Sometimes the best adventures happen in your own backyard. Okay…maybe I’m a college kid living in an apartment so I don’t have a literal backyard, but I still manage to find a little adventure here and there without leaving this great Okla-home state of mine. (Is that cheesy?)
But really though. Sometimes it seems like you have to go to far away places with the craziest trails, peaks and rapids like Colorado, Washington, Oregon or the Canadian Rockies or the Andes to be adventurous. I’ll get on social media…pinterest, twitter, instagram… and because I follow a lot of outdoor lifestyle companies and that’s all I’ll see.
While all those places are amazing, I’ve had some amazing adventures of my own without crossing Oklahoma lines even though this is a state that’s known more for its flat terrain than for its trails, lakes or “mountains.”
Just a few weeks ago, I went on a retreat with the college group from my church. At this retreat, spend a weekend in a cabin on the river in Broken Bow, Oklahoma (which is about as far southeast in Oklahoma that you can go without being in Texas) and spend time getting to know each and going kayaking and spend time outdoors and kayak…and did I mention kayaking.
If you can’t tell that’s one of my favorite parts about this trip, but this year I wanted just a little more adventure. As the weekend of the fall retreat started to get closer, I started to think about how cool it would be to have a hammock for this trip. I eventually decided to invest in an Eno hammock. For anyone who doesn’t know, Enos aren’t cheap. I went back and forth as to whether I should get one seeing as I’m a college student with finite funds that need to last. So, I even called my personal accountant (my mommy) to see if it was a good idea, but I think by the time I called her I had already set my mind on making the best purchase I have ever made.
So I finally broke down and bought one. I actually got it the Thursday before the retreat and broke it out the next day just hours before we loaded up the church van (mostly because I didn’t want to look like an idiot who didn’t know how to put up a hammock). It turns out it’s really simple and anyone can do it, but I was also just so excited about my Eno that I had to give it a test drive.
Before I continue, I might want to preface the rest of this article with the statement that this weekend might have been an adventure fail.
I say that because I decided to be a cool kid and sleep in my hammock. Well that lasted one night because even with a microfiber blanket I still felt like a popsicle in the morning because temps got down to 50 degrees.
But at least it was an adventure.
