Warning: This post has more pictures than I have ever put in any post!
This is a stop sign in Cherokee. The top are the actual characters from the Cherokee alphabet, the middle is how you say it phonetically and the bottom is obviously English. This stop sign was right outside the Restaurant of the Cherokees. We only ate there one time but I loved it. They had really yummy INDIAN FRY BREAD. I also had fried catfish there. I despise fish, but this was actually really good. I thought it tasted like chicken.
This is a statue of Sequoyah on the Northeastern University Campus. He created the Cherokee alphabet so I thought this was a very appropriate tribute to him.
This is my niece Kenna modeling our earplugs. There were 5 of us in our suite and we all snore, so earplugs were a must, at least for light sleepers like me!
This is a picture of the Cherokee Chief Chad Smith. I didn't get to meet him, but I thought he looked really nice!
This is a float from the Cherokee parade. The theme for the National Holiday this year was "Learn from All that I Observe". This was one of the best parades I have been to. Not because the floats were extravagant, but because they threw out a lot of good candy and other items including tooth brushes, pepsi, orange juice.
This is a picture of Ray, his sisters, and his stepfather. In order from left to right: Mona, Marlene, Ramona, Ray, Charlene, Coco Chanel (the little pup), and Chief (Dru's Grandpa).
This is a picture of the Cherokee Museum and Heritage Center. The museum was all about the Trail of Tears. It was very interesting and sad to see what happened to the Cherokee people. I wanted to take pictures but they were not allowed inside the museum. At the Heritage Center they had a replica of a traditional Cherokee village. It was a guided tour where we learned a lot about their traditional way of life.
This is a picture of our tour guide. I will never forget this woman because she hated my husband's guts. For those of you who know Dru well you know that he can be quite stubborn when he does not want to do something. This poor woman tried to get Dru to participate and when he refused her love for him was nonexistent. It was so funny!
This man was making arrowheads and he demonstrated his bow and arrow skills for us. He missed the first time but he did much better than I could have ever done.
One of my favorite activities was the Pow Wow we went to. We didn't stay for the whole thing because it was really long, but I enjoyed watching all of the dances and seeing all of the costumes. I did not realize that a Pow Wow is like a giant dance competition. I was so excited when I found out because I love dancing and I have a feeling this will be one of the only dance competitions I will ever get Dru to watch!
This picture is part of what is called Grand Entry. It is where all of the dancers parade around in their costumes. It is the best part. I was very impressed that the first part of Grand Entry included the American Flag and the National Anthem. Many of the festivities began the same way. These people have been greatly persecuted and pushed out of their original homes, but they are incredibly patriotic! Sorry it's not a very good picture. I had a couple of videos but they would not load.
We were able to see Ft. Gibson Cemetery. For those of you who don't know it is a military cemetery and I was amazed at how big it is. Ray's dad is buried there so it was a really neat experience to be able to visit his grave.
This is a picture of us at Lake Tenkiller. It is very beautiful there and there is a huge man made dam that is very impressive. It was really nice to stick our feet in and cool off a little. Oklahoma was so HOT and HUMID!!! I definitely appreciate Idaho weather.
This is where we spent a lot of our time, Del Rancho Restaurant. We ate at this restaurant 3 or 4 times on our vacation. We had many good laughs there. The first thing I learned about Dru's family is that they love to laugh. The first evening I laughed so hard that my face hurt. Each day after that was the same. They are amazing people and I enjoyed getting to know them better. I hope that we can see them soon.
