Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Doctor's Appointments Can be Fun?!?

When you're a full-time RVer, it's easy to get behind on regular doctors' visits. So we used this stationary time to make appointments with most of the local doctors that we used to see on a regular basis. But today's blog is not filled with pictures of doctors' waiting rooms, but rather some of the activities available in the towns where those doctors practice. Our first visit was to Weatherford, Oklahoma, for dentist and optometrist appointments. We're glad to report that we had no cavities, and we got new glasses ordered. This is also a great place to see old friends, including those who still work at the university where we retired. This day in Weatherford, we visited the brand new park in town with our friend Patti. She's standing beside one of blades from one of the wind generators that surround this windy town.

Weatherford also sits on Route 66, so the blade includes pictures of some of the icons of this iconic highway that runs right through downtown.

We had several spots on our skin that we wanted to ask a doctor about, so we made an appointment months ago with a dermatologist. We made a trip to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for that appointment. That's where we also went to an Oklahoma State University basketball game. Our youngest son got his engineering degree here, and he rode to the game with us.

We actually had a group of 13, as Denisa's sister and family discovered this opportunity. It was during the university's Christmas break, and the college wanted to encourage more fans to attend. So a can of food for the food drive and $1 would get you into the game.

The $1 tickets put us on the very top row of this tall and steep gym. This was our view of the court far below.

But when we saw that the student section was completely empty, we headed down much closer to the floor where Blake sat when he was a college student. 

Incidentally, the doctor reported that all of Denisa's spots were just "wisdom spots" that come with age. The spots on Mark's face that really prompted the visit were more than just "wisdom," and she froze six of them off. You can see one of them close to his right lens. He wore those scabs for a week, and hopefully he'll wear a hat on all of our hikes in the future.

The next appointments were just for Denisa, and all in Oklahoma City. She had a mammogram, a bone density test, and an appointment with her gynecologist. But even more fun than three medical appointments, was the day we went to the horse races. Our granddaughter loves horses, so to see them gallop at top speed right in front of us at Remington Park Racetrack was a new fun experience for her.

We watched the horses parade from the paddock where we got really close views and picked the one we hoped would win. It's a free activity (unless you choose to wager on the horse you just picked) and a fun way to spend a little time.

While in Oklahoma City, we can also recommend a visit to Scissortail Park and Myriad Gardens. This downtown area is a great place to walk, and it has ice skating and some fun Christmas decorations this time of the year.

Even though the park's playgrounds are literally in the shadow of the downtown's tall buildings . . .

it has some spaces that seem very remote. This sculpture made of sticks is decorated for Christmas with a newly crocheted scarf and a wreath.

During that last doctor visit, we also made it a point to visit the Christmas light display in the park at Yukon, Oklahoma. Even though the lines to drive through can be miles long in the middle of the evening, we found that arriving at 5:20 p.m. allowed us to drive right into the park. The sun was setting on the shortest day of the year when we started our two-mile loop to walk through the display.

We got to see some of the displays in twilight,


and others in the dark.


The row of Christmas trees reflected in the lake were some of our favorites. 

Denisa is silhouetted in front of the trees in the picture below as they turned to an icy blue color. We had our jackets on when the sun went down, but we have been enjoying some of the nicest December weather that we can remember.

The crystal-wrapped trees were sparkling as they changed colors.

After all the Santa Claus displays, we were glad to see a nativity scene, and then a light display with Mother Mary holding baby Jesus. We liked the wording, "The reason for the season."

So now we are all doctored up and ready to start another season of travel. We feel good about getting all those appointments behind us, while having fun field trips in the different places that we had medical visits. Who knew that doctors' appointments can be fun?!?


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