Girls Weekend In Carlton Landing
“So lovely was the loneliness of a wild lake”
If I had to compile a list of my favorite places I’ve ever stayed at, there’s no doubt that Carlton Landing would feature highly. Top three even!! Carlton Landing is a place of bucket list dreams and if you take nothing else away from this blog post, please take away this: you absolutely must visit at some time in your life. Save up and go for a special occasion, you’ll be on cloud nine the entire time you’re there - I guarantee it’ll be one of the most magical stays you’ve ever had. It’s like your very own Edgartown here in Oklahoma!
Just watch!
I spent every summer on the water as a kid and teenager with my lovely grandparents and they are the fondest memories to this day. So I invited my best girls to a lovely Carlton Landing girls getaway last weekend. I was so ready to escape and get close to the water! A girls weekend at the lake can offer excitement as well as relaxation which checks all of the boxes for any girl boss. Carlton Landing is an easy drive for a weekend getaway —(just 90 minutes from Tulsa and Ft. Smith, 2 hours from Oklahoma City and less than 3 hours from North Texas and Northwest Arkansas ) 💫💫💫 It’s a location that offers a multitude of things to do as well which I knew would make it the perfect trip for a group of girls! It’s so wonderful to have the opportunity to do a variety of things and even split up during the afternoon to meet at night for example! In our situation-we had the rental home Thursday through Sunday but with various schedules-I loved sending the itinerary to everyone and letting them chose what they were going to do so Thursday night it was only Ashley and me! Then Karen and Brooke joined Friday afternoon and then Kendal joined us Saturday when she got off work! So keep things simple for yourself and your friends! Remember just because you are the planner, you still deserve this vacay as much as your friends and you need to also relax and decompress! The itinerary of activities is loose too..this is where your friends can also chose the activities they want to do! Some people might not want to do morning yoga and some might eat the yoga up completely but not really be into the kayaks! You all do not have to do every single thing together! This is what makes for a really fab group holiday in my opinion.
Okay, Okay so I know you are dying to hear about everything we did! I received so many questions and comments over on my Insta Stories and I so thank you for engaging withe them! Their has been so much anticipation about the giveaway I am hosting with Carlton Landing too!!! (the giveaway details will be at the end of this post)
Ashley and I arrived early Thursday in order to make the most of our time there, dropping our luggage off and getting all the groceries I brought in the fridge at The Bees Knees On Boardwalk vacation home and decided to get acquainted with the place with a little wander. I love their rentals because you have access to a full kitchen! I brought water, oat milk for coffee, bottled water, tons of wine and champagne because girls weekend—come on now!!! I also brought cookie dough to bake cookies, cinnamon rolls, popcorn, chips and dips, hummus and carrots, and all the fab things to create a wonderful cheese and meat plate. I also brought fresh fruit and yogurt ! I just wanted a good variety for all my friends coming! And since I invited them I wanted to treat them entirely!! You could however divide this grocery list and have everyone contribute. Just do what works for you and your group.
Carlton Landing is set within beautiful grounds and you can explore the whole community on foot meandering through the community. And do not even fret—I will be featuring a whole separate post on our vacation home so going to dedicate this one to Carlton Landing and all the wonderful things we did!
For dinner Ashley and I were hosted by the delicious Mama Tig’s Wood Fired Pizza—located on Water Street near Carlton Landing Boat Dock and Firefly Park. I have been several times before and it’s always such a treat! They do the goodest of the good pizzas in the land. They use the best ingredients to go on top of their thin carbalicious bases and their pride of joy wood fired oven to blast things into perfection. They can make any pizza a half and half so you can try different things! Ashley chose a classic Margherita. And I went with Charlie, Evie, and Jacob’s fave specialty pizza which is red sauce, pepperoni, and extra cheese. (you all know I live for pepperoni pizza) Considering the gigantum size, we managed reasonably well but the pizzas did defeat us. Hey-we got a delish side garden salad too!! The veggies are so fresh from the community garden! (Carlton Landing Community Garden is in the heart of Carlton Landing is the ultimate center for community and sustainability. Throughout the year, residence will grow their own vegetables and herbs here and are always willing to share. The community chicken coupe is also located here and is a great place to harvest fresh eggs. The whole garden is surrounded by soothing waterfalls and ponds. There is also a public grilling station located here.) I could just eat those cucumbers all day long. A sensible tip would be not to eat for days to prepare yourself! LOL! But what can you do when the food's this good?
Mama Tig’s pizzas are authentic and just plain good- isn't that all you really want from a pizza?
Mama Tig’s is BYOB so don’t forget that bottle of wine! (thank you to Carlton Landing for gifting us two lovely bottles for our girls weekend) They will open it for you and then you can also carry it over to watch the sunset over the lake! Don’t forget to try the gelato too. We carried ours over to watch the sunset! (PS-the cannoli’s are really divine also)
https://www.mamatigspizzaok.com/#/
The next morning we walked over to the Carlton Landing Boat Club to check in for our boat reservation!! The Boat Club takes the hassle and expense out of boat ownership. They handle the hard work, and all you have to do is show up and enjoy the boats. As a Boat Club member, your family and guests have access to their fleet of luxurious ski boats and pontoon boats. You also have access to the resort’s water toys and gear, including lifejackets, water skis, tubes, wake boards, and kneeboards. We had the boat for two hours and it was truly such a wonderful experience spending the morning out on gorgeous Lake Eufaula. This magnificent body of water has attracted boaters, fishermen, and water sports enthusiasts for more than 50 years. It is a nationally recognized fishing tournament lake offering a variety of prized species. The lake’s shoreline is noted for dramatic rock outcroppings and wooded inlets populated by abundant wildlife. I want to come back in the fall so bad because I cannot even imagine the fall foliage lining the lake!
From Oklahoma City – 131 miles, 2 hours by car
From Tulsa – 88 miles, 1.5 hours by car
From Dallas – 198 miles, 3.5 hours by car
“Time wasted at the lake is time well spent.”
“A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.”
https://www.carltonlanding.com/discover/boat-club/
(rates are $200 an hour with a 2 hour minimum plus fuel which fluctuates from $30-$50)
After our morning on the boat we were starving so we headed to George’s on the Lake. It’s the most adorable airstream serving delicious sandwiches and chips! They even gave you a little Snickers. Be still my heart. (that is my fave candy bar ) I mean you can’t ever go wrong with chicken salad on a soft buttery croissant with Chile Cheese Fritos! I am really having so many fond memories of my childhood right now. These are they types of lunches my grandma Chico would fix after we took a dip in the water.
Then we took another stroll through the charming community all along The Boardwalk and surrounding areas!! Just look at all these adorable houses. And all the beautiful diverse landscaping. Plus Carlton Landing is super Fido-Friendly! A few of their vacation rentals are dog friendly too! I snapped some photos of my faves.
And now it was time to meet Brooke and Karen out in Hanna Oklahoma for our next activity of the weekend! We would be spending the rest of the day out at Double Creek Gun Club! Located on 270 secluded acres in the Canadian River valley, Double Creek Gun Club sits on the confluence of Mill Creek and Shell Creek. These two large creeks provide dynamic topography with a variety of settings in which to enjoy shotgun sports. With open grassland areas, post oak forests, ridges, creek beds, and rocky outcroppings, shooters will be able to take in the beauty of everything southeast Oklahoma has to offer. (taken from their site because I would not want to mess any info up on this) There are two primary types of shooting disciplines currently offered at Double Creek Gun Club: Sporting Clays and Compak Clays.
Sporting Clays is the closest thing to actual wing-shooting of all shotgun disciplines. Shooters walk or take a cart along a trail and are presented with various stations where 2-3 clay pigeons are thrown in any possible direction (even bouncing targets, called “rabbits”). This keeps the shooters on their toes in having to be a good judge of speed and trajectory. Sporting Clays is the ideal discipline for wing-shooters looking to improve or maintain their skills during the off-season.
Compak Clays takes the variety of a long, winding sporting clays course and compacts it down to a single, large platform. From this single platform, multiple shooters are presented with any number of clay pigeons launched from multiple directions, all within range of the platform. This setup allows for a better social atmosphere as well as the opportunity to play different shooting games with friends, such as “knockout” or “chips”.
Karen ended up being a real life Annie Oakley! Brooke was not far behind! Ashley is a city girl and didn’t care for it too much and I freakin’ loved it all though I could not hit any clay. All though I did end up finally hitting one thanks to Jim! Ya’ll have to see this perfect moment over on my Insta stories. I actually have two permanent hi lights for Carlton Landing! I recommend starting with Carlton Landing and then watching Carlton Landing II. I mean-proud of myself for trying something very new! I had never even held a gun before much less shooting clay with one!
Jim absolutely made this experience the best!! And I will be featuring him in a solo Q + A feature here on the blog very soon so keep your eyed peeled for that!!! He has such an amazing story and so much passion for teaching.
Double Creek Gun Club is located at 401494 E. 1220 Rd. Hanna, OK 74845.
From Tulsa:
Take US-75 South past Henryetta. Take the EXIT AT THE TOLL toward OK-9. Turn left (East) onto OK-9. Travel 3.1 miles and turn right onto OK-52 South toward Hanna. Travel exactly 1 mile and turn left onto E 1220 Rd (Labeled “122 Rd.”). Travel exactly 1 mile and Double Creek Gun Club will be on the right.
From OKC:
Take I-40 East to Henryetta. Take exit 240A to merge onto Indian Nation Turnpike toward McAlester and Dallas. Take the EXIT AT THE TOLL toward OK-9. Turn left (East) onto OK-9. Travel 3.1 miles and turn right onto OK-52 South toward Hanna. Travel exactly 1 mile and turn left onto E 1220 Rd (Labeled “122 Rd.”). Travel exactly 1 mile and Double Creek Gun Club will be on the right.
From Eufaula/Carlton Landing:
From US-69, take OK-9 West 18 miles and turn left onto OK-52 South toward Hanna. Travel exactly 1 mile and turn left onto E 1220 Rd (Labeled “122 Rd.”). Travel exactly 1 mile and Double Creek Gun Club will be on the right.
https://www.doublecreekgunclub.com/
So much fun! We headed back to Carlton Landing to get cleaned up and had already placed a pizza order at Mama Tig’s for dinner. I love that they offer that. You can also place your order on line as well. This was the perfect night in for us…pizza, salad, wine, and Shark Week!!!
Ashley had to leave early Saturday morning so Brooke, Karen, and I headed to breakfast at The Meeting House. There was an 8:00 a.m Rise & Shine community all level yoga class that morning but we opted to sleep in a little later but I love that there are so many activities to take part in! There is even a gym too and you will be given that code when you book your rental! So you do not have to sacrifice your workouts here in Carlton Landing. Plus there are so many hiking trails too but I would want to save that for the fall season!
The Meeting House is also a Bed & Breakfast too! So you can get brekkie, lunch, dinner, coffee, and provisions! They offer cinnamon rolls, caramel pecan rolls, fresh coffee, and iced tea everyday! And then on weekends they offer biscuits & gravy, breakfast tacos, and a breakfast casserole of some sort! The mimosas are delicious! And you can also get craft beer on tap and wine! And a few cocktails too!! We would end the night here enjoying frozen daiquiris on the patio while watching baseball! The Meeting House closes at ten p.m too which was perfect for us! We had more Shark Week to watch and cookies to bake. Oh Karen and Brooke enjoyed the pool and hot tub too! (another perk of renting a home in Carlton Landing)
After breakfast we stopped by the Pop-Up Shops & Farmers Market they have on The Boardwalk Saturday mornings from 8:00 am - 12:00 pm. It’s a great place to find a gift or something for yourself!!! Located on the east end of Boardwalk right across from the Town Green. Makers, vendors, merchants and artisans from OKC, Tulsa and the local area bring their wares and ready to make some deals. You’ll find items like stylish clothing, craftsman furniture, organic skin care and handmade jewelry. But on this Saturday we found the most beautiful flowers from Graceful Blooms! She has the most adorable little VW truck occasionally too! We also discovered a wonderful little boutique who was selling the most beautiful bags!!! I regret not buying one !
Now it was time to get out on the lake! Being in nature and around water nourishes our souls, I’m sure of that. And Carlton Landing makes it easy and fun to immerse yourself in nature as often as possible too! You can rent kayaks and paddle boards for only $10 an hour from #TheKayakShack when you book a rental here 🏄♀️ 🌊 ( highly highly recommend)
Working up another appetite—HA—-Isn’t that what girls weekends at the lake are for anyway..we headed back to our vacation rental and indulged in cheese and Rosé ! We had a lovely few hours to connect and catch up before attending our salsa making class!
The Salsa making class was juts one of the amazing weekend events at Carlton Landing! They offer all kinds of fun events every weekend. Just take a look here. We were hosted in Jen and Grant Humphreys beautiful lake house. They are the kindest people with the most loving family! Read more about them in this Southern Living article. It’s been so incredible seeing their Seaside vision grow and come to life here in Oklahoma.
In our salsa class we learned simple steps to make homemade salsa, from fresh salsa to jarring, sealing and processing. We also covered the tools and tricks of preservation, such as safety and shelf-life, as well as various methods and canning history. And then of course we sampled delicious fruits of labor, and got the recipes, tips and a jar to take home. Lin and I devoured it last night with our homemade taco salads! So so tasty! We even learned how to make tortilla chips and I have no clue why I have been buying chips from the store! They are so simple to make ya’ll. Jen made Basil Gin Smashes too and I must admit I had more than one!!! Hey—it was Saturday at the lake!!
I will be sharing some beautiful photos and a Q + A feature with the mom and daughter duo who taught us how to make this wonderful salsa!!! I am going to be sharing a few of their fave recipes too including a Chinese dumpling recipe!!! They are so incredibly talented.
I am in love with their dog George…pictured below!!! They also have an adorable Bud named after the snow cone truck and I hear Dixie’s Donuts is coming soon after their dog Dixie!
After our salsa making class we went back to the house where Kendal was awaiting us! We had more Fromage and then headed to dinner at Mama Tig’s! I tried the calzone this time and the girls devoured cauliflower crust pizza. The end of summer block party talent show was happening and I was a guest judge! So blown away by the talent of all of the children. You just have to watch over on Insta Stories!!
The next morning we had time for one more little lake adventure before packing our bags and heading back to reality.
I’ll never forget this beautiful weekend in Carlton Landing! I do not spend near enough time with my girlfriends and it is one of the best experiences of my life. I urge you to do it! Quite simply, you will not regret it.
You can find out more about Carlton landing here. https://www.carltonlanding.com/
I can’t thank Carlton Landing and all the other businesses enough enough for this weekend!! I am incredibly honored to work with them on this feature and help promote their beautiful community in the tourism space. I so look forward to visiting in the fall. Would you guys be interested in seeing and attending a Couple’s Retreat?! Tossing a few ideas around so let me know!!!
NOW FOR THAT GIVEAWAY I KNOW YOU ARE SO EAGER TO ENTER!!!!
Carlton Landing has generously offered one lucky reader a 2-night stay in one of their vacation homes!!!! To enter you must
Comment on this blog post telling us who you want to bring and when you want to visit!!! Tell us the one thing you are most excited to experience in Carlton Landing
Like and comment on this Insta post.https://www.instagram.com/p/B1CR7Qagmdw/
Must follow Carlton Landing on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/carltonlanding/
Must follow me..Go French Yourself on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/gofrenchyourself/
And for additional entries here is what you can do!
Share my Insta post on your Insta Stories tagging me or I will not see it to count it. (5 entries)
Share this blog post on facebook tagging me and Carlton Landing. (10 entries)
Winner will be drawn on Friday August 23rd!!!! And announced on my Instagram Stories!
Carlton Landing has also generously extended a 20% off booking for my readers and we will announce that special promo code and the details after our giveaway has ended!!!
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!
