The #FamilyFunDay series is an opportunity for us to share our adventures, tips, and ‘manners used’ for making the most of your day if you choose to take a similar adventure of your own.
Mt. Scott and Medicine Park are about a 1.5 hour drive from Oklahoma City.
We headed straight to Medicine Park to drive through ‘town’ and check it out before heading to the ‘mountain’ – yes, I think that’s just fun to say since we live in Oklahoma, ‘where the wind comes sweeping down the plains’.
Medicine Park is a fun little tourist town that reminded me of Eureka Springs Main Street (on a much, MUCH smaller scale). The summer draw is the old fashioned ‘bath lake’ and ‘swimming hole’. They have a number a restaurants to choose from but we were planning to head to the neighboring town of Meers (FYI, it’s not a ‘town’ it’s just a building) for their famous burgers. More on that in a bit.
Now we were getting hungry so we decided to go ‘grab’ our Meers burger. For starters, we should have figured it out when we asked about directions, everyone just said, ‘oh, you’ll find it’ with a smile on their face. What they forgot to tell us is to make sure you bring plenty of cash. They don’t take credit cards or checks. Cash only! They do conveniently though have an ATM in the lobby. The tab for the three of us was around $50. Yes, they’re proud of their ‘Longhorn’ beef burgers and their homemade ice cream and peach cobbler. I also had to try their version of fried pickles ‘frickles’, and YES, they were delish! All in all it was good grub, just not sure when we’ll be ready to spend 1.5 hours for the experience again. Apparently there is ALWAYS a wait to get in. We arrived around 2pm and still had to wait for a table – so if you’re ‘starving’, be forewarned that it might be awhile before you see food.
After our yummy lunch, we headed to the swimming hole to cool off. And…you’ll need cash again friends; $2 per person to swim. There was a small community restroom on the Main Street where we were able to change into our swimsuits.
Manners Used: (great talking points to share with your kiddos as you head out on your adventure.)
- Respect for Nature. As cool as the round cobblestone rocks are in Medicine Park, you can’t take them home with you for your budding rock collection.
- Patience while waiting in line for your table at Meers.
- Polite Conversation skills for talking to your table mates (and not your technology) while waiting for your food at Meers.
- and of course car ride manners for the 2.5 hour outing (5 hours round trip) (Here’s an idea to help ward off the ‘are we there yet?’ questions.)
We definitely plan on a return trip to this area so we can spend more time, we loved it! We noticed rental houses on the river overlooking the swimming hole. Definitely need to check into that more. Click here for the rental home website someone told us about.
We would love to hear if you do, please leave us a comment and let us know about your #FamilyFunDay Adventure.
– Carey Sue
