Saturday March 21st I took the family camping. It was Parkers first time and he acted like it was his 20th. We went down to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Sulphur, OK and planned to stay in the same camping spot (number 56) as when we took Alex for his first camping trip. It was available but we noticed that number 58 right next to it was much nicer and perfectly suited to our needs. I plan on getting that one every time if I can.

I’ve posted lots of pictures with this post.

Let me start off by saying that Saturday morning I was on call for a Proof Point upgrade for work. Proof Point is our anti spam system and it was my job to be available incase the upgrade over wrote the customizations we did. Incase these changes did not move over automatically I was the one that was suppose to add them back. The upgrade started at 10am so I got up and waited for a call until around 3:00pm. By that time I was sure the upgrade went well and I was not needed. So we took off on our way to Sulphur.

Well we had just started unpacking into our campsite when I got a call saying that the upgrade was taking forever and that they hadn’t got to my part yet. Needless to say I was in panic mode and began calling the others in our group. Scott was gone to a funeral and would be out all day. I couldn’t get a hold of anyone else. Tommy was in Taiwan, Glen wasn’t around, and I tried to lookup the home number of Li but there was no Li Li listed in Norman.

So first I tried to connect via my cell phone right from our campsite. I was able to dialup but it was painfully slow and I did all I could do to just check email; this was not going to work. It was still cool to be able to get on the net from anywhere I have a cell connection.

While I was trying to get connected Brandi had put the entire tent together. She was amazed at herself because in the past this was a two person job. Parker actually did help quite a bit and he will be quick to let you know. Even though he is two is he amazingly helpful.

I figured all I could do at this point was turn on my Wi Fi detector and drive around town looking for an open hotspot. I detected many private hotspots, some secure and others wide open, but could not connect. Brandi said lets try Davis and I was thinking, uh no way Davis is tiny, but we went anyway. In Davis I hit a spot. Now I’m not going to post where I found this spot but it was a lifesaver and I was able to check email and surf the net in high speed.

t was almost 5 at this point so I sent a message asking about the upgrade as it turns out it wasn’t going well and they had decided to call it a day and go home. I was saved and free to go back and enjoy my camping trip!

Ok by this time I really needed to get the fire started. We had our tree out front cut down because it was dead and we took the wood with us to burn. The camping spot had lots of very large pieces for us, but thank goodness we brought our own small stuff or I would have been drudging through the woods as the sun set.

I showed the kids how you can light a fire with no lighter fluid and just one flame the first time. It lit in a quick burst of flame and I used nothing but wood. No papers no fuel not anything but one flick of a lighter; thank you scouting days.

I cooked some hotdogs for the kids and Brandi and I waited on Hobo dinners she had prepared. She had spiced some ground beef into patties and covered them with potatoes, carrots, and onions all wrapped in tin foil. I worked to bring the fire down and create lots of good coals for the dinners. I threw them in and covered them with the coals and in 30 minutes, and some added cheese, we had an amazing meal.

After dinner it was dark and we started the marshmallows and smores.

We heard some animals walking through the woods and Alex was scared it was possums. For some reason he is afraid of them. It started when Mom told him she had a possum at her yard and ever since then he is convinced these animals are very dangerous. I was pretty sure what we were hearing was armadillos but never saw one. Parker got his flashlight out and tried to see them. I could see trails in the leaves when we first arrived at the camp and it looked like something an armadillo would do.

By this time I had another good fire going for light, and we all gathered around in our chairs and watched it for awhile.

After this it was bedtime and we went to sleep. I slept next to Parker and I tell you that kid moves like crazy at night. I was constantly getting kicked, hit and pounced and I could do nothing but wake up over and over. I had to laugh because it was just nuts.

During the night we could hear what I am sure were armadillos walking through the camp.

The next morning we awoke pretty early with Parker telling us that the sun was out and it was time to get up. Someday he will realize that just because the sun is up you don’t necessarily have to get up.

We all scrambled out of bed and I cooked eggs and sausage over the fire.

After eating we hung around the campsite for awhile and the boys and I walked into the woods for a bit and even found a turtle.

As we started to break camp I found a skink inside a tree in our campsite. At first I thought it was a snake but as I got a closer look I could see it was a skink. It was a large one too. The boys kept and eye on it as it slowly made its way out of the hole in the tree and tried to get away from the boys.

After we were all packed up it was time to go to the Travertine Nature Center and do the traditional trek to Buffalo Springs.

The Travertine Nature Center is very nice. It’s built over a spring fed river so the river flows under it. The center has lots of real stuffed animals. These are the animals that you would see in the area. Also there are live snakes (one of them is a massive rattle snake), fish, turtles, and a couple of live Owls. There is also a spot where people can touch and examine bones and all sorts of other things you might find in the woods. The kids love it.

The trail (or trial as it became with 2 young kids) to buffalo springs starts right outside the nature center and it’s a 1.2-mile beautiful walk through the woods. The trail leads to the east to both the Antelope and Buffalo Springs that feed the Travertine Creek with over five million gallons of water a day.

We took Alex to the springs his first time camping here, so now it was Parker’s turn. When we arrived Parker squealed with joy at what he was seeing. He had no idea what we were even going to look at, but was excited we were finally there.

On our way back from the springs a deer came out of the woods about 10 feet in front of me right up onto the trail. I was the only one to see it because Brandi and the kids were farther back from me. I never saw where it went, but from that moment on Alex miraculously didn’t need to be carried anymore and was on the lookout for more.

We got back to the car and headed out of town but not before stopping at the stinking, rotten egg smelling, Sulphur Fountain; and yes just to watch the kids faces.

Coldcreek Campsite #58

Parker Puts Up The Tent

Back From A Walk

Alex Afraid He Will Hear Something Scary

Parker Wants Some More Marshmallows For Smores. (I avoided the bad pun there ya see)

The Obligatory Early Morning Shirtless Walking Stick Pose (Now a fine family tradition)

The Skink

On The Trail To The Buffalo Spring

At Buffalo Spring

In Front Of the Famous "cant find any information on it anywhere on the entire internet" Fountain of Sulphur