Viking Runes, Ouachita National Forest, and Indian Burial Grounds

There are lots of people who enjoy being tourists in other countries and in other parts of their own countries, but too often we forget the fantastic tourism opportunities available to us in our own cities and states. I'm convinced that part of the secret to enjoying wherever you are (even if it's in Tulsa), is to act like a tourist whenever possible.

In Oklahoma, for instance, just this last weekend, Matt and I went for a drive in the Ouachita National Forest, scoping out suitable campsites along a scenic highway in the Ozarks. The problem with finding suitable campsites in OK, I find, is that typically you pull into a parking lot, and there are rows of little squares of asphalt that are called "campsites". No view - just the parking lot and the paved campsite. For this reason, although the view at Queen Wilhelmina lodge)is excellent (originally a Dutch-run hotel on scenic route 88/1 through the Ozarks, just over on the AK side), the Wilhelmina campgrounds are unsatisfactory, in my opinion.

We pressed on, exploring the OK side of Talimena Drive, and discovered Winding Stair campgrounds. Similar problem - campsites a bit, well, too much like camping in a parking lot (perhaps I'm spoiled by hiking the Appalachians to the more remote campsites where you can occasionally catch a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis, if you're very, very lucky), but there were some campsites at the ridge's edge with beautiful views. Additionally, even though the sites were a bit close together for my liking, not a single other person had pitched a tent there. Not sure why this was - light rain showers on and off that weekend? Okies prefer paved campsites? Air conditioning?

Another odd thing about the scenic drive was that the whole thing went along a ridge, so the view was actually obscured by trees from the road itself, and you had to pull off at the many "scenic vistas" peppering the highway in order to see anything.

Anyway, we had noticed on our drive down from Tulsa signs with intriguing things written on them: "Heavener Runestone )" and "Spiro Mounds", for example. I was determined to investigate these locations further on our drive back, so after a filling dinner at the Southern Belle, a train car-turned-diner in Heavener, OK (great strawberry pie), we proceeded to the park which promised us a view of a 12 foot tall Viking runestone, carved somewhere between 600 and 900 A.D. with the words "Glome's Valley". Displayed next to this were two other runestones, and the note that there are only 5 runestones remaining in Oklahoma, but that many others were purportedly destroyed in the earlier part of the 1900's. The plaque notes that it is a shame no one thought to copy down the inscriptions before destroying them. It was quite impressive, worth seeing - and makes Christopher Columbus's discovery of the "New World" a bit less impressive.

Watch out for the hornets' nests by the exit, though, and the precariously-placed, heavy-looking slabs of shale dangerously overhanging an area where the public is lured in to read little plackets about a rumored Viking cave in the area, now obscured by...what else...falling rock. And, if you are reading said placket, much like the rock overhanging your head. Right at this moment.

Spiro Mounds- an archeological site containing Indian burial mounds from the 800's through the 1400's, long over-grown with grass, and looted before archeologists got to them in the 1930's - was a bit disappointing, as we arrived about an hour after closing of the interpretive center. We climbed over the wall surrounding the mounds, though, and toured surreptitiously about the path, taking a few pictures.

My point, of course, is that there are many fabulous things to be seen in your home state. Maybe even Vikings. Go and find them. Be a tourist. Even if it involves wearing a silly hat (I am partial to the foam Statue of Liberty hats shown here: http://www.atlaspen.com/static/products/413312.php?pv=1&item=413312.