Beaver, Oklahoma - Cow Chip Capital of the World

We love to explore the small towns of the United States. Many times we find that the locals don't appreciate the wonders they have in their own back yards. When we ask for recommendations of things to do near their little cities, we often get a perplexed look as they can't think of anything worthwhile to do. We might be guilty of the same attitude, as we take our home town of Beaver, Oklahoma for granted. This is where we both graduated from high school, and where our families have lived for several generations. We haven't lived here for over 35 years, but this no-stop-light town still feels like our home town.

Our daughter-in-law has visited here before for a family gathering, but she never got off the ranch. So it was time for her to see a little more of Beaver, Oklahoma. We started at the sand hills just north of town. It's a good place for digging holes in the sand on a beautiful blue sky day.

We all distinctly remember the path leading from the parking area to the first dune as being wider and taller. But the native bushes have taken over all but a narrow path of sand on the first set of sand dunes.

Once to the crest, there is a wider sand bowl that leads to the next group of dunes.

From here we could tramp through the brush to get to other sand basins scattered around the park. We could see many of the off-road-vehicle trails that make this park popular with people that would rather ride over the dunes instead of struggling up them. This was once a state park, but now has been turned over to the city to run.

Our group was interested in leaping off the edges into the soft sand far below. The boys might be growing up, as they first had to weigh the effects of broken bones or sprained joints if their leaps were less than successful.

We had to do some classic jump pictures from the top of the hill, where everyone managed to get some good sky beneath their feet.

Denisa tried to be in the jump shot, but her leaps were either too early . . .

or too late.

The boys wanted to give her a boost to help her get more air time. But again, she was old enough to realize this might not end well, and smart enough to decline their offer.

The other claim to fame to Beaver is that it is the Cow Chip Capital of the World. Honest! We don't make this stuff up! It is proclaimed on the banners that line the main drag through town.

Every April people gather from afar to see who can fling a cow chip the furthest. Of course, there is the obligatory parade, carnival, and other festivities to go with a world championship event.

Downtown on Main Street is a two-story statue of a beaver holding a cow chip. We always chuckle at the story of a new-comer who asked "What's with the statue of the squirrel holding a cookie?"

Cap-o-Ranch, where Mark was raised, is a proud producer of many of those cow chips. We have to say that the ranch is one of our favorite non-tourist destinations when we visit the panhandle of Oklahoma. We love the horses that graze in the pastures surrounding the house. One afternoon we watched as some of the horses came into the corrals for water. Our nephew Ben is a professional saddle bronc rider, and with our urging he jumped on one of the horses. Even though he didn't have a "steering wheel," he rode the horses around the pen for this picture.

If you read the blog in August, you might remember the kittens that Denisa played with every day.

They have grown into cats now that will probably be having another generation of kittens soon.

Even though we could hear the coyotes howling every evening, and we heard of successful deer hunts all around us, our best wildlife picture of the week is this ferocious feline perched in the red oak tree beside the house.

After a week of family time in the cow chip capitol of the world, it was time to head down the road for more adventures. For the last six months, we have traveled in the eastern part of the United States with tall trees that hide sunsets from our view. So we love being back in big sky country, where the sunsets stretch for miles.