hotels but certainly not in the condo.  Bummer.

Would I go to Destin or Fort Walton Beach again?  Yes.  Just stay in a different location.  Maybe along CR30-A.

I am going to include a few photos that I have not shared.

In Florida, sea turtles come ashore to nest beginning in May and hatching continues until late October. A female can lay several nests during one season and only nests every two or three years. The hard process of nesting takes hours.  I sure wish we had been able to see some.  Wrong time of the year.

I loved these snapshots of Karen and I under the Live Oak tree near her sister and husband's house.

See you on our next journey.

Destin - 2016 Last Day in the Florida panhandle

Today was a great day.  No rush to do anything.  First important item was the mad dash across highway 98 for coffee and some waffles.  That's the last time for that mad dash.  Sat around watching the waves and getting caught up with items on our computers.  Then we headed west on the beach in front of our condo.  It was a gray day and we could see rain in the distance.  The sun did pop out for awhile on this walk.  I had not seen any seashells until this morning so had to gather a few of those.  As we headed back to the condo, we saw dolphins playing in the distance.  Could we see them very well, no.  But they were definitely dolphin and there were at least 2 of them as we saw two fins come up in quick order.  I was thrilled.  It would have been nicer to be closer but I was glad to see them at all.

We cleaned up and decided to take a drive out along CR30-A.  I don't know exactly how to explain this but it follows the coast much closer than Highway 98.  We came upon small towns/villages with very unique homes and stores.  I am going to post some photos of this area.

It is obvious which house has been there the longest.  The one behind is newer and also taller so they can still see the gulf.

Same house as above but another house has been added just a bit further down the road.  It is taller yet.

Across the street, taller yet.  I loved them all.

Another small village further down the road.  This reminds me of the food truck festivals we have in our area.  All of the food vendors were set up in Airstream (I think) trailers.  

Some of the villages had artist colonies.  All of them had access to the gulf shore.  There was a bicycle path that followed CR30-A the entire distance.  Lots of bicyclists as well as pedestrians.  Many pedestrians were walking dogs.  None of the bicyclists that we saw were in a rush.  Just taking leisurely rides along the path.  I think if I were to come to this area for a period of time, I would chose a place to rent along this stretch of road.  Not quite as touristy as Destin yet it looked like a delightful place to be for a month or so.

After our short road trip we headed back to Fort Walton Beach to eat at a restaurant that my daughter had recommended, Angler's.  I understand why she enjoys eating there.  You can sit on the deck and see your child playing on the swings or in the sand.  It was so relaxing.  We sat on the deck and enjoyed the view of the gulf.  We will miss it when we head out in the morning.  I love the sound it makes.  The gulf has been green instead of acqua.  It is gorgeous.  You can see the sand through the water.  Karen, Diane, and Rod apologized that the water wasn't as blue as usual but I have no complaints.  It was gorgeous.  By the way, I had my last shrimp for lunch.  I chose to have it boiled and served cold.  Delicious.  They were seasoned with a spice that had some bite.  They were great.

We had been told several times we needed to get to Banana Bart's.  It was closed yesterday so stopped by on our way back to the condo.  Thank goodness it was open this time.

It is hard to imagine the number of items that are in this small building.  Yes, we bought a couple of things.

Both the photos below were taken outside of Banana Bart's.  One looking east and one looking west.

It did rain today but it did not stop us from doing everything we wanted.  In the morning we will be heading north.

Destin - 2016 Destin day

Having no food of any kind in the condo, when we woke up we took another mad dash across highway 98 to the Waffle House.  We each ordered a large coffee.  I chose a waffle and some bacon and James had a Texas Bacon Egg and Cheese Melt.  We both thought the food was decent.  We'll probably make another dash in the morning.  After cleaning up, decided it was time to get on the beach.  Although the wind was strong, it was not cold.  We even chose to go barefooted. Unbelievable.  It felt good.  We both put our feet in the water.

Now that's two pretty good looking pairs of feet.  Ha-ha!

Today we had arrangements to meet Karen, my daughter's mother-in-law.  I am so glad that we did. It was a perfect day for tourists.  This was particularly true for us as we had 3 wonderful tourist guides. Not only did we meet Karen but we met her at her sister and brother-in-law's home.  Our tourist guides were Karen, Diane, and Rod.  Rod was the captain of their pontoon boat which carried us all around the harbor and to our lunch at Harry T's Lighthouse located in Harborwalk Marina.  It was delightful.  We sat on the porch.  We were able to see boats coming and going.  Here are a couple of unusual ones.

This one has 4 outboard motors on the back.

James ordered a classic reuben and I decided to stick with seafood.  I had a shrimp Po-Boy.  Once again, the portions were massive.  I don't understand why they make their dishes so large.  No wonder we are such a fat country.  Once again, we brought the leftovers to the condo to eat for supper.  They will be finished off with our remaining Shake's Concretes.

My shrimp Po'Boy

James's classic reuben.  This was the biggest reuben I have ever seen.

After eating we wandered thru the HarborWalk Marina.  Tons of things to do as well as many tourist types of shops.  We then headed back to the boat where Ron took us on a tour of the area.  I don't think we could have asked for a nicer thing to do or a better way to see the "real Destin."

A bar located on Crab Island.  The island is totally under water now.  The water is very shallow and many boats and their passengers come here for picnics, etc.  They can jump out of the boat and play as the water is very shallow.  

Karen and Diane on our boat tour.

To end the day on a light note, here is a delightful photo of my husband.  Such a smiley guy!

Destin - 2016 Heading to the gulf

After a delicious (?) breakfast at the Hampton, we loaded up and headed to Pensacola.  We enjoyed the drive down or at least I did.  James did all the driving yesterday.  We arrived at the gate to the navy base about noon.  Naturally, the GPS had taken us to a restricted access entrance. Due to all the terrorist activity in the world, the base is on alert.  The soldier at the gate turned us around and sent us to the back gate which is near the aviation museum.  Signs everywhere not to use our cell phones while on base.  We just put ours in airplane mode so we could take photos.  I didn't take many as my phone seems to be acting up.  Time for a new one? :-) No. :-(  We'll see.  The Navy Aviation museum is unbelievable.  The way the planes, etc., are displayed is amazing.  We have been to the aviation museum in Topeka but it does not compare.  If you are ever in the Pensacola area, I would certainly recommend.

After we were finished, we headed to the Fish House for lunch. This had been recommended by both my son-in-law and his mother.  What better way to chose a place to eat.  We were late enough that it we given the dinner menu.  I did ask about sandwiches for my non-fishing loving husband, but he decided he wanted to try some shrimp.  He decided to have the Grits a Ya Ya.  The waitress offered to have chicken put on the grits instead of shrimp.  No, had to try the shrimp.  Well, guess what?  More left over shrimp for me. He did eat a few.

Grits a Ya Ya

I had blackened shrimp with smoked gouda grits (same as grits as above), and black-eyed peas.  I thought a very gulf and southern meal.  I do like cheese grits.

Blackened shrimp

We then headed to Destin and our condo.  It was probably 75 minutes.  Once again, very interesting drive.  Drove over the longest bridge.  We could see the gulf occasionally and the towns were interesting as well.  Arrived at our destination and checked in.  The condo is okay but I wanted to stay here because of the view from our balcony.  Definitely worth the view.  A group of pelicans just flew by and there is a fisherman standing down on the beach.  His bait is a rather large fish.

From our 11th floor condo

I am used to VRBO condos where there are some supplies in the kitchen, i.e. coffee, sugar, and a powdered creamer.  This is a condo hotel although some of the condos are privately owned.  No supplies of any kind but there is soap.  Oh well. We have discovered a Waffle House directly across from the complex.  Of course, it is across highway 98.  Quite a bit of traffic.  We are very careful running across. There is a grass median between the lanes so only need to accomplish a half at a time.  There is also a Shake's Custard.  Guess what we had for a bedtime snack.  That's right, chocolate concretes with Heath Bar crumbles.  Yummy.  One nice thing about this complex is that we are allowed to check out 2 DVDs at a time.  We picked up Hunger Games, Part 2 and Creed.  Last night we watched Hunger Games.  Glad we didn't pay for that but am glad to see the end of the series.  We also have Creed which we will watch this evening.  

All in all, another good day.