The Chickasaw Nation, A Quick Road Trip and A Double iPhone Miracle

Have I ever told you what my husband does? Well, foremost he is an artist. He went to the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and he went to Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee (where we met). His forte is illustration, but he is a wicked good painter and also loves photography. He graduated with a degree in Studio Art and then bills had to be paid, so he got a job as a graphic designer. There he met a good friend and professional mentor who helped Mike combine his artistic nature with technology and boom-- it took off. Over the years Mike has worked as a graphic designer, owned his own design business, worked as a documentary film maker, and for the last two years he has worked as a creative director for an advertising agency.

Last week, Mike was moved to a different account and his new client is The Chickasaw Nation, one of the largest Native American tribes in the United States. Since he was off of work on Friday, we decided to pack up the family and drive an hour and a half south of us to Sulphur, Oklahoma to the Chickasaw Cultural Center. It was really quite an amazing place housing several buildings including a museum, a Chickasaw village, event center, restaurant, gift shop, movie theater and more. Mike took his camera and we walked around soaking in the culture. We watched a dance performance and listened to a man tell the history of the tribe. We walked through the village and imagined what life would have been like many years ago. The kids really enjoyed it!

Our family by the Cultural Center entrance

Hannah and Leah participating in some native "four corners dancing"

Kids in a canoe

(Lucas keeping a watchful eye on the situation)

Freaky bug 

We found him as we were walking through the garden

A Chickasaw village

Hannah and me standing at the top of the lookout tower

After our trip to the Chickasaw Cultural Center, we ate a picnic lunch then headed over to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area (which used to be called Platt National Park). In my 26 years of living in Oklahoma, I'd never been there, but immediately felt like I had been missing out! The natural springs there are amazing. And because the water that feeds them is from an underground aquifer, the water stays an icy cold 68 degrees year round. When it gets to be 110 degrees in late July, that icy cold water feels pretty dang good. This particular day it was only in the low 90's, but the kids put their suits on and jumped right in. It was a bit crowded because of the holiday weekend, but we had a great time until.....something awful happened. Stay tuned.

Leah jumping off "Little Niagara"

Hannah jumping off as well

This area had 11 ft. deep water, but other places the water was just knee or thigh deep. 

Hannah and her friend Eli making the climb to jump

So here's the awful stupid thing I did. I put my iPhone in my back pocket and waded out to the knee deep water with Lucas and Mike. As we rounded a corner in the creek? river? the water started getting deeper, coming up to my thighs and getting the bottom of my shorts wet. At this point did I turn around and go back? No, I rolled my shorts up and tried to step on a rock to avoid getting even wetter. However, the rock was slippery and I was wearing rubber flip flops, so I went crashing down into the water getting totally wet from the shoulders down. I stood up totally drenched in my clothes, feeling pretty embarrassed and then I remembered my phone in my back pocket. Oops. A sinking feeling came over me as I tried to turn it on. Nothing. Back in November I dropped my phone in a toilet and it never recovered, so I knew this one was a goner. Mike just shook his head. 

In spite of my fall into the water, we still had a good time, and we even stopped for some Arbuckle Mountain Fried Pies on the way home.

This story does have a happy ending, however. The next morning, we decided to plug my "river phone" in to see if it would come on. And miracle of miracles, it did! It recovered and works just fine! Since we were on a roll, we pulled out the old "toilet phone" and it started working too! It was a double iPhone miracle! 

Hallelujah and please don't let me near water with my phone ever again. Amen.

PS: Here are a few links to the places we visited if you are interested in checking them out:

The Chickasaw Cultural Center

The Chickasaw National Recreation Area