Vacation 2016: Roman Nose State Park

The first state park we visited this summer was Roman Nose State Park located near Watonga, Oklahoma.  We stayed the night at a cabin in the park and I think Brent is pretty convinced we could have spend the entire vacation here in a much more relaxed fashion that park hopping. 

 This "photo rock" is right outside the main lodge, which looks nothing like I remember it as a child, but does have a small, surprisingly reasonably priced restaurant.  We ate there twice.  We could easily have brought our own food and cooked in our cabin, but due to my late arrival back from DC and general lack of planning that didn't happen this trip.

 The lodge features a lovely patio and great view of the surrounding park and lake. The first evening, we arrived fairly tired so we settled on a walk around the area near our cabin at dusk and trying to get some rest after the 7 hours we'd spent swimming at the water park in Clinton earlier in the day.

We did not quite succeed at our plan to get up early and hike before it got hot, but we did get some good rest and B finally filled himself up on lots of pancakes.

 I really enjoy the family hikes we take on vacation and somehow we managed to still have fairly cool weather even with the later start.  We chose an easy, fairly short trail that started near the lodge and settled off on an adventure.

 There were lots of interested tracks and plants to study.

 We happened up on this small waterfall.  The entire bottom of the waterway and that island M is standing on are maid of zillions of tiny clam shells.  It was amazing.

 B and I watched from the shore and were rewarded with not having muddy feet the rest of the day.

 There were occasional hills to climb that provided great views and lots of time to talk about the various rock formations and what they were made of.

 The trail ended near the "General Store." That area features mini golf, canoe, paddle boat, and horse rides, and basic supplies for camping and other adventures.

 There are also Teepees that you can rent to spend the night in... we did not, but did explore them.

Our last stop before we left was a paddle boat ride in this small muddy late.  The cool of the morning was definitely gone and five people was maybe too many for the paddle boat.  We were ready to pack up and head off to visit great grandpa.  That said, there were many more trails, a pool, horses, and lots of other fun we didn't get to try this visit.  Next time!