Monday, May 7, 2018

What fun can we find in Grove, Oklahoma?

We are enjoying our stay at Twin Bridges Area of Grand Lake State Park. The weather has been absolutely beautiful, and Denisa got out her lawn chair and just soaked in the fresh air. We are surrounded by birds, but most of them are too elusive for pictures. This guy was gathering the pine needles around our site, then taking them into a nearby tree for nest building supplies.

After 24 hours of soaking up the beautiful weather, we decided to make the 20-mile drive to the town of Grove, Oklahoma. We texted some close friends for advice on what to see, because they have a son that moved here over a year ago. That's how we found out Raegan was moving into new dental offices today. We drove by just to see their new facility, and found Dr. Vaughan outside, hanging a sign that announced the opening of their new location. What great timing!

We've known Raegan even before he was born. In fact, we were some of the first visitors to the house right after he came home from the hospital as a newborn. We've gone on vacations with his family, and celebrated many New Year's Eves together. So it was super fun for us to get to see his new operatory where all that dental magic takes place.

The patients in these chairs are going to be treated to some beautiful views while they're getting their teeth cleaned. The rubber liners are already in place for the koi lake that will run the length of the new office.

That beautifully landscaped garden theme is a continuation from their old office that is right next door. We met one of the other dentists in the practice, who explained that his father (also a dentist) planted the garden behind the old location. So we walked through the oriental garden at the old office, just to witness Dr. Miller's landscaping for ourselves.

We also found out that the senior Dr. Miller had started another garden here in Grove. We were encouraged to visit Lendonwood Gardens, where many spring plants are now in bloom. Dr. Miller planted most of the things we were seeing today.

The koi in the large pond here were hungry. They rose to the top of the water when we threw in the koi food.

Our timing was great to see the peak of bloom for the azalea garden.

This butterfly was also enjoying the azalea blooms as we wandered through this section of Lendonwood Gardens.

Our next stop was a few miles down the road to another campground in the Grand Lake State Park. This is a view of the lake from the Honey Creek area. We thought about putting in our kayak here, but we prefer more remote waters. Floating by backyards and lake-side decks isn't conducive to seeing wildlife (unless you consider families bar-b-qing in their backyard "wild life").

Grove is big enough to have most of the big box stores, so we made a stop for some supplies. Grand Lake is hosting the Bassmaster Elite tournament this week, and we saw some souped-up bass fishing boats today. The fancy tournament has brought to town some national companies that specialize in fishing equipment. This company brought their aquarium on wheels filled with native fish, right to the Walmart parking lot. Denisa could see Mark and the shopping carts through the clear water in the portable aquarium.

But our favorite stop before we left town was Braum's. For those readers that aren't familiar with Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy, we are here to educate. Denisa is a huge fan of Braum's skim milk. Unlike the blue watery skim milk we see across the country, this is white and full-bodied. They actually use 1.5 gallons of milk to make each gallon of their skim milk. The advantage is better taste, and more nutrition per serving. We get more calcium and protein per serving of Braum's milk as compared to other milk. Since they were having a sale of two gallons for $5, we bought a couple jugs of milk in celebration of being back in Braum's country.

Add to that the $1 soft serve waffle cones at Braum's, and we were happy campers. We bought two containers of ice cream for the freezer, and we're heading out of town. We have definitely found some fun in Grove, Oklahoma, today!

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