Tahlequah Floating the Illinois river... Day3

Hola every body ,
Its Tori again. We are in Tahlequah now and we are having a blast! So far we floated on the Illinois river. It was so fun. We saw a lot of fish of all sizes. Huge,big, normal, small, or even really small. They were all minding there own business. We set a record of floating a 3 hour float into a 1 hour. We stopped about halfway to eat lunch. I helped a butterfly out of water, but i think it died anyway. Grandpa caught  a baby frog for me. He thinks the frog was just a tadpole 3 weeks ago.  It was so small. Right when we got back to out hotel grandma and I went swimming while opa took a nap. We just got back from the pool and already planned for going back after dinner. The pool has a salty taste and smell. Its kind of weird. Opa is looking up more attractions here, because we are staying here for two nights. Its going to be nice to not be in a such  a hurry to get out the door and start driving to another state. I mean I'm already tired of driving. I like this hotel anyway. Its better then the hotel/resort we stayed at last night. We all agree to that. We are all exited for Friday to see our cousins and go on even more adventures these states will bring us to explore. I have to go, but I just want to say:
I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!
With love,
Tori

Susan now:

Last night's "resort" is an Oklahoma State Park...built in 1956...so it was a bit funky...you had to know it was there to even choose it.  The lake was lovely, the pool was full and I can't remember if Victoria mentioned the fireflies...all over the night forest.  We were the ONLY patrons in the restaurant...no kidding...for both dinner AND breakfast.  It was a lush, green drive the half hour  to Tahlequah where we briefly reviewed history by photographing Tom's first, very minimal house , now a part of the office structure of Northeastern University.  New information about the history of the University:  It is the evolutionary product of the early Cherokee Seminaries for Women and Men built in the 1850's .  Cherokees always interested in education

The Indian Hospital there was re-located 10 minutes away and is the Tahlequah City Hospital, while the old hospital building where Tom practiced has been re-purposed within the College of Optometry.

We drove and took a picture of our house on Mike Street ( a bit more landscaped all these years later)
 before we headed out to float on the  Illinois river.

The river was a walk back in time...we are grateful for the 40+ years,( many better than others!!) and experiences we've had , and to arrive back here,  to be here together is very very special.  Sharing it with Victoria is frosting on that cake!  Victoria is looking foreword to taking a picture of us tomorrow at the Cherokee courthouse where we were married April 1969.

Tom
...is working on music downloads with Victoria , researching restaurants for dinner, will swim after a walk and dinner

Victoria is counting the days to being with the cousins

Tomorrow we see Cherokee heritage and perhaps drive to Muskogee to see a museum, before heading to Table Rock Lake in Branson

Soon I will figure out how (with THIS computer) to add a few pictures to our posts.  I am not even going to tell about today's camera black hole adventure