Taking a quick, easy weekend trip just isn’t as easy as it used to be. Back in my time, my packing for a weekend camping trip consisted of packing two pairs of swim trunks, two cases of beers, and a few packs of hot dogs. We weren’t much for thinking ahead back then. No buns, no water, no extra shirts or sunscreen… thank goodness some of our more intelligent friends came better equipped.
Nowadays taking a quick weekend trip includes, making arrangements for the 8 year old to stay at her cousins, check. Making arrangements for the 4 year old to have a two night sleepover at his friend’s house, check. Asking the neighbor’s son to feed and mind the dogs while we are away, check. After all that and packing my medicine cabinet for my myriad of aches and ails, clothes for any imaginable occasion, and snacks for the car since you can no longer go more than 2 hours without having a meal, we were finally ready to go on our weekend trip to the company lodge.
This is the very first trip we have taken since we had the 4 year old that was for more than one night. I was a little excited and so was my wife. Of course I was excited for the food, booze, and games (not necessarily in that order either) and she was looking forward to reading her book (I don’t know why we get along either).
So off we go…
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| As you can tell, we are in dire need of alone time. |
After only 2 hours into the road trip, one of us needed to use the lavatory, (something else that old age brings you) so pulled over into the small town of
Caddo. While there I got to talking to the police officer about the BBQ sign I saw on my way in and asked him if it was pretty good or not. He told me he spends ½ his paycheck there so he thinks it was well worth the stop for us. Taking his advice I headed down the road to the stop sign and came up upon this.
We went in and talked to the ladies running the show there and asked them what was the best cut of ‘que but they weren’t in agreement: one said the brisket; the other said pulled pork so I told them I wanted one of each so I could judge for myself.
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| Ladies running the show... |
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| Pulled Pork |
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| Sliced Brisket |
The verdict is for the pork. The brisket was delicious for sure but pretty fatty. The pulled pork was just spot on. Their bun was extremely well toasted and made the sandwich just awesome.
After that, we drove off to the lodge where we were greeted by my boss and coworkers and their significant others. This wasn’t my first time at the lodge but this was the smallest group I have had the privilege of being there with.
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| Bossman in the middle. |
The food when we got there was more BBQ. Here’s a nice stack ole ribs and some of the fixings. Not bad at all. After some ribs, we played some games and hung out with the crew.
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Ribs and the non-rib stuff |
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| I tried but couldn't even dent this mound. |
Michelle and I called dibs on the cabin they had there. What a treat the turned out to be.
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| Porch |
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| The innards. |
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| The bedroom. |
The next morning I joined the rest of the people and enjoyed a wonderfully prepared breakfast and even jerked some fish afterwards.
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| Tram down to boat dock |
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| It's pretty steep |
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| The rainbow told me I was meant to be there |
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| Fish weren't all that big though |
We played more games.
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| Didn't have any of us actually on the court. Trust me though, it wasn't pretty. |
Then we headed into the little town of
Tahlequah. After walking around a little bit it was time to eat of course. This was a tough choice for sure. We could go have sandwiches, pies, and chili at this establishment.
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| Was mighty tempting... |
Or have some pizza and stuff at this one.
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| We chose the pizza place. |
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| It looks wicked good. Taste was only a solid B. |
I guess the chicken motif won me over. We ate the spinach calzone they had and chased it with a ranch chicken pizza. Not too bad but I think I might have missed out on some really good chili dogs. We may never know…
After stuffing ourselves with food, we figured we might try to stuff our wallets at the slots. Too bad the casino had other ideas and we walked out $16 lighter. I know, I know, we are big time gamblers indeed.
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| She's lucky she's pretty because she's definitely not lucky at the slots. |
After the casino, we played some tennis and pickleball.
Then back to the drinking.
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| Should be a Coke commercial but the whiskey in it was the star. |
Then we started cooking dinner for the crew.
After all of that, we stayed up and played Mexican Dominoes. The next morning started off with a slice of apple pie and this delicious leftover fillet sammich. Pretty close to being heaven I think.
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| True breakfast of champions. |
We headed on home and I guess my dear wife didn’t think she had enough artery clogging fare for the trip so we stopped at the famed Taco Casa and loaded up on some food…
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| Mouthwatering huh? |
And grease…
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| It was almost too much grease... almost... |
We picked up the kids whom it seemed neither of which missed us in the slightest. My daughter was too busy playing with my nieces to even really want to come home and my son, well he had a blast with Jill and the gang. I think she spoiled him rotten.
I ended the weekend watching the Cowboys comeback and win and the Eagles getting beaten. Life is pretty good right now.
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