For those unfamiliar with Oklahoma history, much of the state was settled by land runs, and the Cherokee Strip Land Run was the biggest of them all. How it happened was like this: The government bought the land of what actually was the Cherokee Outlet, but more commonly called the Cherokee Strip, from the Cherokee tribe. Then, they marked off 160-acre plots of land, as well as town sites and individual town lots. Then, on Sept. 16, 1893, everyone who was participating (and it was open to anyone) lined up on the border of the Cherokee Outlet, which encompassed most of what is now north central and northwest Oklahoma. At noon, a gun was fired and everyone raced by whatever means to stake their claims on the land of their choice. Some people ran. Some rode horses. Some rode on trains and jumped off when they got to the spot they wanted. All the towns in the area sprang up overnight. If you have seen the movie "Far and Away" starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, the Cherokee Strip Land Run was portrayed at the end of the film.
OK, enough history. They had a parade in town Saturday so we went to enjoy the fun.
Beforehand, Jake had to pose in his cowboy duds (that's clothes to you city folk. LOL). Thanks to our friend Marla for the stuffed horse and the nice western belt.
Then it was off to the parade.
Two happy parade watchers.
A clown came by and gave Jake a sticker.
Sometimes a cowboy just has to hitch up his britches.
Jake took this picture. We thought he showed good composition skills.
Watching the stage coach go by.
Look what's coming now!
Wow, a whole herd of longhorn steers. (These animals obviously have the parade routine down. They didn't let anything bug them. They just walked on down the street.)
After the parade, it was time to hop on Lightning and ride off into the sunset.
YEE HAW!!!!
5 comments:
OK, those are the cutest pictures in the west! Oh wait...is Oklahoma considered west? West of the Mississippi, right? Anyway, he's even more adorable than he usually is. Looks like he enjoyed his day.
How cute is he! Anxious for the Moon Festival to see for real how much he's grown!
Love it! The one of him pulling up his pants and the one of him on the horse are soooo great! How did you get him to do that???
He sure is growing fast!
Jake has a stick horse he rides around the house and a wagon he rides in. We taught him to tip it and say "yee haw" so when he was riding the horse after the parade we just told him to say "yee haw" and he did it.
We taught him to tip his hat, that is.
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