Guest Blog: Big Oak Tree State Park

I am a dreamer, always have been, guess I always will be.  My dreams are so big that I have to take them to wide open spaces sometimes and set them free so I can return to my everyday duties of Christian, mother, friend and employee.  One of my favorite pastimes is to discover new places to give my dreams the room they need to grow; I was lucky enough by happenstance to discover Big Oak Tree State Park in Mississippi County, Missouri. 

 Because we dreamers, never know when dreams will strike we have to be on the lookout, while driving for work related business one day, I saw a sign pointing to Big Oak Tree State Park. Being my lunch hour I let my “what the heck” attitude steer my vehicle in that direction.  I pulled up and noticed as you would guess some well, big oaks.  It was perfect for me, just enough openness to get lost in, just enough green lushness to remain interested and just enough not “off the beaten trail” to stay grounded.

For those of you interested in things less surreal and more earthy…Big Oak Tree State Park has a lot to offer.  If you’d like a look at what our dear state of Missouri, untouched by our modern intrusions might have looked liked, take a look here.  There is swamp, there are HUGE oak trees (again hence the name of the park), in fact the website http://www.mostateparks.com/bigoak.htm, says five of the trees there qualify as state champions, impressive eh?

The park also offers a boardwalk that winds its way through much of the park, offering you a view of the historic “swampy” area and giving you a quite fascinating view of several of our feathered friends.  Please do not ask me what kind of birds I saw there, they were colorful and they had feathers, I’m a therapist, I can only tell you about my emotions upon seeing them.

There is also an event at the park every September called Living History Day. This event is fascinating to me, enough so that I bear the sometimes over humidified weather and pack up my 4 kiddos ranging in ages from 3 to 11 and purposely take them there.  At this event, you can watch demonstrations of old-time skills such as loom weaving, trapping, spinning and flintknapping and enjoy some mighty fine catfish I might add.

After discovering Big Oak Tree State Park, I have made several (okay, 50 or more) trips back to the park to dream, think, scream, and even do paper work.  It is a place of peace and calm for me and isn’t too far away to be a place of tranquility for you.  Maybe I’ll see you there. -JellieBraden

JellieBraden is a native Missourian, super mom, therapist extraordinaire, and frequent visitor to Big Oak Tree State Park

Editor's Note: The park picture was taken from Wikimedia Commons.