Change of scenery: Land of the Outlaws

We woke up early on sunday morning, since the clock was turned back for one hour this night with the ending of DST. Worked some before we started at 8:45 am for a one-hour drive to the „Canebrake“ in Wagoner/OK. Didn’t have any idea before, what this resort is all about and why we've been sent over to expect it, but found out fast. Well, it’s a yoga retreat, hotel and restaurant, and right now the expansion of the spa and the construction of a gymn, a basketball court and other sports/entertainment and meeting facilities in a huge former riding stable are in progress.

Sam Bracken, the owner, gave us a property tour – all designed "green", environmentally friendly/energy efficient etc. –, his wife Lisa, a yoga teacher, showed us the „Yoga Barn“, where regular classes take place, and their right hand, Bruce, drove us to the very tastefully designed guestrooms in one big and two smaller blockhouses – 16 rooms in total – spread out on the vast, wooded grounds, with fishing pools and trails. No kids under 16 are permitted, very peaceful! Wished we could have stayed, but hope to be able to return once it is all accomplished.

What we really enjoyed was the sunday brunch in the restaurant. Sam, who is not only the owner, but also the chef, invited us and it was a truly magnificent buffet. Not your regular scrambled egg, bacon and hash browns, but items like canapes, tabbouleh, wild rice pilaf, roasted beets & apple salad, crispy pork belly, honey-glazed bacon, biscuits and gravy (like never eaten before), mouth-melting-tender beef brisket with peach sauce (learned that peaches are grown in the vicinity!), strawberry bread pudding and a variety of fantastic pastry.

Sam, who formerly owned a restaurant in Colorado, is very much into seasonal and preferably regional ingredients, grows his own herbs and veggies on the grounds and is highly creative. You never stop to wonder, what America has to offer… who would have guessed that you’ll find yoga and haute cuisine combined in the middle of deepest rural Oklahoma? And even the locals seem to appreciate it: for the buffet the restaurant was packed.


On to Tahlequah, the Cherokee capital with an impressive courthouse building and an interesting cultural center and museum (an openair village), unfortunately, closed on sundays in the off-season. Also closed were all (of the very few) shops in downtown with the exception of the Cherokee Nation Gift Store and a rather small Grocery Store where we buyed provisions for dinner, after we’d decided that the strange fruit we had examined before (see pic) is filled with a sticky white latex, but can’t be eaten… Learned that it’s a hedge apple or "Osage orange".


Contrast to Tulsa then – what a change, and one thing we really appreciate when traveling: the diversity. After a 2,5-hour-drive, now through wooded, hilly landscape on curvy two-lane roads, we arrived to Robbers Cave State Park, our final destination on sunday, in the late afternoon, still enjoying some daylight before sunset, which is now briefly after 5 pm.

After check-in at our lodge room (with a patio and a beautiful view towards one of the lakes), we explored the „caves“, former hidding places for many outlaws, which to us ressembled more miniature canyons than caves. This park was established in the 1930ies and offers a lot of activities: fishing, boating, miniature golf, playgrounds, campgrounds, cabins and a riding stable, which we learned, is the largest in the State of Oklahma. We were fortunate that a staff trail ride was just heading out, and though we didn't ride ourselves, we were at least able to take a couple of good pics.