(Vacationville, USA) -- Full disclosure, this is NOT a news story. This IS a story. It's a story about a girl who needed to drive until she found some blue on a map, meet up with friends from high school who still get together regularly, walk barefooted in some cool green grass and just enjoy unplugging for a bit.
I'm not going to apologize for a single bit of it. I'm going to share with you a bit about the week with family and friends.
After we all went through covid, we need this so much. It's almost like the bit that comedian Chris Rock once did explaining a women's needs. I think he said, "women need food, water, compliments and the occasional pair of shoes!"
Well, I needed some time with my people and it was all that I thought it would be and more.
We started our trek southeast with a little detour off highway 50, mainly road construction slowing us to a crawl had my farm and ranch, back-roads husband wanting to cut south on a dirt road. "Do you know where you're goin? Are we going to be lost-ish?" lol I said.
"Trust me!" his response. Ok, sure. Why not?
He turned south on county road D west of Kendall, KS to take us to the Sutton Siding for BNSF and there, not far away was an historical marker for the Santa Fe Trail, an Indian Mound.
The sign was torn apart so he picked it up and held it so that we could read more about the site.
Cool! A little trip during the trip.
We eventually made our way back onto the pavement and the long ribbon highways took us to Skiatook, Oklahoma and the cabin we had rented on the lake.
There were trails behind the cabin that had interesting wild flowers and blackberries.
The shoreline of the lake was pristine and beautiful.
I had to sit down to enjoy the sounds of the lake as it was so relaxing.
I mean, just turn up the sound on whatever device you're on and just LISTEN.
We met up with my high school buds in a near-by cove that we referred to as "Party Cove," it was just off highway 20 but tucked back into a little area where giant boulders lined the shore and many signs read "No cliff jumping!" DANGER. There was also a boat not far away from us that the guys in our group were calling "Boobie Boat", you can imagine why, and it's one of the reasons I think Gen X isn't aging like the others, NO one is growing up. And we're ok with that.
This lily pad photo is about the best one I have of just about everyone. If we were missing someone it's because they were probably still gawking at the Boobie boat in Boobie Bay.
Later, we all met to cookout. We brought Elk from Colorado that Hubs had hunted and friend Adam had some really good sausage they bought at a little butcher shop in the town of Skiatook. We all watched the sun go down from our zero gravity loungers and watched Tonya and Adam Belty's puppy, RIP Von Belty German Shepherd frolic in the water.
We wrapped the trip on the fifth with a fast trip east to Tulsa to see my Aunt and Uncle and then, westward home but not before stopping at Braums. If you don't know, you're missing out. It started as an ice cream shop out of an Oklahoma dairy and grew into a fast food chain and mini grocery store stop. We ordered a sopapilla cheesecake sundae and a Mix with toffee (like a Blast or a Blizzard) It was six dollars total! Still a great bargain.
On the way home we stopped in Lakin, Kansas for a watermelon lemonade.
Once we arrived in the 81054 we were greeted by some healthy looking zucchini from the garden, our first, and Mr. Night Talker-Face Walker was happy to see us.
Take time for this. Take time for family, friends, memories---old and new. We are not promised tomorrow and many of our friends and family are no longer here to enjoy that watermelon lemonade, the side trip, the lake, the friends, sunsets, meat, bugs---lol, and hugs.
So as the title of this article suggests, find some blue on a map.
It might mean the lake, the sky, whatever.
I'm done now but bet that I'm already planning the next trip for next year. Thank you for reading this far and thank you for trusting us with your local news.
~Anne Boswell
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