My family has experienced a string of losses that has been very heavy on us all. First, Cory’s dad passed unexpectedly at the very end of August, my aunt of pancreatic cancer on Thanksgiving day at 57 years old, my grandma on Dec 30th, then my grandpa of a broken heart on Feb 1st. After all of this I needed to see my family and be there for the celebration of life held for my grandpa. It’s been hard to come such a long way and we hadn’t made the trip in years. I’m never quite sure how much to share about personal matters online, but in general I try to keep it real.
The loss of my grandpa hit pretty hard as he was someone who loved me for me. He supported my art in college by taking me to get supplies when I needed them, he commissioned a portrait of my grandma some years later, and displayed my art in their home. He was a graduate from Central State where I later graduated from. He and grandma traveled to the PNW yearly for a long time and took us on a trip through when Em and I were in high school- and now I call this place home. It felt good to go back to OK to share some of my favorite things with Cory - many of them places I first went with my grandparents.
This cute place in Medicine Park had great mini donuts that reminded us of funnel cake.
Skye and I got matching rings at a little open air shop while in Medicine Park.
Turtles sunbathing.
We walked around Medicine Park quite a bit. We went to some shops, got sno cones and walked by the water. It was nice seeing it so full of people enjoying the sunshine.
After Medicine Park we went up Mt Scott.
So many wind turbines in the distance!
While in OK we also went to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum- aka the Cowboy Hall of Fame. I don’t want to share pictures here as they are of others’ artwork that I do not have permission from- but I have to note that this is one of my very favorite museums and I cannot recommend it enough. It alone is worth a trip to OK.