I Stayed in the Pioneer Woman Boarding House

Hey there!

As I mentioned in my last post, my cousin and I made a road trip to visit the Pioneer Woman Boarding House.  The website says, "The Pioneer Woman Boarding House is an eight-room “cowboy luxury” hotel in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Your stay will be unforgettable!"

Oh boy, was it ever!  Yall!  It was amazing! The food, well, it's on a whole nother level all by itself! Wowee!

 This king size bed was extremely comfortable and we slept like queens!

We stayed in the Butterfly Room and it was very luxurious and comfy!  This was the view when walking in the door.

The view was just as wonderful as the room was!

The ceiling tiles were saved from the original building and reused in the rooms! Wonderful!

Do you see what I see? Oh yes, its a claw foot tub that you know I had to take a bath in!

There is also a giant shower with an entrance from either size of the bathroom. So nice with lots of shower head choices.

Fresh flowers on the table, yes, real live flowers!  So beautiful.  Ree doesn't miss one single detail, that's for sure!

They have happy hour in the evening which was perfect for us because we were starving and it was not quite time for supper.  We had a drink and some yummy goodies off a charcuterie board! Yum!

We had a wonderful view as we sipped and snacked!  We also had our morning coffee out here too!

Over across the street was P Town, Ree's pizza shop and down below is Charlie's Sweet shop.  We didn't get to partake in any of that this trip, but definitely next time!

Here we are!  We really enjoyed sitting and catching up with each other.  Did I tell you that we are 11 days apart? I am the oldest.  So, we've been best friends for 56 years and counting!

This old truck was parked in front of the mercantile/diner.  We had to have a picture of course!

We're goobers when we get together, so we are always doing something fun!  While we waited for our supper reservation time to arrive, we went shopping in the retail store and the mercantile.  The retail store sells the items that are sold at Walmart and the mercantile is more stuff you don't find anywhere else but there.  We had fun shopping, giggling and acting silly of course!

As I mentioned above, the food was over the top amazing and so was out waitress!  Wait till you see what she brought us!

Not gonna lie, my favorite thing was that all the food was served on vintage inspired dishes! So fun!  First of all, the iced tea was perfection!  We started off with salad and biscuits, served with homemade butter and jam.

Besides our main courses (which we shared) we ordered a beet salad and olive bread.  I could have made a meal on just those two items alone! DELICIOUS!

For our main courses, we had fish with fries and hush puppies and chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes.  Oh my word!  Hands down, the best I've ever had!  The food was all amazing, every single bite!

For dessert our waitress brought us each a birthday cupcake.  We had absolutely no room for dessert, so we boxed up our cupcakes and all of our left overs and we had lots of food souvenirs to take home!

We stayed up late on the patio balcony jibber jabbering and people watching and then finally went to bed.  We both slept well.  She slept in, but my goofy self was up and going early.

There is a coffee bar right at the entrance to the balcony, so I made myself some coffee and sat outside sipping coffee until it started sprinkling rain.

Delicious Pioneer Woman coffee with a wonderful and peaceful view! Wonderful!

Before we hit the road back home, we had a wonderful breakfast of a breakfast sandwich, some breakfast quiche and fruit bowls.  The spicy cowgirl iced coffees we shear perfection too! I could drink that every day!

With our tummies full, we hit the road back home.  We decided on the way back home that we would do this every year to celebrate our birthdays.  Next year we will arrive on Friday so we could go visit the ranch, the pizza and sweet shop too.  We didn't get to do that this time.  On Sunday, Pawhuska Oklahoma is closed down!

I hope you enjoyed our little adventure to The Pioneer Woman Boarding House, we sure did!

Before you go, watch this room tour video and see for yourself:

 

If you loved any of these ideas and want to save them for later, be sure to pin it to your favorite Pinterest board.  I have a Pinterest board set up for all kinds of travel and destination ideas and it's called I Wanna Go There.  I'm pinning something new on Pinterest every day. Won't you join me?

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Our Getaway to Broken Bow Oklahoma

We love road trips, so we decided it was time for another one!  Just so happened that the weekend we chose to getaway was my birthday weekend, that made it all the better!  We packed a few things, loaded the side by side up and headed to Broken Bow, Oklahoma.

We had so much fun the whole time! Starting with the trip there, we laughed and sang along with old songs on the radio.  If you want to amuse yourself, buy a dash cam and use it on road trips.  Watch back the footage and you'll crack yourself up, at least we do!  I'm pretty sure we should take our act on the road, oh wait.....we already do! :)

This is the one we have if you're interested.

As usual, I try and add a few videos and photos to my Instagram so we will have it to look back on, if you want to see some video, just look for this tab in my profile.  I'm ddcamp170 on Instagram.

First stop was to get fueled up for our trip of course and my honey bun always checks and double checks to make sure everything is strapped in good while the truck is fueling.  I'm pretty sure he's one of the safest people I know! But that's a good thing, right! :)

This is our 2016 Honda Pioneer 500 Side by Side.

Here's the little cabin we stayed in for two nights.  These are the Kiamichi Cabins and this one is named Perch Cove.  Its not like the cabin we stayed in when we visited the Smoky Mountains, but it's still cute none the less!

Here's the living area with its cute cabin vibes going on.  Such comfy couches too!

The kitchen area is all ready for your cooking needs, the only thing you need to bring is your own coffee and food!

There is a nice king size bed in the bedroom along with a TV for your lazy viewing pleasure!

Nice double vanities in the bathroom.  See the door there to the right of the picture?  That's a washer and dryer if you are going to be staying a while and need to do some laundry.

The first stop we made after we dropped off our stuff at the cabin was the ranger station for the national forest because since we brought our side by side we wanted to make sure of the places we were allowed to ride.  Also, my honey brought his drone and wanted to see where he could fly it too. No flying in the national park though! :(

We have the DGI Mavic Air Drone, click right here to see it.

When we walked up to the front door, a nice lady who works there was holding this sweet little guy who had crashed into the window and stunned himself.  I sat down and talked to them for a bit then went on inside where my honey was.  By the time we came out, he'd flown away again! Yay!  Isn't he beautiful?  They had many humming bird feeders and regular bird feeders all over the lawn around the building.  The humming bird noises were awesome!

We followed the road on around to the Beaver's Bend State Park visitor's area.  They offered a free museum all about the timber work in this area along with a little gift shop as well.  The museum was very interesting.  We love a good museum!

This big wooden totem poll greeted us as we approached.  I believe he was taller than the building!

This guy was way taller than me and he was greeting everyone who entered the building.

Inside the museum were lots of carved items from wood.  This snowman totem was so cute!

The next morning we were up and ready to go riding in the forest!  It was beautiful!  It was probably the best ride we've had, ever....well, in my opinion! lol!  All the trails look like this, fully maintained and easy to pass through with lots of tall trees.

While we were riding along we happened upon this gorgeous stream! Isn't it beautiful?  The water was so clear and refreshing.

Of course we had to take off our shoes and dip our feet in the cool water.  There were tons of sun fish babies swimming all around.  You can see some of them there by my honey's right foot.

I packed us a picnic lunch and we had that while we enjoyed the sights and sounds of the stream we stopped at.  Yummy!

Occasionally we would stop and get out and walk around.  It was gorgeous there!

 That evening we decided to eat out and we chose a restaurant called House of Burgers and Blues.  The burgers were delicious and very generous.  The waitress told us that sometimes they have live bands out in the yard on a big stage out there, unfortunately they were not there that night.

Sunday we headed home.  It was my birthday so my honey decided we would stop and eat some lunch at the Cracker Barrel.  Lunch was good!  Of course I had my honey snap a picture of my 52 year old self for the memory books.  One of these days I'm going to get me one of these Cracker Barrel rocking chairs!

Would you like to read about another road trip of ours?
Our Road Trip to the Smoky Mountains

Have you tried making your own laundry soap and softener? Try my recipes:
DIY Laundry Detergent
Homemade Fabric Softener

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:

These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch
The Dedicated House  - (I was featured)

Our Road Trip to The Smoky Mountains

We hadn't had a real vacation in years, so we decided that we would save up our pennies and plan a trip to somewhere neither of us had been before, and the Smoky Mountains it was!  We were going to stay in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains.  It was a week long road trip and we really had lots of fun.  Buckle in for a LOT of pictures ahead in this post.  I took tons of pictures and video but this is only a very small percentage of them.  Enjoy!

Just in case you're interested, you can visit my Instagram page here and see lots of video of our trip under the "Road Trip" highlights tab in my profile.  Some of the first part of our trip got deleted on there, which I'm sad about, but most of it is there.  I am ddcamp170 on Instagram.

Our trip started on Saturday, May 19th.  Here we are at a rest stop stretching our legs in Malvern Arkansas.  It was the perfect sunny day for a road trip and some drone footage!

My honey took the drone along of course so we got some really cool shots, like this one, that was fun to add to our memories!  We have the DGI Mavic Air Drone, click right here to see it.

He also thought it would be fun to have a dash cam and yall, you should get one if you're road trippin' cuz its hilarious to watch back at the end of each day.  Click right here for the one we got.

 

We stayed the night in Little Rock Arkansas that first night and we ate at the Flying Fish.  It was really good food and the whole atmosphere was awesome.  Lots to look at while we dined.

 

This is one of many big giant bridges we saw while on our trip to Tennessee.  So cool!  I snapped this one from the roof top of our hotel, sittin' by the pool.

The next morning, Sunday, May 20th, we were up and off to Memphis Tennessee.  First stop Beale Street.

We went in to Schwab's Dry Goods Store to look around and they had the neatest stuff in there, look at these "old" aprons!

They had an old fashioned soda fountain on one side and we ordered a homemade root beer and shared it.  It was pretty good too!

Next stop because my honey couldn't resist, Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid.  This thing was blindingly shiny! Very cool!

Inside their General Store.

You could ride to the top of the pyramid and look out. Going up, up, up!

Monday, May 21st and we woke up in Nashville Tennessee.  We arrived the night before and drove through Broadway street downtown (see IG for the videos) and it was a very lively place with loud music and millions of people!

Here you see the General Lee, you know, from Duke's of Hazard.  We found it just driving by at Cooter's Place and had to stop and look.  Of course we went inside and toured the museum.  There was lots of memorabilia and movie props of the Duke's in there.

Next we were on a mission to find the American Picker's store, Antique Archeology.  It was located in Marathon Village.  It was a tiny little shop, not what we were expecting from seeing it on TV. lol!

This old building used to be a motor vehicle factory back in the day and it was VERY interesting and beautiful all at the same time.  Photo op!

We found it!  See videos on Instagram!

Drone shot!  I love old rusty stuff!

Same water tower from inside the building.

Drone shot again! So awesome!

We finally made it to our destination, Pigeon Forge Tennessee.  Eagles Ridge Cabins.  This is where we checked in at the office.  It was late in the day and the ladies there couldn't have been any nicer to help us get all settle in for our stay.

See the video on Instagram for this cute little area.  This is the cabin we stayed in and it was way more than we expected.  Very pretty!

We stocked up on some groceries and settled in for the night, we had a hot tub calling our names!

The next morning Tuesday, May 22, we were up and headed to Gatlinburg to look around.  The locals said we needed to visit there for sure.

There was tons of stuff to do and see there.  We had lots of fun, first we ate some lunch and then we went through a Zombie 3D Adventure and then went through a mirror maze too.  We also found some some saltwater taffy to try as well.

One of our favorite stops was the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies.  Also, it was a nice place to cool down a bit.  Hot and humid here in Tennessee, just like at home in Texas!

This is the other side of the water fall above.

That same night we had reservations for the Hatfield and McCoy Dinner Fued.  A show and a meal.  The place was packed!

Here's what we had for supper.  It was lots of food for two people and it was all you can eat.  Sadly, it didn't sit well with me and I was sick in bed all the next day, Wednesday, May 23.  It was a 24 hour tummy bug that got me good.  Whew!  We already had reservations for the day, but thankfully we were able to reschedule everything for Thursday.

Thursday, May 24.  Thankfully, I was feeling way better because we had lots of fun things to do today!  First up, a horse back ride at Five Oaks Guided Riding Tours.  I haven't ridden a horse since my kiddos were little.

 

There they are, just waiting for us.  My horse's name was Obama and Bobby's was Betty.  We were told they were boyfriend and girlfriend to each other.  Sweet!  Betty was double the size of Obama.  Both beautiful creatures.  Our trip took about an hour and the views were picture perfect!

Next up, Zip Lines at Adventure Park Zip Lines! Oh boy! I'm not going to lie, I was nervous about this, but I am so glad I did it now.  It was loads of fun!  Neither of us had ever zip lined in our lives so this was a fun first we got to enjoy together!  Don't we look funny in our helmets and gear? lol!

I was very last in our group each time, which was ok with me. Ha, ha!  Here's my honey giving me the thumbs up for his maiden voyage.

This was at the very end of our our zip line adventures.  It was really fun and now I want to seek out all of the zip lines to ride!

After the zip line fun we played put-put golf and rode go carts that went REALLY fast.  On the way back to the cabin my honey road a really cool roller coaster that took 8 minutes to run the course, it was called the Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster, then we came back to the cabin to chill for the day.  What a wonderful fun packed day we had!

Friday, May 25.  We were up early and ready for more mountain adventures!  Along the way the locals have informed us what all we would probably want to see, so here we go to see what we can find.  Texas is beautiful for sure, but you just don't see these sights in Texas! Gorgeous!

The roads were tree lined and winding all the way.  There were water falls that we were told was fun to see, so off we went to search one out.  We found the first one, Laurel Falls.  There was a sign at the trail head that said the falls were 1.3 miles up.  Here we go!  I'm pretty sure it was more than 1.3 miles, but it could have been that we are both out of shape and wearing flip flops of all things to hike in! Ha!

 

The path was paved, but very narrow in places due to the elements wearing away at it.  One path for coming and going.  But look at those views!

We made it!  The temperature dropped a good 20 degrees when we got close to the falls.  It was so beautiful and refreshing after our 300 mile hike up a mountain!  Scroll by fast (next pictures) if you're squeamish to blood because I had a fall on our way back down to the car.

Remember how I said the path was narrow in spots?  Well, there was a Mama holding her kiddo's hands, one on each side of her.  I went to step over out of their way so they could pass, my foot slipped and I went knee first into the pavement path.  Ouch!  A nice couple stopped to help us and they just happened to have a first aid kit in their backpack.  My honey patched me up with the bandages they had and then when we got back to our car he grabbed our first aid kit and fixed me up a little better until we came across a store that sold bandaging supplies.  Thank you baby!

Back on the winding road again.  Thank goodness there were little spots to pull off the road for snapping pictures like this one.  God's beauty was everywhere yall!  The road literally followed this river the whole way.

Another place we were told by several people we needed to see was Cade's Cove.  Cade's Cove is an isolated valley located in the Tennessee section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  They were right, it was a need to see!  Please see the Instagram videos on this place, gorgeous!

Really great burgers alert here at Apple Valley Stores in Townsend Tennessee.

See ya next time Tennessee!  We were up the next morning really early Saturday, May 26 to start our trek back home.  We went through Georgia and Louisiana on the way back.  We were going to stop in Louisiana for the night, but we were so close to home (3 hours away) that we just kept driving. lol!

Here's another road trip of ours:

Our Trip to the Pioneer Woman Mercantile

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:

These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch
The Dedicated House  - (I was featured)