“Governor is not the position to have in Oklahoma. It is the head coach of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State or Tulsa.”
– J. C. Watts
I honestly can’t remember when we started visiting Beavers Bend State Park and the Hochatown region of Oklahoma but I can tell you its wayyy before it became the “Red Neck Hamptons” (A phrase coined by my uncle and extremely accurate). I remember when there were really only two-ish restaurants, a few odd gift/junk shops, the state park, and Girls Gone Wine. My family has seen this little slice of the country grow up over several years of annual family vacations. Now it is filled to the brim with new family friendly excursions, multiple new restaurants, and plenty of places to imbibe. We were turned off visiting since they created the casino at the foot of the state park, but even with all of the new developments you can find that original fun that brought us there to begin with. Fun hangouts at the “beach” on the lake, playing croquet in the backyard of a mega-cabin, or hiking a trail to get closer to nature.
I can’t blame my wife for having a birthday in the middle of Christmas and New Years Eve but it does make planning meetups for friends and family difficult since everyone has plans. She’s never really been able to experience a characteristically classic birthday party.
With 2024 being a milestone birthday for her we decided to punt the idea of having her birthday in December and do it in August instead. I planned an extended weekend’s worth of stuff from hiking and lake hangouts to bar crawls and dinner plans. It was a ton of fun. I like planning stuff and getting to do it for one of my best friend’s half-ish birthday was more fun. We still struggled to get some additional friends and family on board but you know what, we had more folks show up than lots of other prior year birthdays and it made a huge difference. We drank a LOT, played games, watched the Olympics, and ate pretty well.
While new developments, casinos, restaurants, and activities have saturated the area Hochatown can still be a place to enjoy the peace and quiet of backwoods Oklahoma. Highly recommend a visit.
Cheers Y’all,
Will
W Is For Will 
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