Day Tripping in Oklahoma: Natural Springs Park (Baby Boomer Moment)

Yes we are preparing to move to Mexico, but we have decided to "Do" Oklahoma while we are still here.  Why not?  We will probably never spend much time here again, and when we do visit, we will be spending time with family and friends, not sightseeing. And we are learning to vlog for when we get to Mexico!

One of the first places we decided to visit is not actually in Oklahoma. It's in Arkansas, and I'll be talking more about Crystal Bridges in a later blog.  But on the way there, I saw the sign for Natural Springs Park and immediately requested (yelled?) for Dan to turn down the next road. I had been there, maybe thirty five years ago or so? I wanted to see it again and I wanted to show it to Dan.

Entering the park costs $5.00 a car and is well worth the price.  You park and walk through a lovely park to get down to the falls. It's not a bad walk at all. Just walk through the entrance way gate and down a wooden walkway.

The sky was blue. The crickets were chirping. It was a beautiful day for August in Oklahoma.  

First you come to a small trickling stream, but soon you realize you are hearing more than the stream. You are hearing the waterfall! But where is it?  You walk a little further and find yourself on a concrete viewing deck, looking down into a cavern....with a waterfall...

Absolutely spectacular.  It falls 77 feet down to a beautiful pool at the bottom. You can walk down to a kind of pebble beach, but we were told that you are not even supposed to touch the water because some rare salamander lives there. We couldn't confirm that online. I know that about 35 years ago, I did swim there, and floated under the waterfall. The waterfall reflected rainbows all around us. It was magical.

But that's one of those "Baby Boomer Moments." When the world was a little different. Not better, maybe, but different. I'll never do that again, like I won't climb Chichen Itza again. It's no longer allowed.  I can see why. It was dangerous. But I'm glad we were able to do it.  

So the moral of the story is....see what you can, where you are. Memories are precious. Make a lot of them!!  And if you are in Oklahoma, Natural Falls State Park is a good place to start.

Here's the video we made of our visit:

Beautiful Sisal

One of our goals for our trip to the Yucatan last month was to explore the beach towns. The map below shows the stretch of beach from Sisal to Telchac. You can drive along the beach to Telchac but you have to go through Merida to get to Sisal.

We stayed in Progreso, on the Malecon.  The picture below is of the two mile pier where the cruise ships dock.  Our hotel was a couple blocks from there.

We drove east to Telchac and West to Sisal. Telchac is nice. We are considering it, but we REALLY love Sisal. It's a long way out there....through a village. But then you get to Sisal and it's what we'd been looking for since we'd arrived in Mexico.

We drove through the town. It was clean and cute.  We found a cute beach restaurant and had ceviche and Sols.

Then we found the road that led past the beach homes and out onto the beautiful beach.

The houses were beautiful and even the second row was nice The palm trees are tall, which indicates they don't have bad hurricanes there.  The palms are taller there than any other beach town we saw.

The day was really windy. I'd like to see the ocean on a calmer day. People were in the water near the restaurant and the pier, but I thought it looked pretty scary out in the water down where we were. But the beach was beautiful. And deserted. Such white sand and so deserted. Just us.

We are really fascinated with Sisal. When we first move down, we will rent for six months at least, and we plan to rent in Merida. But we're going to be seeing a whole lot more of Sisal during that time and we just may end up living there.

I found this great drone video of Sisal that I'll share with you, too....  Dreams are made of this!!

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Where we are right now on our journey to Mexico

We returned from our trip to Mexico just a little over two weeks ago, and we sat down this weekend to talk about that trip and where we feel we are right now.

Actually, we're pretty excited about our plans. We just don't know yet if we want to end up at the beach or in Merida.  Merida is exciting and the beach is....OMG it's the beach. And so beautiful.

As I process the pictures (about a thousand) that I took down there, we'll make some videos and write some blogs about each place we visited and what we think about them. That'll be coming up soon.

The Container Mindset: What will we take to Mexico?

Every time we buy something, we ask ourselves and each other, "Will this go to Mexico?"  We often look at something we already own and ask the same question. Recently, for some reason, I've acquired some nude decorative pieces. They just called to me. And yes, they are going to Mexico. I think they will fit into our home there.

 

But we have so many decisions to make. We've done a "big move" once before. Well twice. To Australia and back. Of course, we knew that was only temporary. And we kept a storage shed here for those two years. So we had a backup for things that didn't fit in. This time is not temporary. And we are not planning for a backup storage shed.

But the big point of a container is that you make up your mind what size you are going to get and then, whatever fits inside that all costs the same amount. So you have decided on a price and you fill it up as strategically as you can.

This was our container moving back from Australia. One thing we learned is that the movers make all the difference. When we moved before, we had no choice but to let the movers pack because Australia is very picky about what goes in and out, and for them to be able to certify the contents, they had to pack it. The movers who moved us from Tulsa were awful. The movers who moved us back were awesome. Too bad OSS does not move from the U.S. to Mexico.

The problem with Tulsa is, it turns out, even if you get quotes and choose one company over another, they all contract out to the same movers. That's going to be a problem because we are moving from Tulsa again. At least this time we know enough to get in writing exactly WHO will be loading the container. Not sure we'll have a choice, though. We'll have to see about that.

But once you have a company selected and know what size you are going to use, it's all about the packing. It all costs the same amount. So how much can you get in there and what choices are you going to make? What items are valuable and delicate and need to be crated, like televisions and art? Those do cost a little more to prepare. 

OSS did a much better job for us. They got in a sofa that we didn't think would fit at all, and it's the one we're bringing to Mexico, actually.

I'm not sure if we'll have the option to do some of our own packing, coming to Mexico or not. I hope so, because I have already started. This picture is of our home in Australia, but after last Christmas, I packed all our Christmas things for the move. And I'm not unpacking it until we get there, either.  We saved a lot of our OSS boxes. They are awesome strong and durable. We need to find out more about how packing works between the US and Mexico.

But the point is, I guess, when I ask on the expat boards about some items we are thinking about bringing, some people always pipe up, "We only brought two suitcases. It costs too much to bring your stuff and you can buy everything here." The same thing happened when we moved to Australia. I guess it depends on your stuff. And if you are a nest builder or are perfectly happy with plastic chairs from Walmart or Target or what. 

We have picked out our "stuff" carefully. Some is valuable, Some is not. But we like it. When our kids visited us in Australia, there was a comfort factor. It was still Mom and Dad's house on the other side of the world. We also felt comfortable with our stuff. Lots of it has history and stories. It makes us happy.

So our latest take it or leave it conversation was about tools. We were surprised how strong the opinions were to take them. Probably not a lawn mover or weed eater. Yard help is extremely reasonably priced and your employees will probably have their own tools...maybe machetes...but yes to hand tools, ladders, wheel barrows, and generators. Oh yes, and shop vacs. Those things are not cheap down there and they are often not high quality. You are better off taking your own. Pack tools in a drawer or something. Don't waste space and it won't cost you anything to take them. A generator will take space, but it sounds like it's well worth it. Ladders won't take much room if you have good, strategic packers.

So the adventure continues.  

Mexico here we come!

We can't just pack up and take off permanently to Mexico quite yet.  We hope to make that big move next spring.  

BUT WE ARE GOING DOWN TO EXPLORE NEXT WEEK!  

We leave Friday morning and fly to Merida, where we are going to meet new friends and explore the city and all of the beach towns. We don't know exactly where we want to live yet, the beach or the city.

The Beach:

We've always wanted to live at the beach. I want to watch the moods of the ocean every day. I NEED to look out on the ocean.  The cons, however are the fact that the ocean takes its tolls on your home and everything in it. Rebar rusts, foundations crumble, books mold, art flakes away. Wild dogs roam the beach and anyone can party or camp our in front on your house. No one owns the beach...a good and bad thing.  We could also roam the beach on foot on in the ATM we hope to buy.  Whee!

Coleman Outfitter 500 - 500cc 4WD Utility Vehicle

The City (Merida):

The cultural capital of the Yucatán peninsula, Mérida is a compact city rich in colonial history, with a cosmopolitan flair. It has the region’s broadest span of dining options, from market stalls and mobile kiosks to glamorous dining in lavish haciendas.  

• Centro is full of colonial patio homes with tall ceilings and pasta tile floors.  
• The North has modern homes. 

We plan to check out both locations next week. NEXT WEEK. I can't wait!!

Well, I have a new camera, ready for photos and video on my trip.  I am trying to learn to use all its many accessories and thousands of features!!  So much fun. The ultimate VLOG camera.

Canon EOS 80D DSLR Camera Bundle with Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens + Tamron Zoom Telephoto AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Macro Autofocus Lens + 2 PC 16 GB Memory Card + Camera Case

So to follow our adventures, either check here or our FB page:  

https://www.facebook.com/MexicanAdventure/

Actually, the FB page will be updated more quickly than the blog. It's just so easy..... But if you want to follow our adventures in exploring, preparing to move to and actually moving to and living in Mexico, this is your place.

Oh yes....and we will be learning Spanish.....

hasta más tarde......