OklaHOMEa - Part I

Last month I took a little trip back to my hometown, which was long overdue.  It'd been almost 2 years since I was home!  Get ready for lots of photos of big skies.  Oh, and my dog.

I flew in on a Friday evening and went straight to the homecoming football game.  Yep, it's exactly like Friday Night Lights in this Oklahoma town.

My flight from Dallas was delayed, so I missed all the homecoming royalty ceremonies, but I did see halftime.  Yes, I was a band nerd back in the day (and a cheerleader and plenty of other things).

It was pretty cold and I didn't really have a good coat, so I didn't see too much more of the game.  After visiting with a few friends who were there, I took off with my parents to their friends' house, as they'd invited us over for a late dinner.

The things that you hear on the radio while driving in a pickup truck....

I spent some good time with this sweet face.  Honey!  She eats toilet paper and digs out the bathroom trash when she's mad at you.

On Saturday I met up with a high school friend and her family at the local Oktoberfest held at the Catholic Church.  They have a nice view of Sugarloaf Mountain behind their building.

There was the traditional bratwurst and potato dishes.  Pretty yummy.  However, I was really disappointed in the beer selection, and I don't even drink beer.  It's a German festival, and the options were Budlight, Coors and Michelob or something.  Not a single German beer on the list!  I quickly reminded myself where I was.

Some kids who had won a local area Battle of the Bands were the entertainment.  Not bad, but I didn't mind when they got rained out....

That night some women from church were having a little get-together, so I took a little drive into the country to find the house.  I forgot what it's like to drive through dark backroads at night.

Finally, lights!  And people!

I spent some time out on our blueberry farm.  It's beautiful out there.

Mom had green chile meat in the freezer and we had fresh tortillas.  Good meal.

My street.

That's the world's highest hill - Cavanal.

Honey loves riding in the back on the way out to the farm.  She can't jump in or out of the back of the truck anymore, so you have to pick her up.  I'm terrible at it.

More farm land.

Digging for persimmons.

During the week, I went to work with mom and dad, since they now both work down at dad's office.  I'd sit back and do my thing, and at noon we'd put a sign on the door that said 'back at 1' and we'd go have lunch.

There's a new Chinese place in town and it was actually pretty good.

There's the office.  Prettiest building in town.

I wanted to make up some banana almond smoothies while I was home, but I really needed almond butter. It was nowhere to be found in my town, so I went the old fashioned route and made some myself in the Vitamix.  I'd recommend this.  Hazelnut butter, anyone?

See, there's a sign for the world's highest hill.  It's a thing.

One day for lunch we headed down to the little Mexican mart.  They've got a restaurant in the back with some decent burritos.

One night we drove down to another little town (Heavener, OK) that has a good taco stand in some alley.  It happened to be closed that night, so we went to another place that was alright.

Another day for lunch, I went to Bud's for some BBQ.  It's pretty solid, even if it is a gas station.

I miss cows!

And then one night, mom had some really good buttercream frosting in the fridge.  We needed something to put it on, so I went to the store.

Mmmm....

More Oklahoma and a trip to Kansas coming up!